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Astronomy News

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.

October 2008
bullet cluster
Finding antimatter may be more difficult than previously thought.
Provided by the Chandra X-ray Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Published: October 31, 2008
Hubble Space Telescope
NASA managers have announced that they will not meet a February 2009 launch date for the fifth and final shuttle mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. On a separate note, NASA gives go-ahead for Space Shuttle launch November 14.
Provided by NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
Published: October 31, 2008
Arp 147
The telescope captured an image of Arp 147.
Provided by STScI, Baltimore, Maryland
Published: October 31, 2008
Phoenix Lander
Deteriorating weather conditions on Mars cause further problems with Phoenix Mars Lander.
Provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California
Published: October 30, 2008
Mercury
Scientists have now seen about 95 percent of the innermost planet.
Provided by NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
Published: October 29, 2008
Phoenix Lander
In a race against time and the elements, engineers with NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander mission hope to extend the lander's survival by gradually shutting down some of its instruments and heaters.
Provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California
Published: October 29, 2008
Opaline silica on Mars
A new category of minerals suggests liquid water remained on planet's surface longer than once thought.
Provided by NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
Published: October 28, 2008
Epsilon Eridani
This nearby star is a triple-ring system.
Provided by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Published: October 27, 2008
SOFIA
These will be the first observations with a new airborne telescope.
Provided by the SOFIA Science Center
Published: October 27, 2008
star interior
This is the first time a satellite has probed stars other than our Sun.
Provided by ESA, Noordwijk, Netherlands
Published: October 24, 2008
Gum 29
A small cluster of stars has been found to be the home of one of the most massive double-star systems known to astronomers.
Provided by ESO, Garching, Germany
Published: October 21, 2008
Cosmic lens
Astronomers gained a rare glimpse of the violent assembly of a young galaxy.
Provided by NRAO, Socorro, New Mexico
Published: October 21, 2008
Pegasus
This is the beginning of NASA's 2-year mission to study the interactions of hot solar wind colliding with the cold vastness of space and map the boundaries of our solar system.
Provided by NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
Published: October 20, 2008
Out of this world Award
The Cincinnati Observatory Center wins Astronomy magazine's annual Out-of-this-World Award and the $2,500 prize. Nearly 40 clubs from around the country, and two from outside the United States, submitted summaries of their outreach programs.
By Matt Quandt
Published: October 20, 2008
mars moon Phobos
Understanding the composition of Phobos can help scientists discover its origin.
Provided by ESA, Noordwijk, Netherlands
Published: October 17, 2008
Colliding galaxies
Superb resolution of the Submillimeter Array was key to discovery.
Provided by the Council for Science and Technology, United Kingdom
Published: October 17, 2008
Gamma-ray pulsar
This observation opens a new window on stellar evolution.
Provided by SLAC National Accelerator, Menlo Park, California
Published: October 16, 2008
Mars north polar region
An odd, solitary hill rising part-way down an eroding slope in Mars' north polar layered terrain may be the remnant of a buried impact crater.
Provided by University of Arizona at Tucson
Published: October 16, 2008
Magellanic group
Study may account for many facets of the satellite population of the Milky Way.
Provided by the University of Zurich, Switzerland
Published: October 15, 2008
Black hole
Unique observations of the flickering light from the surroundings of two black holes provide new insights into the colossal energy that flows at their hearts.
Provided by ESO, Garching, Germany
Published: October 15, 2008
Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft
The camera will measure X-rays and map the Moon's surface composition.
Provided by the Science and Technology Facilities Council, United Kingdom
Published: October 15, 2008
super-Earths
Conclusions indicate that the first earthlike planets found will probably be very warm and have large volcanoes.
Provided by the Division for Planetary Sciences
Published: October 14, 2008
Martian craters
Crater counting is used to determine age of large surface elements, and scientists are now finding it is useful in aging smaller features as well.
Provided by the Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, Arizona
Published: October 14, 2008
Anatomy of Comet Holmes
Observations reveal unusual streamers in a shell of fine silicate dust that surrounds the comet.
Provided by the Division for Planetary Sciences
Published: October 14, 2008
Venus Express' first image of Earth
Scientists can apply what they learn about Earth to their studies of other worlds.
Provided by ESA, Noordwijk, Netherlands
Published: October 14, 2008
Uranus seasons
Scientists seized their chance in 2007 to capture the first detailed images of the planet's features.
