Space

Astronomy

Solar system replica?

Carefully monitoring the motion of a star 90 light-years from Earth, astronomers have found what may be the closest analog known to our solar system.

Astronomy

Lights out

Astronomers who have conducted a detailed analysis of the colors of some 37,000 nearby galaxies conclude that the universe is gradually growing darker.

Planetary Science

A phoenix on Mars

If all goes according to plan, a spacecraft will land on the north polar region of Mars in 2008 and scoop up samples of the icy terrain.

Astronomy

Getting the GOODS on Galaxies

A coordinated effort among the most powerful space and ground-based observatories to stare in detail at the same two patches of sky is revealing how galaxies assembled, how rapidly star formation proceeded in the early universe, and whether dark energy has recently revved up the expansion of the universe.

Astronomy

Hubble Highlights a Riddle: What’s the source of quick-return comets?

New observations from the Hubble Space Telescope demonstrate that scientists don't know where a major class of comets comes from.

Planetary Science

Cozying up to Mars

The Hubble Space Telescope photographed Mars on Aug. 27 when the planet came closer to Earth than it had in nearly 60,000 years, enabling the telescope to take the sharpest global image of Mars ever taken from Earth's vicinity.

Astronomy

Stellar Tantrums: Tracking the flaring cycles of other stars

Astronomers are closely tracking the ebb and flow of magnetic activity and powerful flares on stars other than the sun.

Astronomy

Black Hole Life Preserver: Don’t get sucked in without one

By temporarily counteracting a black hole's tremendous tidal forces, a proposed black hole life preserver would slightly lengthen the life and shorten the agony of anyone exploring one of these gravitational beasts.

Astronomy

Ulysses makes a return trip

Just as the sun has reached the stormy peak of its 11-year activity cycle, the European Space Agency's Ulysses spacecraft has begun its second and final pass over the sun's poles.

Astronomy

Magnetic-mapping mission resurrected

The European Space Agency successfully launched Cluster II, a group of four spacecraft that will fly in tandem to generate a three-dimensional map of Earth's magnetosphere.

Astronomy

Spirograph in the sky

Some 2,000 light-years from Earth, an elderly star has ejected its outer layers to form a puffy, gaseous cocoon that resembles a "spirograph" pattern.

Astronomy

It’s Raining Stardust: Spacecraft measures record amount of stellar debris

Stardust is sneaking into our solar system at three times the rate that it had just 4 years ago, and the influx of dust could triple through 2010.