Space
- Astronomy
Mining the Sky
A proposed national virtual observatory, a mammoth computer database integrating spectra, images, and other information covering the entire sky, could usher in a new age of discovery in astronomy.
- Astronomy
Cassini at Jupiter: Eyeing the Io torus
The Cassini spacecraft has captured the most detailed images ever taken of the Io torus, a doughnut-shaped ring of charged particles that surrounds Jupiter and is replenished by the planet's moon Io.
- Astronomy
Ancient Mars water: A deep source?
A new analysis of a Mars meteorite that fell to Earth suggests that much of the water believed to have once flowed on the surface of the Red Planet came from eruptions of molten rock that originated deep within the planet.
- Astronomy
Distant cluster suggests low-weight cosmos
Lured by the radio beacon of a faraway galaxy, astronomers have discovered the most distant cluster of galaxies known in the universe.
- Planetary Science
Happy landing: Craft descends onto Eros
On Feb. 12, NEAR Shoemaker became the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid, the space rock 433 Eros.
- Astronomy
Old stars reveal universe’s minimum age
Using a technique more precise than ever before, an international team of researchers has estimated the age of the universe to be at least 12.5 billion years old.
- Astronomy
Pulsar ages may need refiguring
New images taken by the Chandra X-ray Observatory confirm that a known pulsar, a rapidly spinning neutron star, was born in a supernova explosion that Chinese astronomers witnessed in 386 A.D. and call into question how astronomers traditionally compute the ages of pulsars.
- Astronomy
Cloudy puzzle on Uranus
Astronomers can’t explain the seemingly ephemeral nature of bright clouds seen on the northernmost sunlit edge of Uranus.
- Astronomy
Peering at black holes: An eventful look
Two new studies provide supporting evidence for event horizons, the one-way membranes that surround black holes.
- Astronomy
Eerie Sounds of Space
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, approaching Jupiter, is detecting electromagnetic waves at low radio frequencies in the thin gas of charged particles that fills the space between the sun and its planets. Converting such waves into sound makes them eerily audible. Go to: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/cassini/acoustic/ and http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/cassini/english/press/scinews/scinews001230a.html
- Astronomy
A Jovian moon lost and found
After 25 years, astronomers have relocated a tiny satellite of Jupiter.
- Astronomy
A trio of new planets
With the discovery of three additional planets that lie outside the solar system, astronomers have now found evidence of more than 50 extrasolar planets.
