Astronomy
- Planetary Science
Rosetta spacecraft gets better view of comet’s fuzz
News images are giving astronomers a sense of the size of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko's coma and the shape of its core.
- Astronomy
When looking for aliens, try finding their pollution
Future telescopes may discover civilized aliens by detecting the industrial pollutants called fluorinated gases in exoplanet atmospheres.
- Astronomy
Tilted binary stars test theories of planet formation
Tilted disks in binary star systems may help astronomers explain variety of exoplanet orbits.
- Astronomy
Listening in on cosmic messages
Yet to be deciphered, fast radio bursts represent the latest messages from space with the potential to tell us more about the cosmos.
- Astronomy
Searching for distant signals
Fast radio bursts are bright, brief and seem to come from very far away. Astronomers are pointing major telescopes skyward to solve the puzzle of these cryptic signals.
- Planetary Science
Comet ISON fell apart earlier than realized
Comet ISON disintegrated at least eight hours before it grazed the surface of the sun last fall, new observations show.
- Planetary Science
Rosetta spacecraft sees possible ‘double’ comet
The comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko may actually be two objects stitched together.
- Astronomy
Voyager may not have entered interstellar space, after all
Two scientists argue that Voyager 1 space probe is still in solar bubble, despite NASA’s announcements to the contrary.
- Physics
Diamonds under pressure impersonate exoplanet cores
Scientists use lasers at the National Ignition Facility to squeeze diamonds to the extreme pressures found inside massive exoplanets.
- Astronomy
Supernova rapidly creates dust between stars
Astronomers watch a shell of dust form within weeks of a star’s explosion.
- Astronomy
Rare planet circles just one of a pair of stars
A newly discovered exoplanet orbits one star in a binary pair and shows that planets can form even with a second sun nearby.
- Astronomy
Young stars vibrate faster as they age
Stellar pulsations provide a new way to gauge ages of infant stars.
