Astronomy
- Astronomy
Eclipsing a black hole
A chance eclipse has enabled astronomers for the first time to measure the width of a disk of swirling, hot matter around a supermassive black hole.
- Astronomy
Late Bloomer: Hubble studies once-dormant galaxy
A wispy dwarf galaxy called Leo A has the potential to change the way astronomers build theoretical models of galaxy evolution.
- Astronomy
Ticket to Ride?
Astronomers are investigating how they might jump on NASA's lunar bandwagon, using the moon or its environs to study distant stars and galaxies.
- Astronomy
First Family: Pluto-size body has siblings
Astronomers have found the first family of objects in the Kuiper belt, a remote outpost of the solar system beyond the orbit of Neptune.
- Astronomy
Dance of the dead
Astronomers have found what appears to be the fastest-spinning stellar corpse known.
- Astronomy
Alien Light: Taking the spectra of extrasolar planets
Astronomers have for the first time recorded the spectra of light emitted by two extrasolar planets.
- Astronomy
Studies of Light and Shadow
Two new surveys of the night sky examine the two facets of galaxy formation: the glitter and the gloom.
- Astronomy
On the Trail of Dead Planets: Dust ring around a white dwarf
Infrared observations have depicted the dusty vestiges of a planetary system dancing around a dead star.
- Astronomy
Tiny shutters for new observatory
A recently developed device, known as a microshutter, will allow the proposed James Webb Space Telescope to simultaneously record the spectra of light from 100 galaxies.
- Astronomy
Kaput: Hubble’s main camera stops working
The sharpest, most sensitive camera on the aging Hubble Space Telescope has stopped working.
- Astronomy
Magnificent McNaught
Flaunting a majestic tail over southern skies, Comet McNaught became in mid-January the brightest comet in more than 40 years.
- Astronomy
Astronomers discover smallest galaxy ever
Astronomers have found the smallest galaxy yet recorded, about one-sixteenth the diameter of the Milky Way.
