Astronomy
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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.
By Ron Cowen -
Astronomy
Snacking in space: Star dines on planet
Astronomers have found evidence that a star has swallowed one or more of its own planets.
By Ron Cowen -
Astronomy
Free-floaters: Images of planets?
Several recent studies have escalated the debate about what exactly constitutes a planet.
By Ron Cowen -
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.
By Ron Cowen -
Astronomy
Have scientists seen planets in the making?
Astronomers may finally have glimpsed a key step in the construction of a planet.
By Ron Cowen -
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.
By Ron Cowen -
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.
By Ron Cowen -
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.
By Ron Cowen -
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 […]
By Science News -
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.
By Ron Cowen -
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.
By Ron Cowen -
Astronomy
A comet’s odd orbit hints at hidden planet
Far beyond the solar system's nine known planets, a body as massive as Mars may once have been part of our planetary system, and it might still be there.
By Ron Cowen