Ron Cowen

All Stories by Ron Cowen

  1. Planetary Science

    Craft tracks giant dust storm on Mars

    The largest dust storm observed on Mars in 25 years is now engulfing the Red Planet.

  2. Astronomy

    A Rocky Bicentennial

    Mounting evidence that many asteroids aren't solid rock but collections of loosely bound fragments could have far-reaching implications for elucidating their internal structure, understanding planet formation, and developing strategies to mitigate the threat of one striking Earth.

  3. Astronomy

    Bow-wowing them with radar

    The sharpest radar image ever of an asteroid shows features on 1999 KW4 as small as 7.5 meters—about the length of a stretch limo.

  4. Astronomy

    Landing data confirm Eros’ primitive nature

    Gamma rays detected by the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft after it landed on asteroid 433 Eros add to evidence that the rock is unaltered since the birth of the solar system.

  5. Astronomy

    A comet continues to crumble

    Ever since astronomers first spied a comet 6 months ago and officially dubbed it C/2001 A2, the icy body has been breaking apart.

  6. Astronomy

    A new giant in the Kuiper belt

    An icy body in the Kuiper belt, a reservoir of comets in the solar system beyond Neptune, is a record setter for the belt and bigger than Pluto's moon Charon.

  7. Astronomy

    Andromeda feasts on its satellite galaxies

    A new study reveals that the Andromeda galaxy, the nearest large galaxy to the Milky Way, is a cannibal, devouring its tiny galactic neighbors.

  8. Astronomy

    An Illuminating Journey

    Astronomers are beginning to use the cosmic microwave background, the remnant glow from the Big Bang, in a dramatically different way: Instead of treating it as a snapshot of the early universe, researchers are proposing to employ the radiation as a flashlight that probes the evolution of structure in the universe over its entire 13-billion-year history.

  9. Planetary Science

    Nearby star may have its own asteroid belt

    Observations of warm dust swaddling a young, nearby star suggest that astronomers may have found evidence of a massive asteroid belt outside the solar system.

  10. Astronomy

    Survey Probes Cosmos from Near to Far

    Early reports from the most mammoth sky surveys ever conducted are yielding a trove of findings, including the two most distant quasars known in the universe, new knowledge about the large-scale clumping of galaxies, and more evidence about the size and distribution of asteroids in our solar system.

  11. Astronomy

    Nine Planets, or Eight?

    Astronomers probe Pluto's place in the solar system.

  12. Astronomy

    Sounds of the universe confirm Big Bang

    Two experiments examining the detailed structure of the cosmic microwave background, the relic radiation from the Big Bang, have confirmed the basic model of how cosmologists believe the universe evolved.