Space
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Space
This just in: Milky Way as massive as 3 trillion suns
Heftier size puts our galaxy on par with its neighbor Andromeda, implying a closer collision date. Findings also suggest Milky Way has four spiral arms.
- Space
Core of the galaxy in high-res
New high-resolution mosaic sharpens understanding of Milky Way’s turbulent center.
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- Space
Lopsided universe demands different explanation
Cosmologists analyzing an apparent asymmetry in the pattern of radiation reveal evidence for a new type of field in the early universe.
- Space
Atom & Cosmos: Science news of the year, 2008
Science News writers and editors looked back at the past year's stories and selected a handful as the year's most interesting and important in Atom & Cosmos. Follow hotlinks to the full, original stories.
- Earth
Solar wind pushes atmospheric breathing
New analyses of satellite data show that cycles of expansion and contraction are tied to changes in the solar wind.
- Space
Dark energy constantly with us
New X-ray and visible-light observations of the growth of galaxy groups and clusters are offering confirming evidence for the existence of dark energy and suggest that it may resemble the cosmological constant.
- Tech
Holiday Gifts: Blog Sites
Sample other blogs and let us know of notables that we missed that are also worth sharing.
- Space
Astronomers zero in on Milky Way’s black hole
Astronomers report a new value for the supermassive black hole at the galaxy’s center.
- Space
Reading ripples in the cosmic microwave background
Researchers analyzing the wiggles imprinted on the cosmic microwave background, the radiation leftover from the Big Bang, have now demonstrated that those wiggles can be used to find the fingerprints of dark energy.
- Space
New window on the high-energy universe
New telescope finds that the high-energy share of gamma-ray bursts arrive at Earth significantly later than the low-energy portion.
- Space
First detection of carbon dioxide in an exoplanet
Moving one step closer to finding the fingerprints of life in a habitable planet beyond the solar system, astronomers have for the first time detected carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of an extrasolar planet.
