Astronomy

Astronomy

Sounds of the universe confirm Big Bang

Two experiments examining the detailed structure of the cosmic microwave background, the relic radiation from the Big Bang, have confirmed the basic model of how cosmologists believe the universe evolved.

Astronomy

Captured on Camera: Are They Planets?

Studying several groups of nearby, newborn stars–many of which weren't known until a few years ago–researchers may soon obtain the first image of a bona fide planet orbiting a star other than our sun.

Astronomy

Snacking in space: Star dines on planet

Astronomers have found evidence that a star has swallowed one or more of its own planets.

Astronomy

Free-floaters: Images of planets?

Several recent studies have escalated the debate about what exactly constitutes a planet.

Astronomy

Astronomers get the spin on black holes

Recording the X-ray flashes emitted by matter as it plunges into one of these gravitational beasts, astronomers last week reported strong evidence that black holes spin like whirling dervishes, dragging space-time along with them.

Astronomy

Have scientists seen planets in the making?

Astronomers may finally have glimpsed a key step in the construction of a planet.

Astronomy

Solar cannibalism

Billion-ton clouds of charged gas hurled from the sun can overtake and eat their slower-moving gaseous brethren, complicating predictions of when and if one of these clouds might strike Earth.

Astronomy

Raging sun provides earthly light show

At the tumultous peak of its 11-year activity cycle, the sun is spitting out X-ray flares and belching giant clouds of high-energy particles at a furious rate.

Astronomy

Gamma-ray bursts reveal distant galaxies

A gamma-ray burst recorded Feb. 22, one of the brightest ever detected, is proving to be the strongest evidence so far that these cosmic flashbulbs originate in star-forming regions of distant galaxies and are generated by the explosive death of massive stars.

Astronomy

Eye on the Universe

For more than a decade, the Hubble Space Telescope has provided astronomers with astonishing views of the universe. This week, the Exploratorium in San Francisco hosts a series of Webcasts from the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore to present a behind-the-scenes peek at how the space telescope is managed. Also check out several collections […]

Astronomy

Searching for a lost craft

A recent Department of Defense analysis of images of the Red Planet may have located a lost spacecraft on Mars, but NASA says the images could just be electronic noise.

Astronomy

Probes find a new plume on Io

Two spacecraft jointly eyeing Jupiter's moon Io, the most volcanically active body in the solar system, have spotted a towering new plume.