Ron Cowen

All Stories by Ron Cowen

  1. Planetary Science

    The sands of Titan

    Although the surface of Saturn's moon Titan is cold enough to freeze methane, it has sand dunes like those in the Arabian Desert, according to radar images taken by the Cassini spacecraft.

  2. Astronomy

    Safe from a Heavenly Doom: Gamma-ray bursts not a threat to Earth

    Gamma-ray bursts are likely to occur in the Milky Way.

  3. Humans

    Report knocks NASA funding

    A new National Academy of Sciences study joins the chorus of critics that claim NASA is overextended, sacrificing basic- science research in order to finish building the International Space Station and fund President Bush's plan to return astronauts to the moon.

  4. Planetary Science

    Hubble eyes Jupiter’s second red spot

    Hubble Space Telescope images are providing astronomers with the sharpest views yet of a new red spot on Jupiter.

  5. Astronomy

    Crust on a star

    By analyzing X rays generated by the rumblings of a neutron star 40,000 light-years from Earth, astronomers have estimated the thickness of the dense star's crust.

  6. Astronomy

    Big Breakup: That’s the way the comet crumbles

    Scores of telescopes are watching the continuing breakup of a comet as it nears the sun.

  7. Planetary Science

    The Whole Enceladus

    Saturn's moon Enceladus has become the hottest new place to look for life in the chilly outer solar system.

  8. Astronomy

    Crash: Ripples of space-time debut in black hole simulations

    Two teams have for the first time successfully simulated the merger of two black holes and the event's production of gravitational waves.

  9. Planetary Science

    Ice among the rocks

    A newly discovered trio of icy comets, hidden among the thousands of rocks in the main asteroid belt, may be part of a previously unknown class and a primary source of water for the dry, early Earth.

  10. Humans

    To Leap or Not to Leap

    Scientists are debating whether to continue the practice of occasionally inserting leap seconds in order to keep official, atomic-based time in sync with time based on Earth's rotation.

  11. Planetary Science

    Brilliant! Tenth planet turns out to be a shiner

    Xena, unofficially called the 10th planet, is the second-most-shiny known object in the solar system.

  12. Planetary Science

    Another visitor to Mars

    The newest spacecraft from Earth arrived at the Red Planet on March 10.