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Your online destination for news articles on planets, cosmology, NASA, space missions, and more. You’ll also find information on how to observe upcoming visible sky events such as meteor showers, solar and lunar eclipses, key planetary appearances, comets, and asteroids.
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In the past seven days, amateur astronomers discovered a comet that could become the brightest in a lifetime next fall, Hubble captured the farthest-ever view of the universe, Curiosity found evidence that a stream once ran vigorously on Mars,
and
more.
Published: September 28, 2012 |
 | The observations of M87’s supermassive black hole were made by linking together radio telescopes in Hawaii, Arizona, and California to create a virtual instrument called the Event Horizon Telescope.
By Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Published: September 28, 2012 |
 | A new analysis supports the notion that the troughs are faults that formed when a fellow asteroid smacked into Vesta’s south pole.
By American Geophysical Union, Washington, D.C., Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California
Published: September 28, 2012 |
 | Curiosity images of rocks containing ancient streambed gravel — a first on the Red Planet — transitions scientists from speculation about the size of such material to direct observation of it.
By NASA/JPL
Published: September 27, 2012 |
 | The data from Gemini North verified and refined previous orbital characteristics for the dwarf planet and its largest moon while revealing the pair’s precise diameters.
By Gemini Observatory, Hilo, Hawaii
Published: September 27, 2012 |
 | The research indicates that these shock waves would have caused the planets to form at different times.
By European Planetary Science Congress
Published: September 27, 2012 |
 | Lucky observers can stand in the Moon’s shadow during daylight November 13/14.
By Michael E. Bakich
Published: September 27, 2012 |
 | This cloud of gas glows brightly due to the energetic radiation from a hot young star lurking at its heart.
By ESO, Garching, Germany
Published: September 26, 2012 |
 | The new full-color image reaches much fainter galaxies and includes deep exposures in red light from Hubble’s new infrared camera, enabling new studies of the earliest galaxies in the universe.
By STScl, Baltimore, Maryland
Published: September 26, 2012 |
 | A global water ocean may be present, but relatively deep below the surface.
By European Planetary Science Congress
Published: September 25, 2012 |
 | The estimated mass of the halo is comparable to the mass of all the stars in the galaxy.
By Chandra X-ray Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama
Published: September 25, 2012 |
 | This interplanetary visitor may be the brightest comet ever.
By Michael E. Bakich
Published: September 25, 2012 |
 | It is the densest and most active protocluster ever identified at so great a distance.
By Subaru Telescope Facility, Hilo, Hawaii
Published: September 24, 2012 |
 | By understanding the shape, density, and temperature of these structures, scientists can better understand space weather.
By NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
Published: September 24, 2012 |
 |
In the past seven days, astronomers discovered the first exoplanets orbiting Sun-like stars in a cluster, two space telescopes collectively spotted what could be the most distant galaxy ever seen, Dawn spacecraft data revealed hydrated minerals on the giant asteroid Vesta, and
more.
Published: September 21, 2012 |
 | The source of the hydrogen within Vesta’s surface appears to be hydrated minerals delivered by carbon-rich space rocks that collided with the asteroid at speeds slow enough to preserve their volatile content.
By NASA/JPL
Published: September 21, 2012 |
 | Using new technology both at the array and in the lab, scientists were able to greatly improve the process of identifying the “fingerprints” of chemicals in the cosmos, enabling studies that previously would have been either impossible or prohibitively time-consuming.
By NRAO, Socorro, New Mexico
Published: September 21, 2012 |
 | The scientists plan to touch the rock with a spectrometer to determine its elemental composition and use an arm-mounted camera to take close-up photographs.
By Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
Published: September 20, 2012 |
 | The discovery of the faint, small galaxy seen when the universe was just 500 million years old opens a window onto the deepest, remotest epochs of cosmic history.
By Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
Published: September 20, 2012 |
 | By mimicking the environment of icy carbon-rich molecules in the cold of space, scientists were able to create the type of chemical change necessary for the material to eventually become the building blocks of life.
By Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California
Published: September 19, 2012 |
 | Late September nights will be the best time to observe the blue-green planet.
By Karri Ferron
Published: September 19, 2012 |
 | The new device will carry out the largest galaxy survey ever undertaken with its data used to complete four probes of dark energy.
