All Stories by Ron Cowen
- Astronomy
A meteorite’s pristine origins
A rare, carbon-rich meteorite that fell into a frozen Canadian lake last year ranks as the most pristine of such specimens ever found.
- Astronomy
Gravity’s lens: Finding a sextet of images
Astronomers have for the first time found a gravitational lens in which the image of a distant galaxy has been split into six distinct images.
- Astronomy
Gravity’s lens: Finding a dim cluster
Relying solely on a gravitational mirage rather than visible images, astronomers have discovered a previously unknown cluster of galaxies and measured its distance from Earth.
- Astronomy
When Branes Collide
A controversial new theory proposes that our universe existed as a cold, featureless void for eons, until a parallel universe floating through a hidden fifth dimension crashed into it, igniting the Big Bang.
- Planetary Science
Galileo finds spires on Callisto
The sharpest images ever taken of Jupiter's icy moon Callisto show a group of features never seen before on the remote body—icy, knoblike spires that show signs of slow but steady erosion.
- Astronomy
X rays trace fierce stellar winds
A high-resolution X-ray view of the Rosette nebula, a nearby star-forming region, has revealed for the first time that the stellar winds from massive stars heat surrounding gas to a scorching 6 million kelvins.
- Astronomy
Galaxy’s Black Hole: X Rays Mark Spot
An X-ray outburst from the center of our galaxy is providing compelling new evidence that a monster black hole lurks at the Milky Way's core.
- Astronomy
Astronomers spy familiar planetary system
Studying a star in the Big Dipper, astronomers have for the first time found a planetary system that reminds them of home.
- Astronomy
Eros: The movie
Close-up views of the asteroid 433 Eros, showing jagged rocks, fields of boulders, and debris-filled craters, are featured in a minute-long movie.
- Astronomy
Senior star may have comets
Astronomers have found what could be the first evidence of water-bearing objects that orbit a star other than the sun.
- Astronomy
Light’s Debut: Good Morning, Starshine!
Astronomers have at last detected signs of one of the earliest and least-understood eras in the universe: the murky time just before the first stars and quasars flooded the cosmos with light.
- Astronomy
Ground-based telescope detects star’s corona
Astronomers using a ground-based telescope have for the first time observed near-ultraviolet light from the corona of a star other than our sun.
