Ron Cowen

All Stories by Ron Cowen

  1. Astronomy

    Controlling the speed of solar eruptions

    The billion-ton blobs of magnetized gas that the sun sporadically hurls into space can't reach Earth in less than half a day.

  2. Astronomy

    Heavenly Passage

    On June 8, the black dot of Venus passed across the face of the sun, the first time it did so in 122 years.

  3. Astronomy

    Powerhouse Astronomy: Blazing black hole from the early universe

    A jet of matter and radiation emanating from a newly discovered black hole could provide a new probe of the first stars and the radiation left over from the Big Bang.

  4. Planetary Science

    Cometary encounter

    Planetary scientists are feasting on close-up images of Comet Wild 2 as well as on the first information about its composition.

  5. Planetary Science

    Portrait of Phoebe: Cassini images a large Saturn moon

    The Saturn-bound Cassini spacecraft took the first close-up images ever recorded of one of Saturn's oddest moons, Phoebe.

  6. Astronomy

    Oddball asteroid

    Astronomers have discovered an asteroid that takes only 6 months to go around the sun.

  7. Astronomy

    Cosmic Push: X-ray study confirms universe’s dark side

    Culling clues from X rays emitted by distant clusters of galaxies, astronomers report new evidence that some mysterious force overcame gravity's tug about 6 billion years ago and ever since has been pushing galaxies apart at an accelerating rate.

  8. Astronomy

    Live! Venus’ transit on the Web

    On June 8, astronomers in Europe plan to Webcast observations of the transit of Venus, the first time the planet has passed across the face of the sun as seen from Earth in 122 years.

  9. Astronomy

    Old Stars Even Older: Determining a new age for the universe

    Using particles accelerators to mimic the conditions inside stars, two independent research groups have found evidence that the most-ancient known stars are about a billion years older than astronomers had estimated.

  10. Astronomy

    Before the big one hits

    The next time you hear about an asteroid or comet about to hit Earth, you can go to a new Internet site to find out where the collision will be and how much damage will occur.

  11. 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.

  12. 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.