Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Wits Anglo American Digital Dome @witsdigitaldome.bsky.social · 4d

Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) is currently in the constellation Ophiuchus, the serpent-bearer. It approaches the Sun (perihelion) on November 8.
⏲️ Use binoculars to look west after 7PM,
🌌 For the best chance of seeing it, go to regions that are darker and away from city lights.

Reposted by Wits Anglo American Digital Dome

CosmicRami 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @cosmicrami.com · 10d

2nd Nov. 2025 marks the 25th anniversary of the ongoing human presence off-world.

That is, humans have continuously occupied the ISS for exactly 25 years today.

So if you're <= 24 years old, you've never lived in a world where humans were *only* terrestrial-based.

Image by HEO (from above!)

🔭🧪

International Space Station taken by a satellite also in orbit above it. The backdrop of the image is Earth's clouds as the image is looking down from above.

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Wits Anglo American Digital Dome @witsdigitaldome.bsky.social · 16d

South Africa is a global hub for astronomy 🌌

Experience Rising Star at the Wits Digital Dome - a planetarium film that journeys from our beginnings to the future of African astronomy, featuring SALT & MeerKAT. 🇿🇦✨

🎥 Made in Africa. For the world.

www.webtickets.co.za/v2/event.asp...

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Wits Anglo American Digital Dome @witsdigitaldome.bsky.social · Sep 17

Our live shows 17 Oct - 15 Nov, are a fabulous way to have an interactive tour of the universe and view the constantly changing night sky. We will explore the summer constellations, deep-sky objects, and astronomy survey regions for exoplanets.
Tickets - www.webtickets.co.za/event.aspx?i...

Wits Anglo American Digital Dome @witsdigitaldome.bsky.social · Sep 15

The Wits Anglo American Digital Dome will premiere "Close Encounters", that takes audiences on a larger than life immersive virtual safari, bringing them face-to-face with Africa’s most iconic animals. Please buy tickets for shows on 4, 18, 26, or 31 October
www.webtickets.co.za/v2/event.asp...

Wits Anglo American Digital Dome @witsdigitaldome.bsky.social · Sep 15

Join us at the Wits Anglo-American Digital Dome for the launch of Out of This World and Into The Next by Adriana Marais, in conversation with: Jenny Crwys-Williams
14:30, Saturday, 20 September 2025
www.quicket.co.za/events/33005...

Wits Anglo American Digital Dome @witsdigitaldome.bsky.social · Sep 15

We welcome you for a public talk by Dr Adriana Marais titled "Out of this World - and into the Next".
15:00, Friday, 19 September at the Wits Anglo American Digital Dome.
Dr Adriana Marais is an award-winning theoretical physicist and internationally renowned advocate for off-world exploration.

Wits Anglo American Digital Dome @witsdigitaldome.bsky.social · Aug 27

The Wits Anglo American Digital Dome will premiere "Close Encounters", that takes audiences on a larger than life immersive virtual safari, bringing them face-to-face with Africa’s most iconic animals.
Tickets are R120, please buy online on Web Tickets
www.webtickets.co.za/v2/event.asp...

Wits Anglo American Digital Dome @witsdigitaldome.bsky.social · Aug 14

The Faculty of Science Lunchtime Lecture series showcases the cutting-edge and diverse research and teaching innovations in Wits’ Faculty of Science.

Wits Anglo American Digital Dome @witsdigitaldome.bsky.social · Aug 1

As part of the National Science Week to promote, exhibit and communicate awareness in science, we will be having two fulldome shows and public talks between Monday 4 August - Wednesday 6 August at the Wits Anglo American Digital Dome. Please reserve your seats here www.quicket.co.za/events/32884...

Wits Anglo American Digital Dome @witsdigitaldome.bsky.social · Jul 31

COSMOSENO showcases immersive audiovisual work, reflecting the current socio-environmental crisis and calling for a human re-evaluation of our relationships with the Cosmos. Friday 1 August and Saturday 2 August from 10:00 - 12:00. Please book tickets free of charge
www.quicket.co.za/events/32567...

Book tickets for COSMOCENO @ the Wits Anglo American Digital Dome

www.quicket.co.za

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Reposted by Wits Anglo American Digital Dome

astrafoxen @astrafoxen.bsky.social · Jul 21

Hubble Space Telescope images of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS are out! These were taken 5 hours ago. Plenty of cosmic rays peppering the images, but the comet's coma looks very nice and puffy. Best of luck to the researchers trying to write up papers for this... archive.stsci.edu/proposal_sea... 🔭

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Wits Anglo American Digital Dome @witsdigitaldome.bsky.social · Jul 21

Betelgeuse’s long-predicted stellar companion may have been found at last

Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · Jul 21

Betelgeuse has a companion - a pre main-sequence B/A star with a semimajor axis of only 8 au. Required speckle observations to dig it out. noirlab.edu/public/news/...

Gemini North Discovers Long-Predicted Stellar Companion of Betelgeuse - Gemini North telescope in Hawai‘i reveals never-before-seen companion to Betelgeuse, solving millennia-old mystery

Astronomers have discovered a companion star in an incredibly tight orbit around Betelgeuse using the NASA and U.S. National Science Foundation-funded ‘Alopeke instrument on Gemini North, one half of ...

noirlab.edu

Reposted by Wits Anglo American Digital Dome

Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · Jul 21

Betelgeuse has a companion - a pre main-sequence B/A star with a semimajor axis of only 8 au. Required speckle observations to dig it out. noirlab.edu/public/news/...

