Astronomy
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AstronomyCrater Shake: Tremors erased asteroid’s topography
Seismic shock waves from a large meteor impact on the asteroid Eros might have rearranged surface rubble, destroying crater structures over much of the asteroid.
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AstronomyGrand illusion
Astronomers have detected the most distant cosmic mirage ever recorded.
By Ron Cowen -
AstronomyCore mystery
Despite new images from the Hubble Space Telescope, the brightest known supernova of the past 400 years remains a puzzle for astronomers.
By Ron Cowen -
AstronomyTriple Play: A planet with three suns
Three suns grace the skies above a newly found, Jupiterlike extrasolar planet, posing a puzzle for how massive planets form in a closely-knit, multiple-star system.
By Ron Cowen -
AstronomyCore Finding: Latest, oddest planet hints at how orbs form
A newly discovered planet beyond the solar system has the most massive core of any planet known.
By Ron Cowen -
AstronomyRumblings from a dead star
The burned-out cinder left behind when a massive Milky Way star exploded recently underwent its own outburst.
By Ron Cowen -
AstronomyPanning Distant Dust
Astronomers are using hundreds of newly detected debris disks found around a variety of nearby stars to hunt for planets and learn about the evolution of our solar system.
By Ron Cowen -
AstronomyMaking waves
Locked in a deadly embrace, two white dwarf stars may be the strongest source of gravitational waves now flooding our galaxy.
By Ron Cowen -
AstronomyThe supernova that wasn’t
A brilliant stellar outburst once thought to be a supernova explosion actually left the star intact.
By Ron Cowen -
AstronomyAndromeda gets bigger
A new study reveals that the diameter of the Andromeda galaxy's disk spans some 220,000 light-years, three times as big as had been estimated.
By Ron Cowen -
AstronomyPeering into a disrupted stellar nursery
A new infrared portrait of the Carina nebula star-forming region shows a clutch of baby stars tucked inside pillars of thick dust.
By Ron Cowen -
AstronomySpotty neutron stars
Astronomers have for the first time discerned hot spots on the surfaces of neutron stars.
By Ron Cowen