All Stories by Ron Cowen
- Astronomy
Big Broadcast
A record-breaking radio burst from the sun last Dec. 6 temporarily overwhelmed scores of GPS receivers, highlighting the hazard of radio storms on Earth.
- Planetary Science
Powering Enceladus’ plumes
The action of Saturn's gravity is responsible for plumes of water vapor shooting out from cracks on the moon Enceladus.
- Planetary Science
Violent Past: Young sun withstood a supernova blast
A big bully pummeled the infant solar system, first by blasting it with a massive wind, then by exploding nearby, driving shock waves into the fledgling solar system and irrevocably altering its chemistry.
- Planetary Science
Water World: Extrasolar planet is loaded with hot ice
Astronomers have found a Neptune-size planet outside the solar system that's composed mainly of water solidified under high pressure.
- Astronomy
Stellar Spectacular: Brightest supernova
Astronomers have discovered the brightest stellar explosion ever observed, and it could be the first example of a rare type of supernova involving a freakishly massive star.
- Planetary Science
Liquid Center: Mercury has a molten core, radar reveals
Mercury is hot stuff: It's got a core that's at least partially molten, a new radar study of the planet's spin reveals.
- Planetary Science
A solar forecast
Solar activity, which waxes and wanes in an 11-year cycle, will most likely begin its next round in March 2008 and peak sometime between late 2011 and mid 2012.
- Archaeology
Peru’s Sunny View
Researchers have found the oldest solar observatory in the Americas, a group of 13 towers first used around 300 B.C. to mark the positions of sunrises and sunsets from summer to winter solstice.
- Planetary Science
In the Zone: Extrasolar planet with the potential for life
Astronomers this week announced that they had found Earth's closest known analog outside the solar system, an object with an average temperature that may allow water to be liquid on its surface.
- Planetary Science
A hexagon on the ringed planet
NASA scientists are puzzled by a giant, hexagon-shaped feature that covers Saturn's entire north pole.
- Astronomy
Back to (Near) the Beginning: Galactic springtime
In their quest to capture ever-earlier moments of cosmic history, astronomers may have found some of the first galaxies.
- Planetary Science
Little Enceladus disturbs Saturn’s magnetic field
Saturn's tiny moon Enceladus is acting as a brake on the giant planet's magnetic field.
