Astronomy
-
Astronomy
In a first, astronomers spotted a space rock turning into a comet
Scientists have caught a space rock in the act of shifting from a Kuiper Belt object to a comet. That process won’t be complete until 2063.
-
Astronomy
Hubble watched a lunar eclipse to see Earth from an alien’s perspective
Hubble observed sunlight filtering through Earth’s atmosphere during a lunar eclipse to see what a habitable exoplanet’s atmosphere might look like.
-
Space
Paradoxically, white dwarf stars shrink as they gain mass
Observations of thousands of white dwarf stars have confirmed a decades-old theory about the relationship between their masses and sizes.
-
Astronomy
50 years ago, Mauna Kea opened for astronomy. Controversy continues
Current plans to build a new telescope on the volcano sparked the latest conflict.
-
Physics
The physics of solar flares could help scientists predict imminent outbursts
Physicists aim to improve space weather predictions by studying the physical processes that spark a solar flare.
-
Space
An Antarctic ice dome may offer the world’s clearest views of the night sky
The highest point in East Antarctica could be an ideal place for an optical telescope, a new study finds.
-
Astronomy
The star cluster closest to Earth is in its death throes
Gaia spacecraft observations of stars’ motion within and fleeing the cluster suggest the 680-million-year-old Hyades has only 30 million years left.
By Ken Croswell -
Astronomy
This is the first picture of a sunlike star with multiple exoplanets
A first family portrait reveals a weird cousin of the solar system: a star about the mass of the sun orbited — distantly — by two massive gas giants.
-
Astronomy
Pinning down the sun’s birthplace just got more complicated
Many astronomers think that the sun was born in a loose association of thousands of stars. A new study suggests there’s another possibility.
-
Astronomy
The closest images of the sun ever taken reveal ‘campfire’ flares
The first images from Solar Orbiter, a NASA-European Space Agency spacecraft, show tiny, never-before-seen flares across the sun’s surface.
-
Space
This is the most comprehensive X-ray map of the sky ever made
A new X-ray map of the entire sky, using data from the eROSITA telescope’s first full scan, looks deeper into space than any other of its kind.
-
Space
A newfound exoplanet may be the exposed core of a gas giant
A planet about 734 light-years away could be a former gas giant that lost its atmosphere or a failed giant that never finished growing.