Ron Cowen

All Stories by Ron Cowen

  1. Astronomy

    Supernova Spectacular

    Studying starburst galaxies, relatively nearby galaxies that are undergoing a tremendous rate of star formation, may reveal how elliptical galaxies arose and black holes grew in the early universe.

  2. Astronomy

    Record Breaker: A planet from the early universe

    Astronomers have found the oldest and most distant planet known in the universe.

  3. Astronomy

    Timing a Moonrise: Van Gogh painting put on the calendar

    Astronomical detectives suggest that van Gogh painted the picture now known as "Moonrise" in 1889, capturing the rising moon as it appeared at 9:08 p.m. local mean time on July 13.

  4. Astronomy

    Stellar Top: Astronomers find a squashed star

    Astronomers have found a rapidly spinning, squashed star that is more than 1.5 times as wide as it is tall.

  5. Astronomy

    Telescope spies a galactic satellite

    A huge gas cloud once considered a remnant from when the Milky Way or nearby galaxies formed is, in fact, a satellite of our galaxy.

  6. Astronomy

    Mystery in the Middle

    The Milky Way's core is loaded with seemingly young stars, which have no business being there.

  7. Astronomy

    Sharpening a Heavenly Image: Clear view of globular cluster’s crowded core

    Using innovative optics to take the twinkle out of starlight, the Gemini North Telescope on Hawaii's Mauna Kea has recorded the sharpest infrared images ever of a crowded grouping of Milky Way stars.

  8. Astronomy

    Lucky shot

    To protect its sensitive optics, the Hubble Space Telescope had to turn its back on last November’s Leonid meteor storm, and that fortuitously put the luminous Helix nebula directly in the telescope’s sightline.

  9. Astronomy

    Galactic RAVE

    A new study of thousands of Milky Way stars and their motion toward and away from Earth should provide new clues about how our galaxy formed.

  10. Planetary Science

    Slowdown on Saturn? Windy doings on the ringed planet

    The winds in Saturn’s upper atmosphere are some of the swiftest in the solar system, but recent findings suggest there’s been a dramatic slowdown.

  11. Astronomy

    Finding a nearby star

    Astronomers have discovered a star that may be among the very closest known to us.

  12. Astronomy

    Satellite begins its ultraviolet survey

    NASA last month released the first images taken by the recently launched Galaxy Evolution Explorer satellite.