Space
- 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.
- 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.
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- 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.
- Planetary Science
Asteroid Eros poses a magnetic puzzle
Measurements with a magnetometer aboard the NEAR-Shoemaker spacecraft a few days after it landed on the asteroid 433 Eros confirmed a major puzzle: The rock has no detectable magnetic field.
- Astronomy
Captured on Camera: Are They Planets?
Studying several groups of nearby, newborn stars–many of which weren't known until a few years ago–researchers may soon obtain the first image of a bona fide planet orbiting a star other than our sun.
- Astronomy
Snacking in space: Star dines on planet
Astronomers have found evidence that a star has swallowed one or more of its own planets.
- Astronomy
Free-floaters: Images of planets?
Several recent studies have escalated the debate about what exactly constitutes a planet.
- Astronomy
Astronomers get the spin on black holes
Recording the X-ray flashes emitted by matter as it plunges into one of these gravitational beasts, astronomers last week reported strong evidence that black holes spin like whirling dervishes, dragging space-time along with them.
- Astronomy
Have scientists seen planets in the making?
Astronomers may finally have glimpsed a key step in the construction of a planet.
- Astronomy
Solar cannibalism
Billion-ton clouds of charged gas hurled from the sun can overtake and eat their slower-moving gaseous brethren, complicating predictions of when and if one of these clouds might strike Earth.
- Astronomy
Raging sun provides earthly light show
At the tumultous peak of its 11-year activity cycle, the sun is spitting out X-ray flares and belching giant clouds of high-energy particles at a furious rate.
