All Stories by Ron Cowen
- Astronomy
Alien Light: Taking the spectra of extrasolar planets
Astronomers have for the first time recorded the spectra of light emitted by two extrasolar planets.
- Planetary Science
Solar craft reaches a new low
The Ulysses spacecraft passed directly below the sun on Feb. 7, looking up at its south pole, a feat the craft has done only twice before.
- Astronomy
Studies of Light and Shadow
Two new surveys of the night sky examine the two facets of galaxy formation: the glitter and the gloom.
- Astronomy
On the Trail of Dead Planets: Dust ring around a white dwarf
Infrared observations have depicted the dusty vestiges of a planetary system dancing around a dead star.
- Planetary Science
Titan’s organic cloud
The Cassini spacecraft has imaged a huge cloud that engulfs most of the north pole of Saturn's icy moon Titan and could be a source of the moon's hydrocarbon lakes.
- Astronomy
Tiny shutters for new observatory
A recently developed device, known as a microshutter, will allow the proposed James Webb Space Telescope to simultaneously record the spectra of light from 100 galaxies.
- Planetary Science
Solar craft get into position
With the assist of gravitational boosts from the moon, twin spacecraft have completed a series of maneuvers that will enable them to take three-dimensional images of the sun.
- Astronomy
Kaput: Hubble’s main camera stops working
The sharpest, most sensitive camera on the aging Hubble Space Telescope has stopped working.
- Astronomy
Magnificent McNaught
Flaunting a majestic tail over southern skies, Comet McNaught became in mid-January the brightest comet in more than 40 years.
- Planetary Science
Stellar death may spawn solar system
Material shed by a dying star might give birth to planets.
- Astronomy
Astronomers discover smallest galaxy ever
Astronomers have found the smallest galaxy yet recorded, about one-sixteenth the diameter of the Milky Way.
- Physics
Solving a 400-year-old supernova riddle
Astronomers have determined that Kepler's supernova, the last stellar explosion witnessed in our galaxy, belongs to the class known as type 1a.
