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We summarize the week's science breakthroughs every Thursday.

  1. Astronomy

    Explosive Aftermath: Sluggish neutron star puzzles astronomers

    An X-ray–emitting object at the heart of a young supernova remnant doesn't fit the textbook view of what a stellar explosion is supposed to leave behind.

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  2. Astronomy

    Repaired Vision: Hubble’s camera sees again

    The main camera on the Hubble Space Telescope is operating normally again after being blinded for 2 weeks by an electrical failure.

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  3. Planetary Science

    Lots of red dust, but not much noise

    In space, no one can hear you scream, but a new analysis suggests that it's pretty quiet on Mars, too.

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  4. Astronomy

    Astronomy Gets Polarized

    Studies using polarized light, an endeavor once considered astronomy's stepchild, are now elucidating the shape of supernovas as well as providing new details about the early universe.

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  5. Astronomy

    Planet-making disk has a banana split

    Two banana-shaped arcs of gas and dust face each other within a newly discovered planet-forming disk that surrounds a young, nearby star.

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  6. Astronomy

    Galactic de Gustibus

    About 13 billion years after its birth, our galaxy is still packing on the stars.

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  7. Astronomy

    Magnetic Thrust: Fields force matter into black holes

    New observations confirm that magnetic fields provide matter with the last push to plunge into a black hole.

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  8. Astronomy

    Not a planet?

    New observations add to the evidence that an image of a planetary-mass object discovered beyond the solar system is not that of a bona fide planet.

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  9. Astronomy

    Spewing superdust

    Astronomers have identified a type of supernova as the main source of space dust.

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  10. Astronomy

    Mini Solar Systems? Astronomers find disks around planet-size objects

    Disks with the potential to form planets, or at least moons, have been found orbiting objects outside the solar system that themselves are no heftier than planets.

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  11. Planetary Science

    The sands of Titan

    Although the surface of Saturn's moon Titan is cold enough to freeze methane, it has sand dunes like those in the Arabian Desert, according to radar images taken by the Cassini spacecraft.

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  12. Astronomy

    Safe from a Heavenly Doom: Gamma-ray bursts not a threat to Earth

    Gamma-ray bursts are likely to occur in the Milky Way.

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