Astronomy

Astronomy

Rare Passage: Crab’s X rays probe Titan

Observing a rare celestial alignment, astronomers have made the first X-ray measurement of the atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan.

Astronomy

Sizing up a black hole

Astronomers are closing in on the size of the supermassive black hole that lies at our galaxy's center.

Astronomy

Shades of Venus

On June 8, for the first time in 122 years, the silhouette of Venus will move across the face of the sun.

Astronomy

Foraging among the Galaxies: Andromeda’s dining habits are documented

A new survey is adding to the evidence that Andromeda, the Milky Way’s sister galaxy, has not only grown bigger in the past by feasting on smaller galaxies but is continuing to do so.

Astronomy

Andromeda’s building blocks

A radio telescope has made the first conclusive observations of gas clouds that could be the leftover building blocks of the Andromeda galaxy, the Milky Way’s closest large spiral neighbor.

Astronomy

Planetoid on the Fringe: Solar system record breaker

Lurking more than 13 billion kilometers from Earth in the coldest, remotest part of the solar system, a newly discovered body is the most distant object ever found to orbit the sun and the largest denizen of the solar system discovered since Pluto.

Astronomy

Nudging asteroid fragments toward Earth

New computer simulations detail how fragments of asteroids travel to Earth and rain down as meteorites.

Astronomy

Invisible Universe

X-ray astronomy opens a new window on the most energetic cosmic events.

Astronomy

Deepest Vision Yet: Hubble takes ultralong look at the cosmos

Astronomers unveiled the deepest visible-light portrait of the universe ever taken, a million-second-long exposure by the Hubble Space Telescope that includes near-infrared images of what appear to be the most-distant galaxies known.

Astronomy

Pulsar pas de deux

Astronomers have for the first time discovered two pulsars orbiting each other, offering the chance for new precision tests of Einstein's theory of general relativity.

Astronomy

Wrenching Findings: Homing in on dark energy

In an analysis of a group of distant supernovas, astronomers have found hints that dark energy is distributed uniformly throughout space.

Astronomy

Finding the star that was

Sifting through archival images, astronomers have identified the star whose explosive demise was recorded by telescopes last year.