Astronomy

  1. Astronomy

    Moons that escape their planets could become ‘ploonets’

    If giant planets in other star systems lose their moons, the freed objects could become “ploonets,” and current telescopes may be able to find them.

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  2. Ecosystems

    Moonlight shapes how some animals move, grow and even sing

    The moon’s light influences lion prey behavior, dung beetle navigation, fish growth, mass migrations and birdsong.

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  3. Astronomy

    After all this time, the moon still manages to surprise us

    Editor in Chief Nancy Shute discusses 50 years of lunar science.

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  4. Astronomy

    How the 2019 eclipse will differ from 2017’s — and what that means for science

    This year’s total solar eclipse is visible late in the day from a relatively small slice of South America.

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  5. Astronomy

    The earliest known galaxy merger occurred shortly after the Big Bang

    Telescopes show two distant blobs of stars and gas swirling around each other in the young universe.

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  6. Astronomy

    In a first, telescopes tracked a lone fast radio burst to a faraway galaxy

    First-time observations suggest that the cause of one-time fast radio bursts is different from what triggers repeatedly flashing radio bursts.

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  7. Astronomy

    A new algorithm finds nearby stars that could host hidden worlds

    An algorithm dubbed “Netflix for exoplanets” identified more than 350 stars that, based on their chemistry, might have planets orbiting out of sight.

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  8. Astronomy

    The highest-energy photons ever seen hail from the Crab Nebula

    An experiment in Tibet spotted photons with over 100 trillion electron volts of energy.

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  9. Astronomy

    The cosmic ‘Cow’ may be a strange supernova

    New observations suggest the strange bright burst called the ‘Cow’ was a supernova, rather than a shredded star.

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  10. Astronomy

    Readers boggled by black hole behemoth

    Readers had questions about the first image of a black hole and a chytrid fungus.

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  11. Astronomy

    Table salt may be hiding in Europa’s underground sea

    Observations of Europa by the Hubble Space Telescope suggest that the moon’s ice-covered ocean may hold sodium chloride, or common table salt.

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  12. Astronomy

    Massive superflares have been seen erupting from stars like the sun

    Older stars, like the sun, can still send out massive bursts of energy that can be seen from light-years away.

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