Astronomy
Can Super-Fast Stars Unveil Dark Matter’s Secrets?
Zoom! A star was recently spotted speeding at 1.4 million miles an hour (2.2 million km/hr), which happened to be the closest…
Why Earth’s Spores Could Survive A Trip to Mars
Here's a finding to give planetary protectionists pause: two species of spores mounted on the International Space Station's hull a…
Found! Sun’s ‘Sibling’ Likely Formed From Same Gas Cloud, Astronomers Say
Peer about 110 light-years away from our solar system, and you might catch a glimpse of how our own neighborhood…
Observing Alert: See Mercury’s Best Evening Show of the Year
Don't let furtive Mercury slip through your fingers this spring. The next two and a half weeks will be the best…
Interesting Prospects for Comet A1 Siding Spring Versus the Martian Atmosphere
It may be the chance of a lifetime for planetary science. This October, a comet will brush past a planet,…
Star Trail Photo Hints at Hidden Polestars
A week ago I made a 45-minute time exposure of the southern sky featuring the planet Mars. As the Earth…
Asteroid 2013 UQ4 Suddenly Becomes a Dark Comet with a Bright Future
On October 23, 2013, astronomers with the Catalina Sky Survey picked up a very faint asteroid with an unusual orbit more…
The Hunt for KBOs for New Horizons’ Post-Pluto Encounter Continues
Are you ready for the summer of 2015? A showdown of epic proportions is in the making, as NASA’s New…
Most Powerful Solar Telescope on Earth Rises Atop Hawaiian Volcano
Rising 10,000 feet above the sunburned faces of 2.2 million tourists a year, the largest solar telescope on the planet…
Surprise Gamma-Ray Burst Behaves Differently Than Expected
Roughly once a day the sky is lit up by a mysterious torrent of energy. These events — known as gamma-ray…