Astronomy
- Planetary Science
Award named for late Science News writer
Jonathan Eberhart's name lives on in a new planetary-sciences award.
By Janet Raloff - Astronomy
MESSENGER captures new images of Mercury during a third passage
MESSENGER flew past Mercury for a third time on September 29. The spacecraft's mission will continue, with MESSENGER due to settle into a yearlong orbit around Mercury in March 2011.
By Ron Cowen - Astronomy
A damp moon: Water found inside and out
The moon isn’t bone-dry: Its surface and interior contain an abundance of water, new studies reveal.
By Ron Cowen - Astronomy
Rock solid planet
Researchers have found the first compelling evidence for a rocky planet beyond the solar system.
By Ron Cowen - Astronomy
New images and spectra from a rejuvenated Hubble
Newly released images provide graphic evidence that repairs have transformed the Hubble Space Telescope into a brand new observatory.
By Ron Cowen - Astronomy
Comet dust harbors life’s building blocks
Samples collected from a comet’s halo suggest comets could have carried amino acids to the early Earth
- Planetary Science
Stars go kaboom, spilling cosmic secrets
Astronomers hope type 1a supernovas will help in quest to explain dark energy.
By Ron Cowen - Astronomy
The Star That Ate a Mars
COVER STORY: Scientists probe debris trapped by white dwarfs to learn more about what faraway Earthlike planets are made of.
- Astronomy
Saturn’s moon may host an ocean
Geysers on Saturn's moon Enceladus could have delivered sodium from its underground ocean and into the planet's E ring
By Ron Cowen - Astronomy
Supernova may be in a new class
A recently discovered stellar explosion may be part of a new class of supernova.
By Ron Cowen - Astronomy
Pinning down a pulsar’s age
Reporting at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society, researchers suggest some of these swirling stellar remnants are older, younger by a factor of 10.
By Ron Cowen - Astronomy
Healing Hubble
A retrospective on the final Hubble Space Telescope repair mission.
By Science News