Ron Cowen

All Stories by Ron Cowen

  1. Astronomy

    Young star’s glow suggests planet find

    The X-ray outburst of a young, sunlike star might provide new insights about planet formation.

  2. Planetary Science

    A little bit of Mars on Earth

    Scouring an ice field in Antarctica, scientists have made the latest discovery of a chunk of rock that was blasted from Mars and fell to Earth.

  3. Astronomy

    Universal Truths: Distant quasars reveal content, age of universe

    Using quasars as searchlights on the distant universe, astronomers have mapped the distribution of gas between galaxies with unprecedented precision, allowing precise determinations of the age of the universe.

  4. Astronomy

    Cassini eyes Iapetus

    Only a few days after it entered orbit around Saturn, the Cassini spacecraft captured an image of Saturn's split- personality moon Iapetus.

  5. Astronomy

    End of the Line for Hubble?

    With a space shuttle mission to repair and upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope now canceled, astronomers are pondering how to best use the flying observatory during its final years.

  6. Planetary Science

    Titanic Images, Groovy Shots: Cassini arrives at Saturn

    After a 7-year, 3.5-billion-mile journey, the Cassini spacecraft last week slipped through a gap between two of the icy rings circling Saturn and became the first spacecraft to orbit the distant planet.

  7. Astronomy

    Controlling the speed of solar eruptions

    The billion-ton blobs of magnetized gas that the sun sporadically hurls into space can't reach Earth in less than half a day.

  8. Astronomy

    Heavenly Passage

    On June 8, the black dot of Venus passed across the face of the sun, the first time it did so in 122 years.

  9. Astronomy

    Powerhouse Astronomy: Blazing black hole from the early universe

    A jet of matter and radiation emanating from a newly discovered black hole could provide a new probe of the first stars and the radiation left over from the Big Bang.

  10. Planetary Science

    Cometary encounter

    Planetary scientists are feasting on close-up images of Comet Wild 2 as well as on the first information about its composition.

  11. Planetary Science

    NASA postpones plans for Mars samples

    Still reeling from the failure of its two most recent missions to Mars, NASA announced late last month that it would delay by nearly a decade plans to bring back samples from the Red Planet.

  12. Planetary Science

    When storms collide on Jupiter

    Astronomers have for the first time witnessed two giant storms merging on Jupiter.