Space

  1. Planetary Science

    Radar probes frozen water at Martian pole

    If all the frozen water stored near the south pole of Mars suddenly melted, it would make a planetwide ocean 11 meters deep.

    By Ron Cowen
  2. Planetary Science

    Solar-staring spacecraft shows its flare

    A new image of the sun's chromosphere, a layer sandwiched between the sun's visible surface and its outer atmosphere, shows a surprisingly complex structure of filaments of roiling gas that promises to shed new light on why the sun erupts.

    By Ron Cowen
  3. Planetary Science

    Radar reveals signs of seas on Titan

    The northernmost reaches of Saturn's moon Titan appear to be covered with hydrocarbon lakes or seas that are at least 10 times as large as those predicted by earlier studies.

    By Ron Cowen
  4. Astronomy

    Ticket to Ride?

    Astronomers are investigating how they might jump on NASA's lunar bandwagon, using the moon or its environs to study distant stars and galaxies.

    By Ron Cowen
  5. Astronomy

    First Family: Pluto-size body has siblings

    Astronomers have found the first family of objects in the Kuiper belt, a remote outpost of the solar system beyond the orbit of Neptune.

    By Ron Cowen
  6. Astronomy

    Dance of the dead

    Astronomers have found what appears to be the fastest-spinning stellar corpse known.

    By Ron Cowen
  7. Planetary Science

    Saturn’s rings: A panoramic perspective

    Sailing high above Saturn's equator, NASA's Cassini spacecraft took the most sweeping views of the planet's icy rings ever recorded.

    By Ron Cowen
  8. Planetary Science

    A crack at life

    New images of ancient cracks on Mars suggest that liquid may have percolated through underground rock on the Red Planet, providing a possible habitat for primitive life.

    By Ron Cowen
  9. Planetary Science

    Stormy Weather in Space: Craft take panoramic view of solar eruptions

    Twin spacecraft have for the first time tracked solar storms, known as coronal mass ejections, from their birth in the lower depths of the sun's atmosphere all the way to Earth's orbit.

    By Ron Cowen
  10. Astronomy

    Alien Light: Taking the spectra of extrasolar planets

    Astronomers have for the first time recorded the spectra of light emitted by two extrasolar planets.

    By Ron Cowen
  11. Planetary Science

    Solar craft reaches a new low

    The Ulysses spacecraft passed directly below the sun on Feb. 7, looking up at its south pole, a feat the craft has done only twice before.

    By Ron Cowen
  12. Astronomy

    Studies of Light and Shadow

    Two new surveys of the night sky examine the two facets of galaxy formation: the glitter and the gloom.

    By Ron Cowen