By NOAO, Tucson, Arizona, Fermilab, Batavia, Illinois
Published: September 18, 2012 |
 | A side view of the galaxy shows locations of ongoing stellar birth and an intricate filamentary structure of dust lanes.
By NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
Published: September 18, 2012 |
 | Researchers have never seen such a dense accumulation of spherules in a rock outcrop on the Red Planet.
By NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
Published: September 17, 2012 |
 | The starry-skied planets are two so-called hot Jupiters, which are massive, gaseous orbs that orbit tightly around their parent suns.
By NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
Published: September 17, 2012 |
 |
In the past seven days, Curiosity tested the instruments on its arm, scientists argued that the discovery of a cloud of
hydrogen and helium plunging toward the galactic center
represents the remains of a planet-forming disk, researchers suggested that planets potentially hostile to human life might be the perfect place for extremophiles to survive, and
more.
Published: September 14, 2012 |
 | Researchers conclude that there is a 99.996 percent chance that the mysterious force is responsible for the hotter parts of the cosmic microwave background.
By Royal Astronomical Society, United Kingdom
Published: September 14, 2012 |
 | Research suggests that planets potentially hostile to human life might be the perfect place for extremophiles to survive.
By Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California
Published: September 14, 2012 |
 | The carbon dioxide snowfalls occurred from clouds around the Red Planet's south pole in winter.
By Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
Published: September 13, 2012 |
 | A new view of the Pencil Nebula shows large, wispy filamentary structures, smaller bright knots of gas, and patches of diffuse gas.
By ESO, Garching, Germany
Published: September 13, 2012 |
 | For proof, scientists point to the recent discovery of a cloud of hydrogen and helium plunging toward the galactic center, arguing that it represents the remains of a planet-forming disk.
By Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Published: September 12, 2012 |
 | A bright arc of X-ray emission in the supernova remnant suggests the explosion was not only more powerful, but also might have occurred at a greater distance than previously thought.
By Chandra X-ray Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama
Published: September 12, 2012 |
 | When fully operational, the One Degree Imager camera will be able to image an area of the sky five times that of the Full Moon.
By NOAO, Tucson, Arizona
Published: September 11, 2012 |
 | The activities confirmed good health and usefulness of the Mars Hand Lens Imager and used that camera to check arm placement during several positioning activities.
By Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California
Published: September 11, 2012 |
 | The Mars Express images show that Hadley Crater was struck multiple times by large asteroids and/or comets after its initial formation and subsequent infilling with lava and sediments.
By ESA, Noordwijk, Netherlands
Published: September 10, 2012 |
 |
In the past seven days, NASA's Dawn spacecraft departed the asteroid Vesta, Curiosity began stretching its arm, scientists discovered unexpected lithium in a star in globular cluster M4, and more.
Published: September 7, 2012 |
 | The work will prepare Curiosity for using the arm to place two science instruments onto rock and soil targets, as well as getting it ready to scoop soil, drill into rocks, process collected samples, and deliver samples into analytical instruments.
By NASA/JPL
Published: September 7, 2012 |
 | Over the past year, the spacecraft has comprehensively mapped this previously uncharted world, revealing an exotic and diverse planetary building block.
By NASA/JPL
Published: September 7, 2012 |
 | The near neighbors in Arp 116 provide a textbook example of how giant elliptical galaxies differ in size, structure, and color from their smaller spiral brethren.
By Hubble ESA, Garching, Germany
Published: September 6, 2012 |
 | A recent survey of the stars in globular cluster M4 has uncovered one sun with more lithium than expected.
By ESO, Garching, Germany
Published: September 5, 2012 |
 |
Research indicates that the first era of galaxy formation lasted less than 500 million years and began when the universe was at least 250 million years old.
By University of California, Berkeley, University of Chicago, Illinois
Published: September 5, 2012 |
 | NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter discovers that small patches of ice could make up at most 5 to 10 percent of material in walls of Shackleton Crater.
By NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
Published: September 4, 2012 |
 | The spacecraft leaves Vesta for the dwarf planet Ceres after revealing unprecedented details about the giant asteroid.
By NASA/JPL
Published: September 4, 2012 |
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