Astronomy
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Astronomy
Match Made in Heaven: Nearby galaxies resemble faraway type
Several nearby galaxies seem nearly identical to some of the remotest galaxies known, offering a glimpse of the era when galaxies first formed.
By Ron Cowen -
Astronomy
Sputnik + 50
The launch of Sputnik 1, 50 years ago, ushered in a scientific and technological revolution, but dreams of the human conquest of space have faded.
By Ron Cowen -
Astronomy
Out-of-focus find
Blurry images yield estimates of the true width of glowing meteor vapor trails in Earth's upper atmosphere.
By Sid Perkins -
Astronomy
Cosmic void
A region of the cosmos a billion light-years across is devoid of all matter.
By Ron Cowen -
Astronomy
Bloated planet
A newly discovered exoplanet is the largest and lowest-density such object yet found.
By Ron Cowen -
Astronomy
Major merger
Four galaxies are ramming into each other in one of the biggest cosmic collisions ever recorded.
By Ron Cowen -
Astronomy
Killer Collision: Dino demise traces to asteroid-family breakup
The asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago was a wayward fragment from a violent collision in the asteroid belt.
By Ron Cowen -
Astronomy
Dawn of a Disk: Water vapor pours down on embryonic star
Infrared observations show water vapor pouring down on a planet-forming disk around a young star.
By Ron Cowen -
Astronomy
Separation Anxiety: Cosmic collision may shed light on dark matter
The debris from an ancient collision of galaxy clusters seems to show cosmic dark matter behaving in a puzzling way.
By Ron Cowen -
Astronomy
Veiled black holes
Many X ray sources in the sky could be active galactic nuclei smothered by gas and dust that blocks their emission of visible and ultraviolet light.
By Ron Cowen -
Astronomy
Shedding light on the precursor to a supernova
A supernova lights up its surroundings, revealing evidence of what made the star explode.
By Ron Cowen -
Astronomy
Heavenly Chemistry: Astronomers announce astrophysical anion
Astronomers' discovery of a rare negatively charged organic molecule sheds light on conditions in interstellar gas clouds, where amino acids, sugars, and other prebiologic compounds form.
By Ron Cowen