Space
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Astronomy
Windy endeavor
In early April, an Earth-orbiting satellite closed its doors after more than 2 years of collecting ions from the solar wind.
By Ron Cowen -
Astronomy
Dark Doings
A slew of new and proposed experiments, ranging from the cosmic to the subatomic scale, may shed light on why the expansion of the universe is speeding up.
By Ron Cowen -
Astronomy
Back to the Beginning: Hubble’s infrared camera goes the distance
Using the Hubble Space Telescope, researchers have identified 26 galaxies that may be the youngest and most distant known.
By Ron Cowen -
Astronomy
Closing In on a Monster: A black hole’s dusty environs show themselves
The first clear picture of the immediate surroundings of a supermassive black hole confirms that these gravitational monsters hide behind thick belts of dust.
By Ron Cowen -
Planetary Science
Rovers in overtime
NASA has extended the missions of the twin Mars rovers by 5 months, through September 2004.
By Ron Cowen -
Planetary Science
New moons for Saturn
Astronomers reported the discovery of four new moons orbiting Saturn.
By Ron Cowen -
Planetary Science
Threat to Titan mission deepens
If a communications problem between the Huygens probe and its mother craft is not corrected, as much as two-thirds of the data gathered by the probe during its 2004 descent through Titan's atmosphere could be lost.
By Ron Cowen -
Astronomy
Rendezvous gets more personal with Eros
Venturing closer to a space rock than any satellite has ever gone before, the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR)-Shoemaker mission last week took the sharpest images ever recorded of an asteroid.
By Ron Cowen -
Astronomy
Puzzle on the Edge: The moon that isn’t there
Contrary to predictions, Sedna, the most distant object known in the solar system, does not appear to have a moon.
By Ron Cowen -
Astronomy
A galaxy that goes the distance?
Aided by a cosmic magnifying glass, astronomers may have found the most distant galaxy known, a body that appears to reside 13.2 billion light-years from Earth.
By Ron Cowen -
Planetary Science
Cassini spies storms on Saturn
Closing in on Saturn after a 7-year journey, the Cassini spacecraft has discovered two storms merging on the ringed planet, only the second times that scientists have observed such a phenomenon.
By Ron Cowen -
Astronomy
X-Ray Visionary
Proposed observatory would image black holes and coronas of nearby stars.
By Ron Cowen