Space
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Astronomy
Taking a census of brown dwarfs
Researchers have completed the most thorough census to date of brown dwarfs in stellar clusters and have confirmed earlier findings about these failed stars.
- Astronomy
A new receiver for alien broadcasts
A $12.5 million grant will help build the world's largest telescope designed to search for radio broadcasts from alien civilizations.
- Astronomy
Neutron stars twist Einstein’s theory
Astronomers may finally have found evidence of a key prediction of Einstein's general theory of relativity—that a spinning object drags space-time along with it.
- Astronomy
Young pulsar has a split personality
A new pulsar, the youngest discovered to date, unexpectedly exhibits properties of both regular pulsars and a recently explored class of supermagnetic pulsars, the magnetars.
- Astronomy
Telescope takes close-ups of distant star
Radio astronomers have for the first time probed ejected gas in the immediate surroundings of a distant star.
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- Astronomy
Comet LINEAR: Breaking up isn’t hard to do
New images reveal that Comet LINEAR, which passed near the sun late last month, has broken into at least 10 fragments.
- Astronomy
Evidence grows for nearby planetary system
Astronomers have found the nearest known planet that lies outside the solar system, a mere 10.5 light-years from Earth.
- Astronomy
Telescope finds tiny moon of Jupiter
Astronomers reported the discovery of Jupiter's 17th known moon, the first Jovian moon discovered in 25 years and perhaps the tiniest known satellite of any planet.
- Astronomy
A comet’s chilly origin
Astronomers have detected argon in comet Hale-Bopp, the first time an inert gas has been found in one of these icy bodies and an indication that the comet formed in the frigid outer solar system between the orbits of Uranus and Neptune.
- Astronomy
X-ray flare from a dim source
An X-ray flare coming from a old, failed star has surprised astronomers.
- Astronomy
Dead stars may masquerade as ingenues
A heavenly deception in which dead stars lie about their ages could throw into disarray theories describing some of the densest objects in the cosmos.
