Space

Planetary Science

Enceladus: Small but feisty

Close-up observations of Saturn's tiny moon Enceladus reveal that its south pole is hotter than its equator and that the icy satellite continues to undergo eruptions.

Astronomy

Big sky

The biggest survey of the heavens just got bigger when the Sloan Digital Sky Survey received a 3-year extension.

Astronomy

Three’s Company: Asteroid 87 Sylvia and her two moons

Astronomers have for the first time discovered an asteroid with two moons, an indication that the rock is highly porous.

Astronomy

Cosmic soot

Astronomers have found a group of complex organic compounds, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, from a time when the universe was less than one-third its current age.

Astronomy

Cosmic Computing

The largest computer simulation of the universe ever compiled uses dark matter to shed light on the formation of galaxies and on the visible structure of the universe.

Planetary Science

Bigger than Pluto: Tenth planet or icy leftover?

Astronomers have found a body larger and more distant than Pluto, the biggest object found in the solar system since Neptune and its moon Triton were discovered in 1846.

Planetary Science

Cassini eyes youthful-looking Saturnian moon

On July 14, the Cassini spacecraft came within 175 kilometers of the south polar region of Saturn's bright, tiny moon Enceladus, revealing a tortured terrain of faults, folds, and ridges.

Astronomy

Planet potential

Observations with the Submillimeter Array on Hawaii's Mauna Kea reveal that, despite their bombardment by a stellar bully, the disks in Orion have enough material to form planets.

Astronomy

A new X-ray eye on the cosmos

To study some of the hottest regions in the universe, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency has launched the coldest instrument ever flown.

Astronomy

Crater 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.

Astronomy

Grand illusion

Astronomers have detected the most distant cosmic mirage ever recorded.

Astronomy

Core mystery

Despite new images from the Hubble Space Telescope, the brightest known supernova of the past 400 years remains a puzzle for astronomers.