All Stories by Ron Cowen
- Astronomy
Planetary System in the Making? Stellar eclipse hints at planet-forming debris
Astronomers reported the first evidence that a young star is periodically eclipsed by a stream of debris, possibly an orbiting belt of asteroids held in place by a massive, unseen planet.
- Astronomy
Outlier Planet: Extrasolar places that are like home
A team of veteran hunters of planets outside the solar system has come up with a landmark finding: a Jupiterlike planet orbiting a Sunlike star at a Jupiterlike distance.
- Astronomy
X-ray Data Reveal Black Holes Galore
Using a sensitive, new X-ray telescope, astronomers have identified the origin of the high-energy part of the X-ray background and found that supermassive black holes at the cores of galaxies are far more numerous than visible-light surveys indicate.
- Astronomy
Seeing Red: A cool revival of Hubble’s infrared camera
New images provide a graphic demonstration that the Hubble Space Telescope's infrared vision has been restored.
- Astronomy
A Dark View of the Universe
Two new studies suggest that galaxies may be surrounded by vast halos of dark matter extending at least 1.5 million light-years from each galaxy's center.
- Astronomy
Cosmic Dawn
New computer simulations suggest that the first stars in the universe were extremely massive and left behind gamma-ray bursts that may already have been detected by telescopes orbiting Earth.
- Astronomy
More evidence for a revved-up universe
By studying the clustering pattern of galaxies, astronomers have obtained additional evidence that cosmic expansion is accelerating.
- Planetary Science
Hard bodies pair off
About one out of every eight asteroids traveling near Earth has a rocky companion.
- Astronomy
Heavenly Taffy: Galaxies in collision
Astronomers have discovered a pair of colliding galaxies connected by a bridge of high-speed electrons and elongated magnetic fields.
- Astronomy
Sharper Images: New Hubble camera goes the distance
Astronomers have unveiled a picture of the distant universe that ranks as the sharpest and most detailed ever recorded.
- Astronomy
Elliptical duet rides the Kuiper belt
Follow-up observations of an icy object in the Kuiper belt and its moon reveal that the two bodies revolve about each other in the most elongated orbit of any pair of objects in the solar system.
- Astronomy
Dusty Disks May Reveal Hidden Worlds
Images of gaps, rings, arcs, warps, and clumps in disks of dusty debris surrounding nearby stars are providing new clues about the nature of planets that lie beyond the solar system.
