Astronomy
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Astronomy
Astronomy Gets Polarized
Studies using polarized light, an endeavor once considered astronomy's stepchild, are now elucidating the shape of supernovas as well as providing new details about the early universe.
By Ron Cowen -
Astronomy
Planet-making disk has a banana split
Two banana-shaped arcs of gas and dust face each other within a newly discovered planet-forming disk that surrounds a young, nearby star.
By Ron Cowen -
Astronomy
Galactic de Gustibus
About 13 billion years after its birth, our galaxy is still packing on the stars.
By Ron Cowen -
Astronomy
Magnetic Thrust: Fields force matter into black holes
New observations confirm that magnetic fields provide matter with the last push to plunge into a black hole.
By Eric Jaffe -
Astronomy
Not a planet?
New observations add to the evidence that an image of a planetary-mass object discovered beyond the solar system is not that of a bona fide planet.
By Ron Cowen -
Astronomy
Spewing superdust
Astronomers have identified a type of supernova as the main source of space dust.
By Ron Cowen -
Astronomy
Mini Solar Systems? Astronomers find disks around planet-size objects
Disks with the potential to form planets, or at least moons, have been found orbiting objects outside the solar system that themselves are no heftier than planets.
By Ron Cowen -
Astronomy
Safe from a Heavenly Doom: Gamma-ray bursts not a threat to Earth
Gamma-ray bursts are likely to occur in the Milky Way.
By Ron Cowen -
Astronomy
Crust on a star
By analyzing X rays generated by the rumblings of a neutron star 40,000 light-years from Earth, astronomers have estimated the thickness of the dense star's crust.
By Ron Cowen -
Astronomy
Big Breakup: That’s the way the comet crumbles
Scores of telescopes are watching the continuing breakup of a comet as it nears the sun.
By Ron Cowen -
Astronomy
Energy-Saving Space Engines: Black holes can be green
Some seemingly quiet black holes are actually efficient engines that emit jets of high-energy particles.
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Astronomy
Crash: Ripples of space-time debut in black hole simulations
Two teams have for the first time successfully simulated the merger of two black holes and the event's production of gravitational waves.
By Ron Cowen