Ron Cowen

All Stories by Ron Cowen

  1. Astronomy

    Repainting the cosmic palette

    After all the hue and cry about the color of the universe, astronomers have now revised their findings: It’s not pale green, but boring old beige.

  2. Planetary Science

    Mars Odyssey instrument revived

    Flight controllers have revived an instrument on the Mars Odyssey spacecraft that measures the amount of radiation bombarding the Martian surface.

  3. Planetary Science

    Probing Jupiter’s big magnetic bubble

    Simultaneous measurements by two spacecraft have probed in greater detail than ever before Jupiter’s magnetosphere, the invisible bubble of charged particles that surrounds the giant planet.

  4. Astronomy

    Rethinking an Astronomical Icon

    Examining the Eagle nebula's pillars of creation with infrared detectors, scientists are viewing an astronomical icon in a whole new light.

  5. Planetary Science

    Odyssey’s First Look: Craft spies signs of ice at the Martian south pole

    Astronomers have for the first time found evidence of large amounts of frozen water in the subsurface of Mars.

  6. Astronomy

    Martian equator: A watery outpost?

    A catastrophic outpouring of water—four times the volume contained in Lake Tahoe—may have gushed from fissures near the equator on Mars as recently as 10 million years ago.

  7. Astronomy

    Ambitious Mission: Hubble slated to get one heckuva tune-up

    If all goes according to plan, astronauts aboard the space shuttle Columbia will embark on the fourth and most technically challenging mission to replace damaged parts and install new detectors on the Hubble Space Telescope.

  8. Planetary Science

    Galileo at Jupiter: The goodbye tour

    After more than 6 years spent touring Jupiter and its four largest moons, the Galileo spacecraft’s mission is beginning to wind down.

  9. Astronomy

    The Milky Way’s Middle

    Sensitive X-ray, infrared, and radio telescopes are now providing an extraordinarily clear view of the dust-shrouded center of our galaxy.

  10. Astronomy

    X-Ray Universe: Quasar’s jet goes the distance

    Collisions with photons left over from the birth of the universe appear to have generated the longest X ray-emitting jet ever found in a distant galaxy.

  11. Astronomy

    UV telescopes: One dead, one revived

    One ultraviolet observatory burned up in Earth's atmosphere late last month while another has gotten a new lease on life.

  12. Planetary Science

    Extreme weather: Massive hurricanes meet on Jupiter

    Both professional and amateur sky watchers are pointing their telescopes at Jupiter as two titanic storms in the giant planet's upper atmosphere meet each other.