Astronomy

Astronomy

Cassini at Jupiter: Eyeing the Io torus

The Cassini spacecraft has captured the most detailed images ever taken of the Io torus, a doughnut-shaped ring of charged particles that surrounds Jupiter and is replenished by the planet's moon Io.

Astronomy

Ancient Mars water: A deep source?

A new analysis of a Mars meteorite that fell to Earth suggests that much of the water believed to have once flowed on the surface of the Red Planet came from eruptions of molten rock that originated deep within the planet.

Astronomy

Distant cluster suggests low-weight cosmos

Lured by the radio beacon of a faraway galaxy, astronomers have discovered the most distant cluster of galaxies known in the universe.

Astronomy

Old stars reveal universe’s minimum age

Using a technique more precise than ever before, an international team of researchers has estimated the age of the universe to be at least 12.5 billion years old.

Astronomy

Pulsar ages may need refiguring

New images taken by the Chandra X-ray Observatory confirm that a known pulsar, a rapidly spinning neutron star, was born in a supernova explosion that Chinese astronomers witnessed in 386 A.D. and call into question how astronomers traditionally compute the ages of pulsars.

Astronomy

Cloudy puzzle on Uranus

Astronomers can’t explain the seemingly ephemeral nature of bright clouds seen on the northernmost sunlit edge of Uranus.

Astronomy

Peering at black holes: An eventful look

Two new studies provide supporting evidence for event horizons, the one-way membranes that surround black holes.

Astronomy

Eerie Sounds of Space

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, approaching Jupiter, is detecting electromagnetic waves at low radio frequencies in the thin gas of charged particles that fills the space between the sun and its planets. Converting such waves into sound makes them eerily audible. Go to: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/cassini/acoustic/ and http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/cassini/english/press/scinews/scinews001230a.html

Astronomy

A Jovian moon lost and found

After 25 years, astronomers have relocated a tiny satellite of Jupiter.

Astronomy

A trio of new planets

With the discovery of three additional planets that lie outside the solar system, astronomers have now found evidence of more than 50 extrasolar planets.

Astronomy

Astronomers find two planetary systems

Each of the newly discovered systems features a star roughly similar to the sun and a bizarre entourage of planets and possibly a failed star that may provide fresh insight into planet formation.

Astronomy

X rays unveil secret lives of black holes

New studies challenge the notion that supermassive black holes finished growing soon after their host galaxies formed and suggest new ways to find these black holes and measure their mass.