All Stories by Ron Cowen
- Planetary Science
A comet’s tail
Already under observation by astronomers, Hartley 2 will be visible in dark skies when it passes Earth on October 20.
- Space
Life may have started sky high
Simulations of the atmosphere on Saturn’s moon Titan suggest that basic chemical ingredients could have formed far above early Earth.
- Space
It’s only a seltzer moon
Plumes spewing from the south pole of Saturn’s Enceladus may have carbonated source, a new analysis suggests.
- Space
Why Mars is a lightweight
Two new models of the early solar system try to explain why the Red Planet failed to grow as large as Earth or Venus.
- Space
First it’s there, then it’s knot
Discovered just a year ago, a tangle of atoms at the edge of the solar system disappears before astrophysicists’ eyes, leaving questions behind.
- Space
Glowing auroras ring Saturn
A new movie documents changes in Saturn’s lights over nearly two days on the planet.
- Space
Particles in cahoots
Physicists have discovered curious connections in subatomic debris produced by the world’s largest particle collider.
- Space
An uncomfortable silence
At NASA meeting, answers to questions about cost overruns on the Hubble’s successor prove difficult to come by.
- Space
Between the sheets
The detection of layered minerals in a young star’s planet-forming region suggests an origin for Earth’s oceans.
- Space
Asteroids miss with astronomers
Close brushes with small objects like the ones that swept past Earth on Wednesday are actually fairly common.
- Space
Mars shows signs of recent activity
The surface of Mars had abundant liquid water as well as volcanic activity during the past 100 million years, a new study of the Martian atmosphere suggests.
- Astronomy
Mars organics get new lease on life
More than three decades after the Viking mission failed to find compounds necessary for carbon-based life, a new analysis suggests they could actually be present at detectable levels in the planet’s soil.