Provided by the Division for Planetary Sciences
Published: October 13, 2008
Infant stars
The Very Large Telescope is probing the gaseous environment of Herbig Ae/Be stars
Provided by the Max Planck Institute, Garching, Germany
Published: October 13, 2008
Gas giant planets
Researchers account for the different number of jet streams on the gas giants based on the expected amount of water vapor found on each planet.
Provided by the Division for Planetary Sciences
Published: October 13, 2008
Saturn's poles
Near-infrared images from NASA's Cassini spacecraft create more questions about the Ringed World's weather systems.
Provided by the Division for Planetary Sciences
Published: October 13, 2008
Mars as seen from Earth
The longest-serving of six spacecraft now studying Mars will extend its mission another 2 years to gain a better understanding of surface minerals.
Provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California
Published: October 13, 2008
Dust density of an earthlike planet
Models give astronomers a preview of dust structures that signal the presence of otherwise hidden worlds.
Provided by Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
Published: October 13, 2008
Mars ice table
In addition to analyzing soil samples, mission scientists are eager to analyze an icy layer beneath the martian surface.
Provided by University of Arizona at Tucson
Published: October 9, 2008
This demonstrates the eventual power of the Thirty Meter Telescope.
Provided by the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
Published: October 8, 2008
NGC 346
Scientists combined data to better discern various parts of NGC 346.
Provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California
Published: October 8, 2008
NGC 4438
Scientists learn gravity's role in heating galaxy gas.
Provided by NOAO, Tucson, Arizona
Published: October 7, 2008
A small asteroid discovered earlier October 6 entered Earth's atmosphere later that night. Friction with the air caused the object to explode with roughly a kiloton of energy, creating a spectacular fireball as it disintegrated. The object, designated 2008 TC3, was only 3 to 15 feet (1 to 5 meters) across and posed no threat to reach Earth's surface or the altitude of airplanes.
Published: October 7, 2008
Enceladus
Scientists are preparing for spacecraft to venture deeper than ever before to sample atoms in Enceladus' atmosphere.
Provided by the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Published: October 7, 2008
Mercury from MESSENGER second flyby
MESSENGER made its second flyby of the innermost planet October 6, and it's already sending back stunning images of never-before-photographed features.
Provided by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Howard County, Maryland
Published: October 7, 2008
Galaxy clusters
New study of fireball phenomena improves understanding of galaxy clusters.
Provided by the Subaru Telescope Facility, Hilo, Hawaii
Published: October 6, 2008
Voyager 1
The new spacecraft will allow scientists to understand the global reaction between our Sun and the galaxy.
Provided by NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
Published: October 6, 2008
Leonid Fireball in Ursa Major
Asteroid 2008 TC3 should blaze brightly as it slams into Earth's atmosphere October 6.
By Richard Talcott
Published: October 6, 2008
eukaryote cell with a supernova exploding
New approach goes from "follow the water" to "follow the elements".
Provided by Arizona State University, Tempe
Published: October 6, 2008
Earth and Moon
This tools could be used on human-driven Moon rovers.
Provided by NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
Published: October 3, 2008
brown dwarfs
The Keck telescope found the cloudy weather on two brown dwarfs.
Provided by the University of Hawaii, Honolulu
Published: October 3, 2008
Collision in the Edgeworth-Kuiper Belt
Astronomers found fewer objects in Kuiper Belt than thought.
Provided by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Published: October 3, 2008
Cassiopeia A
Researchers used data from Spitzer to examine hot dust and pin down the cause of the echoes.
Provided by Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
Published: October 2, 2008
Sharpening up our view of Jupiter
New image-correction technique delivers sharpest whole-planet ground-based picture ever.
Provided by ESO, Garching, Germany
Published: October 2, 2008
Artist rendition of MESSENGER
On October 6, 2008, NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft flew by Mercury for the second time since its August 4, 2004, launch. Here's a wrap-up of Astronomy.com's coverage of this historic mission to the innermost planet.
Published: October 2, 2008
Artist rendition of MESSENGER
During flyby, one instrument will look at reflected light from Mercury's surface to better determine the mineral composition of the planet.
Provided by the University of Colorado, Boulder
Published: October 1, 2008
Measurement of distant galaxy’s magnetic field
Detection challenges current model of magnetic field generation, and it suggests the fields play important role in galactic evolution.
Provided by the University of California, San Diego
Published: October 1, 2008
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