Astronomy

Astronomy

Rethinking an Astronomical Icon

Examining the Eagle nebula's pillars of creation with infrared detectors, scientists are viewing an astronomical icon in a whole new light.

Astronomy

Martian equator: A watery outpost?

A catastrophic outpouring of water—four times the volume contained in Lake Tahoe—may have gushed from fissures near the equator on Mars as recently as 10 million years ago.

Astronomy

Ambitious Mission: Hubble slated to get one heckuva tune-up

If all goes according to plan, astronauts aboard the space shuttle Columbia will embark on the fourth and most technically challenging mission to replace damaged parts and install new detectors on the Hubble Space Telescope.

Astronomy

The Milky Way’s Middle

Sensitive X-ray, infrared, and radio telescopes are now providing an extraordinarily clear view of the dust-shrouded center of our galaxy.

Astronomy

X-Ray Universe: Quasar’s jet goes the distance

Collisions with photons left over from the birth of the universe appear to have generated the longest X ray-emitting jet ever found in a distant galaxy.

Astronomy

UV telescopes: One dead, one revived

One ultraviolet observatory burned up in Earth's atmosphere late last month while another has gotten a new lease on life.

Astronomy

Supernova dealt deaths on Earth? Stellar blasts may have killed ancient marine life

The explosion of nearby supernova may have caused the widespread extinction of marine life on Earth 2 million years ago.

Astronomy

Some new stars in the neighborhood

As part of an ongoing survey of faint stars in the southern skies, astronomers have discovered 12 previously unknown stars that lie within a mere 33 light-years of Earth.

Astronomy

Seeing green: Color of the cosmos

We live in a pale-green universe, according to astronomers who analyzed the colors of some 200,000 galaxies as part of the largest galaxy survey completed to date.

Astronomy

Are pictures of extrasolar planets in the offing?

The first image of a planet orbiting a star other than the sun may be only a year away.

Astronomy

Some gamma-ray bursts may occur nearby

A sizable minority of gamma-ray bursts may originate relatively nearby, in galaxies within 325 million light-years of our own.

Astronomy

Planet Quest

Need help in tracking discoveries of planets orbiting stars beyond our solar system? NASA’s new Planet Quest Web site offers one-stop shopping for planet discovery news. Check out the latest findings, search an atlas of extrasolar planets, and learn about NASA’s proposed missions to search for new worlds, particularly those that might harbor life. Interactive […]