What’s Up this Week: August 28 – September 3, 2006
Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! Saturn returns to the morning sky and Selene is back to rule the night. Follow along this…
Fine Tuning the Search for Black Holes
Although black holes can't be seen directly, they're relatively easy to find. Matter spiraling into a black hole becomes superheated,…
The Secret to Earth’s Shining Auroras
Auroras appear near to the poles when material from the Sun interacts with the Earth's magnetic field. Now ESA's Cluster…
Did Mariner IV Pass Through a Comet’s Tail?
On July 14, 1965, NASA's Mariner 4 made the first successful flyby of Mars; after six spacecraft had already failed…
STS-115 Brings More Power to the Station
STS-115 is an ambitious mission that returns the focus of human spaceflight to building the International Space Station, bringing new…
Astrophoto: Fleming’s Triangular Wisp by Steve Cannistra
Evidence of Astronomy has been found in most ancient cultures. The Egyptians, the Babylonians, the Mesopotamians, the Chinese- and in…
Pluto’s Out of the Planet Club
Last year we had 9 planets. Recently we were informed it would grow to 12. Now we've only got 8.…
Supermassive Black Holes Prevent Star Formation
The supermassive black holes thought to be lurking at the heart of most galaxies could create such a hostile environment…
Sea Launch Lofts Koreasat 5
A Zenit-3SL vehicle blasted off Tuesday morning from the Sea Launch facility, carrying a Koreasat 5 telecommunications satellite into orbit.…
Star Formation in the Large Magellanic Cloud
This photograph is of an active star formation region in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky…