Astronomy

  1. Astronomy

    Sun’s sibling spotted

    A nearby star may have come from the same birth cluster as the sun; learning how to find other solar siblings could point the way to their common origin.

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  2. Cosmology

    The mysterious boundary

    A debate has arisen over whether an astronaut passing a black hole’s point of no return would get stretched to death or flash-fried. Resolving the controversy may lead to new insights about gravity and more.

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  3. Astronomy

    Milky Way’s far side reveals some secrets

    Variable stars provide first direct measurements of distance to the far side of the Milky Way.

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  4. Astronomy

    Milky Way’s magnetic field mapped

    The Planck telescope sees the galaxy’s magnetic field in polarized light bouncing off interstellar dust grains.

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  5. Cosmology

    Universe re-created in computer simulation

    The Illustris Project traces the detailed evolution of the universe starting from 12 million years after the Big Bang.

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  6. Astronomy

    Illuminating a dark universe

    The film "Dark Universe" compresses a century of discovery into a crisp, comprehensible half hour.

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  7. Astronomy

    Exoplanet spin measured for first time

    Astronomers measure the spin of a planet outside our solar system, and its days are short: just over eight hours.

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  8. Astronomy

    Chilly starlike orb found just a few light-years away

    WISE J085510.83-071442.5 is the coldest brown dwarf found to date.

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  9. Astronomy

    More details of super-bright supernova released

    A supernova whose light was magnified by a large galaxy in front of it is changing the way astronomers think about distant cosmic objects.

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  10. Planetary Science

    Mountains on Saturn moon may have come from space

    A mountainous ridge around the equator of Iapetus, one of Saturn’s moons, may have formed from cosmic debris.

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  11. Astronomy

    Distant swirling galaxy dwarfed by violent star killer

    In a mosaic of images from a telescope in Chile, dark dust lanes and twisting tails betray a history of galactic collisions.

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  12. Planetary Science

    RIP LADEE: 9/6/2013 – 4/18/2014

    NASA’s Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) mission ended April 18.

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