Astronomy

Astronomy

Bare-Naked Galaxies

A decade's worth of observations is spotlighting how the vast sea of gas surrounding a cluster of galaxies can alter the shape of a galaxy plowing through it.

Astronomy

Poof goes an atmosphere

Blasted by the heat and radiation from its parent star, a planet 150 light-years from Earth is literally blowing off its atmosphere.

Astronomy

A Habitable Planet

NASA offers kids a chance to search for and build a fictional planet on which people could live. This multimedia, interactive Web site guides students through a sequence of role-playing steps, starting with observations of the effects that changes to Earth can have and what’s needed for survival. Go to: http://astroventure.arc.nasa.gov/

Astronomy

Cosmic afterglow steals the limelight

Thanks to a chance cosmic alignment, researchers appear to have resolved the detailed structure of the afterglow of a gamma-ray burst—even though the parent burst erupted halfway across the universe.

Astronomy

Historical Astronomy and More

The NASA Astrophysics Data System offers access to a huge, searchable database of journal articles and abstracts in the fields of physics and astronomy. The collection includes many historical publications in astronomy, including observatory reports, bulletins, and annals. It also has more than 300,000 abstracts from the Physical Review series published by the American Physical […]

Astronomy

Scoping out a stellar nursery

Penetrating a veil of dust, a space-based infrared observatory has recorded the most complete portrait ever taken of a star-forming region in a nearby galaxy.

Astronomy

Stellar finding may outshine all others

Astronomers have found what may be the heaviest, biggest, and brightest star ever observed.

Astronomy

Gang of four: Debut of a big telescope

In the desert of northern Chile, a fourth 8.2-meter telescope opened for business, completing a quartet known as the Very Large Telescope.

Astronomy

Stellar motions provide hole-y data

Measuring for the first time the acceleration of stars near the dense core of our galaxy, astronomers have obtained more precise information on the location and density of the black hole that lurks there.

Astronomy

New Images: They Might Be Planets

Astronomers have for the first time obtained images of as many as 18 objects beyond our solar system that, based on their mass alone, could qualify as planets.

Astronomy

Astronomy: Man Bites Dog; Planet heats its star

Observing a sunlike star 90 light-years from Earth, astronomers have found evidence of a closely orbiting planet heating its star.

Astronomy

Taste of a Comet: Spacecraft samples and views Wild 2

Pummeled by debris, a NASA spacecraft last week snatched up dust samples while taking the sharpest images ever of a comet's icy core.