Space
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Space
Spacecraft eavesdrops on distant stars
By listening to sound waves, researchers hope to learn about the age and composition of distant worlds.
By Ron Cowen -
Planetary Science
Venus, erupting?
Lava flow suggests recent volcanism on Earth’s nearest planetary neighbor.
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Space
New cosmic distance record-holder
A faraway galaxy hails from a time when the 13.7-billion-year-old universe was a mere 600 million years old.
By Ron Cowen -
Space
Existence of habitable exoplanet questioned
A Swiss team has failed to confirm what has recently been claimed to be the first planet outside the solar system that might be right for life.
By Ron Cowen -
Space
CSI: Asteroid Belt
Astronomers hunt clues in the rubble of a recent collision between two space rocks.
By Ron Cowen -
Planetary Science
A comet’s tail
Already under observation by astronomers, Hartley 2 will be visible in dark skies when it passes Earth on October 20.
By Ron Cowen -
Space
Life may have started sky high
Simulations of the atmosphere on Saturn’s moon Titan suggest that basic chemical ingredients could have formed far above early Earth.
By Ron Cowen -
Space
It’s only a seltzer moon
Plumes spewing from the south pole of Saturn’s Enceladus may have carbonated source, a new analysis suggests.
By Ron Cowen -
Space
Why Mars is a lightweight
Two new models of the early solar system try to explain why the Red Planet failed to grow as large as Earth or Venus.
By Ron Cowen -
Space
First it’s there, then it’s knot
Discovered just a year ago, a tangle of atoms at the edge of the solar system disappears before astrophysicists’ eyes, leaving questions behind.
By Ron Cowen -
Space
Distant world could support life
For the first time, astronomers detect a planet beyond the solar system with the potential to be habitable.