Astronomy
- Astronomy
Astronomers scrutinized last year’s eclipse. Here’s what they’ve learned
Astronomers observed the 2017 total solar eclipse from the ground and the air, and found some never-before-seen features of the sun’s atmosphere.
- Astronomy
Pluto’s demotion ignores astronomical history
A historical review of asteroids’ planetary status suggests Pluto’s demotion was not justified.
- Astronomy
Plasma rain in the sun’s atmosphere falls in surprising places
Scientists found rain in the sun’s corona where they didn’t expect it, which could help solve the mystery of why the corona is so hot.
- Astronomy
Maverick asteroid might be an immigrant from outside the solar system
A space rock’s backward orbit could be a hint of unusual origins.
- Cosmology
These stars may have been born only 250 million years after the Big Bang
Scientists find evidence that stars were forming just 250 million years after the universe was born.
- Astronomy
The recipes for solar system formation are getting a rewrite
A new understanding of exoplanets and their stars is rewriting the recipes for planet formation.
- Astronomy
First 3-D map of a gas cloud in space shows it’s flat like a pancake
An interstellar gas cloud dubbed the Dark Doodad Nebula looks like a wispy, thin cylinder. But it’s actually a flat sheet.
- Astronomy
Gaia delivers a trove of data revealing secrets of the Milky Way
Astronomers are already using Gaia’s new information to estimate the galaxy’s mass, the diameter of exoplanets and more.
- Astronomy
New ideas about how stars die help solve a decades-old mystery
New ideas about stellar evolution help explain why astronomers see so many bright planetary nebulae where they ought not be.
- Planetary Science
Getting NASA’s Pluto mission off the ground took blood, sweat and years
Alan Stern talks about the new book ‘Chasing New Horizons’ and what’s next for the spacecraft that got close to Pluto.
- Physics
Neutron stars shed neutrinos to cool down quickly
Scientists find the first clear evidence of rapid cooling of a neutron star by neutrino emission.
- Astronomy
The latest star map from the Gaia spacecraft plots 1.7 billion stars
The Gaia spacecraft’s latest data release brings the number of stars with precisely measured motions up from 2 million to more than 1.3 billion.
