Step On The Scales: Weighing Up Planet Earth…
Scientists at the European Southern Observatory have identified the closest looking solar system to our own. They located a sun-like…
The Origin of Exoplanets
[/caption] We truly live in an amazing time for exoplanet research. It was only 18 years ago the first planet…
Astronomy Without A Telescope – Space Towers
[/caption] Arthur C Clarke allegedly said that the space elevator would be built fifty years after people stopped laughing. The…
The Black Hole/Globular Cluster Correlation
[/caption] Often in astronomy, one observable property traces another property which may be more difficult to observe directly; X-ray activity…
Ars Electronica Festival – Don’t Miss September 6!
Ars Electronica made its debut on September 18, 1979. This festival of art, technology and society spotlighted the emerging Digital…
Viking Experiment May Have Found Life’s Building Blocks on Mars After All
[/caption] A new look at data from the Mars Viking landers concludes that the two landers may have found the…
NASA Satellites and Spacecraft Look Into the Eye of Hurricane Earl
[/caption] NASA scientists, instruments and spacecraft are busy studying Hurricane Earl from both the air and space, and an unmanned…
New Horizons Mission Practices Telescopic Imager on Pluto’s Twin
[/caption] This summer, the New Horizons spacecraft was awoken for its annual systems checkout, and took the opportunity to exercise…
How to Crash Stars Together
[/caption] The math is simple: Star + Other star = Bigger star. While conceptually this works well, it fails to…
Ultraluminous Gamma Ray Burst 080607 – A “Monster in the Dark”
[/caption] Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) are among the most energetic phenomena astronomers regularly observe. These events are triggered by massive…