Gemini North Discovers Long-Predicted Stellar Companion of Betelgeuse - Gemini North telescope in Hawai‘i reveals never-before-seen companion to Betelgeuse, solving millennia-old mystery

Astronomers have discovered a companion star in an incredibly tight orbit around Betelgeuse using the NASA and U.S. National Science Foundation-funded ‘Alopeke instrument on Gemini North, one half of ...

noirlab.edu

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Wits Anglo American Digital Dome @witsdigitaldome.bsky.social · Jul 21

The Search for Life launches visitors on an awe-inspiring trip through space and time; from the depths of Earth’s oceans to the outer reaches of the cosmos, to explore the links between life on Earth and the potential for life on other planets. Buy tickets online
www.webtickets.co.za/v2/event.asp...

Wits Anglo American Digital Dome @witsdigitaldome.bsky.social · Jul 16

The Wits Anglo American Digital Dome has been honoured with a historic Blue Plaque by the Johannesburg Heritage Foundation, recognising its cultural, architectural, and academic significance as the former Johannesburg Planetarium
Read More: ow.ly/xzq450WkRLh

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Wits Anglo American Digital Dome @witsdigitaldome.bsky.social · Jul 8

We are excited to screen a kids show "321 Liftoff!" starting 9 August 2025.

Alan is a hamster who finds a robot which fell from the Earth’s orbit, and the robot’s spaceship is going to leave soon. Will Alan manage to get the robot back on their ship in time?

Tickets - tinyurl.com/47skdmsb

Wits Anglo American Digital Dome @witsdigitaldome.bsky.social · Jul 7

The Wits Anglo-American Digital Dome celebrated the unveiling of the first light images from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory.
#RubinWatchParty @vrubinobs.bsky.social
Rubin First Look Press Release with Images and Videos is now public and available here: noirlab.edu/public/news/...

Reposted by Wits Anglo American Digital Dome

Mark SubbaRao @marksubbarao.bsky.social · Feb 23

A significant new result about the structure of the Oort cloud came from visualizing simulation data a planetarium. Congratulations to the AMNH team!

Corey S. Powell @coreyspowell.bsky.social · Feb 23

Far beyond Pluto, trillions of cold comets circle the sun in a lazy swarm called the Oort Cloud. A new simulation indicates what this comet-cloud looks like: a loose spiral that resembles a miniature galaxy. 🧪🔭

arxiv.org/abs/2502.11252

The spiral structure in the inner Oort cloud viewed by a distant observer along the Galactic node direction (intersection of the Galactic and ecliptic planes). The distribution of bodies was obtained from the Galaxy simulation in Nesvorny ́ et al. (2023). To show things clearly, here we isolated the inner Oort cloud from the more spherical outer Oort cloud by plotting bodies, 34,000 in total, with a < 5,000 au. If the outer Oort cloud were plotted in the figure, it would appear as a large, roughly spherical envelope of the spiral. The classical Kuiper belt with r < 100 au is not shown here – it would appear as a doughnut-like central concentration of bodies aligned with the ecliptic plane.

The spiral structure in the inner Oort cloud viewed by a distant observer along the Galactic plane. The distribution of bodies was obtained from the Galaxy simulation in Nesvorny ́ et al. (2023). To show things clearly, here we isolated the inner Oort cloud from the more spherical outer Oort cloud by plotting bodies, 34,000 in total, with a < 5,000 au. If the outer Oort cloud were plotted in the figure, it would appear as a large, roughly spherical envelope of the spiral. The classical Kuiper belt with r < 100 au is not shown here – it would appear as a doughnut-like central concentration of bodies aligned with the ecliptic plane.

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Wits Anglo American Digital Dome @witsdigitaldome.bsky.social · Jun 12

Welcoming all astronomy enthusiasts for our interactive live shows from 3 July. In an hour, we will explore the southern sky gems, some of the less well-known southern sky constellations and deep-sky objects.
digitaldome.wits.ac.za/shows/
Tickets are online only
www.webtickets.co.za/event.aspx?i...

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Wits Anglo American Digital Dome @witsdigitaldome.bsky.social · Apr 25

The first planetarium opened on May 7, 1925 in Munich. This May, we celebrate a century of wonder, discovery, and exploration with the show, '100 Years of Eternity', from early cultures and leading to the modern Digital Dome.
Tickets only on Web Tickets.
www.webtickets.co.za/v2/event.asp...

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Wits Anglo American Digital Dome @witsdigitaldome.bsky.social · Apr 16

We are excited to bring "Journey to the Stars" to the Wits Anglo American Digital Dome starting on 16 May!
This show is developed by the American Museum of Natural History, New York @natural-history.bsky.social and narrated by Whoopi Goldberg.
Please book online
www.webtickets.co.za/event.aspx?i...

Wits Anglo American Digital Dome @witsdigitaldome.bsky.social · Apr 11

Zoom along the paths of neurons, fly through brains and experience illusions on a grand scale in the new planetarium show Mysteries of Your Brain. Now showing at Wits Anglo American Digital Dome!

Produced by the Bell Museum
@bellmuseum.bsky.social

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Wits Anglo American Digital Dome @witsdigitaldome.bsky.social · Apr 11

Welcome to the Wits Anglo American Digital Dome! Please visit our website digitaldome.wits.ac.za for more information.

We have schools shows in the weekday mornings; public shows are on Friday evenings (one Thursday every month), Saturday mornings and afternoons digitaldome.wits.ac.za/shows/

Wits Anglo American Digital Dome

Explore the wonders of the universe at the Wits Anglo American Digital Dome. Experience immersive digital shows and cutting-edge astronomical presentations in Johannesburg's premier venue.

digitaldome.wits.ac.za