Astronomy

Astronomy

Gamma-Ray Burst: A black hole is born

New evidence supports the notion that gamma-ray bursts, the most violent explosions in the universe, are the primal calling cards of newborn black holes.

Astronomy

Galaxy Hunter

At the interactive “Galaxy Hunter” Web site, students use data from the Hubble Space Telescope to investigate a bewildering assortment of deep-space galaxies in various stages of evolution–and learn statistical concepts such as sample variability and size along the way. Go to: http://amazing-space.stsci.edu/ghunter/

Astronomy

Long Ago and Far Away: Astronomers find distant galaxy, early cluster

Peering ever deeper into space and further back in time, two teams of astronomers have uncovered new details about the earliest galaxies and galaxy clusters in the universe.

Astronomy

Repainting the cosmic palette

After all the hue and cry about the color of the universe, astronomers have now revised their findings: It’s not pale green, but boring old beige.

Astronomy

Telescope Tuned Up: Back to work for orbiting observatory

A rejuvenated Hubble Space Telescope floated away from the space shuttle Columbia on March 9 after astronauts spent a week renovating the observatory.

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.