All Stories by Ron Cowen
- Planetary Science
Happy landing: Craft descends onto Eros
On Feb. 12, NEAR Shoemaker became the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid, the space rock 433 Eros.
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Life’s Housing May Come from Space
The cell-like envelopes in which life on Earth arose and evolved may literally have dropped from the sky.
- Astronomy
Pulsar ages may need refiguring
New images taken by the Chandra X-ray Observatory confirm that a known pulsar, a rapidly spinning neutron star, was born in a supernova explosion that Chinese astronomers witnessed in 386 A.D. and call into question how astronomers traditionally compute the ages of pulsars.
- Astronomy
Cloudy puzzle on Uranus
Astronomers can’t explain the seemingly ephemeral nature of bright clouds seen on the northernmost sunlit edge of Uranus.
- Astronomy
Peering at black holes: An eventful look
Two new studies provide supporting evidence for event horizons, the one-way membranes that surround black holes.
- Astronomy
A Jovian moon lost and found
After 25 years, astronomers have relocated a tiny satellite of Jupiter.
- Astronomy
A trio of new planets
With the discovery of three additional planets that lie outside the solar system, astronomers have now found evidence of more than 50 extrasolar planets.
- Planetary Science
Stormy Weather
The 11-year cycle of solar storms has begun to peak, already affecting several Earth satellites and disturbing electric power systems on the ground, and scientists expect 2 more years of this solar maximum turmoil.
- Astronomy
Astronomers find two planetary systems
Each of the newly discovered systems features a star roughly similar to the sun and a bizarre entourage of planets and possibly a failed star that may provide fresh insight into planet formation.
- Astronomy
X rays unveil secret lives of black holes
New studies challenge the notion that supermassive black holes finished growing soon after their host galaxies formed and suggest new ways to find these black holes and measure their mass.
