All Stories by Ron Cowen
- Astronomy
Sampling the sun
A spacecraft has begun a 30-month mission in which it will collect samples of the solar wind and bring them back to Earth.
- Astronomy
Watching a dying star transform
Astronomers have for the first time caught a dying star at the very beginning of a brief, shining period, when it's known as a planetary nebula.
- Astronomy
Galaxy survey sheds light on dark matter
Astronomers are examining some of the brightest objects in the universe to learn about the darkest stuff.
- Astronomy
Galileo catches Io in a slump
Galileo spacecraft images show for the first time that material has slid downward along a cliff on Jupiter's moon Io.
- Astronomy
Observing the sun’s magnetic pull
A spacecraft studying the sun has spotted clouds of gas that seem to be headed the wrong way, falling back toward the solar surface instead of continuing to move outward with the stream of charged particles known as the solar wind.
- Astronomy
A night of shooting stars
Thousands of people in North America who got up early on Nov. 18 were treated to a memorable sky show: White, yellow, blue, and green fireballs, some leaving behind smoke trails, streaked across the sky.
- Astronomy
Journey through the Universe
A new permanent exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum traces the development of tools used to study the heavens and how they have changed our understanding of the universe.
- Astronomy
Did Space Rocks Deliver Sugar?
Planetary scientists have for the first time detected sugar compounds in meteorites, bolstering the view that space rocks seeded the early Earth with ingredients essential for the development of life.
- Astronomy
X-ray craft sees Venus in whole new light
Astronomers have unveiled the first X-ray image of Venus.
- Astronomy
Craft Probes Alien Planet’s Atmosphere
Astronomers have for the first time detected the atmosphere of a planet that lies well beyond the solar system.
- Astronomy
Is this young star ready to form planets?
New observations suggest that a mere stripling of a star, which might be as young as 300,000 years old, has already formed planetesimals, the building blocks of planets.
- Astronomy
SOHO craft gets the lowdown on sunspots
Using sound waves to obtain the first clear picture of the structure beneath the surface of a sunspot, scientists say they now have an explanation for why these dark blemishes-sites of intense magnetic activity-can persist for days.
