Astronomy
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Astronomy
When really big winds collide
A newly released image shows dramatic details of the Crescent nebula, a giant gaseous shell created by outbursts of a massive star about to explode as a supernova.
By Ron Cowen -
Astronomy
Vanishing planet
An object orbiting a distant star is too heavy to be a planet, researchers have concluded.
By Ron Cowen -
Astronomy
Extrasolar planet gets heavier
An extrasolar planet that tightly orbits its parent star is heavier than astronomers had thought.
By Ron Cowen -
Astronomy
Super Data: Hail the cosmic revolution
Ten extremely distant supernovas recently discovered by the Hubble Space Telescope provide evidence that something is pushing objects in the cosmos apart at an ever-faster rate.
By Ron Cowen -
Astronomy
Craft finds where sun’s corona gets its hots
New findings may help explain an enduring solar riddle: Although the sun's outer atmosphere lies thousands of kilometers above the visible surface of the sun, it's about 1,000 times hotter.
By Ron Cowen -
Astronomy
A Low Note in Cosmos: Sounding out a new role for black holes
Astronomers have for the first time detected sound waves generated by a black hole.
By Ron Cowen -
Astronomy
Solar system replica?
Carefully monitoring the motion of a star 90 light-years from Earth, astronomers have found what may be the closest analog known to our solar system.
By Ron Cowen -
Astronomy
Lights out
Astronomers who have conducted a detailed analysis of the colors of some 37,000 nearby galaxies conclude that the universe is gradually growing darker.
By Ron Cowen -
Astronomy
Getting the GOODS on Galaxies
A coordinated effort among the most powerful space and ground-based observatories to stare in detail at the same two patches of sky is revealing how galaxies assembled, how rapidly star formation proceeded in the early universe, and whether dark energy has recently revved up the expansion of the universe.
By Ron Cowen -
Astronomy
Hubble Highlights a Riddle: What’s the source of quick-return comets?
New observations from the Hubble Space Telescope demonstrate that scientists don't know where a major class of comets comes from.
By Ron Cowen -
Astronomy
Stellar Tantrums: Tracking the flaring cycles of other stars
Astronomers are closely tracking the ebb and flow of magnetic activity and powerful flares on stars other than the sun.
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Astronomy
Black Hole Life Preserver: Don’t get sucked in without one
By temporarily counteracting a black hole's tremendous tidal forces, a proposed black hole life preserver would slightly lengthen the life and shorten the agony of anyone exploring one of these gravitational beasts.
By Ron Cowen