Space
- Planetary Science
New angles on Mercury
The NASA MESSENGER spacecraft completed its second flyby of Mercury, yielding crisp new images of a large swath of the planet not seen before.
- Space
No naked black holes
In a simulated merger, astrophysicists tried to push the boundaries of two black holes into shedding their event horizons. But the resulting black hole was still shrouded by its event horizon, through which even light can’t escape.
- Physics
Shaping up the sun
The most accurate measurements yet of the sun’s shape show that magnetic activity plays a role in making the sun appear more oval than it really is.
- Physics
Diamonds engage at the nano scale
Manipulating the quantum properties of diamond impurities makes diamond into a kind of microscope that could, for example, reveal the inner working of cells.
- Planetary Science
Water’s role in Martian chemistry becoming clearer
As mission nears end, Phoenix Mars Lander finds strong evidence for minerals similar to those formed on Earth by liquid water.
- Space
Hubble suddenly quiet
Updated September 30: After the orbiting observatory suddenly stopped transmitting data, NASA announced planned repair mission will be delayed at least until early next year
- Space
With a twinkle, pulsating stars could deliver signals from E.T.
Neutrino beams may turn Cepheids into messengers for advanced alien civilizations.
- Space
Galaxies on the move
Scientists discover "dark flow" -- the unexplained streaming of galactic clusters across the universe.
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- Earth
Tough meteorite made a big impact
The stony meteorite that landed in a remote portion of Peru in September 2007 was traveling abnormally fast when it struck and blasted a crater that was unusually large for the its size, new analyses indicate.
- Physics
Photons caught in the act
Physicists manipulated a microwave pulse and could essentially watch it transition from a quantum state into the realm of classical physics.
- Space
Lowdown on the sun
The current solar minimum is the lowest — and one of the longest — recorded in the past 50 years, since modern measurements began.
