Astronomy
When Science is Art: a New Map of Wind Patterns
A new map of wind patterns is so visually stunning it's easily mistaken for art. This interactive visualization of wind…
Comet Tourism Flight Trades ISON For Lovejoy
When Comet ISON entered its zombie stage a few weeks ago, the effects were not only felt in the astronomical…
How Scientists Confirmed The Mass Of An Invisible Exoplanet
Planets are so very tiny next to stars outside of the solar system, making it really hard to spot exoplanets…
Lithopanspermia: How Earth May Have Seeded Life on Other Solar System Bodies
With the recent discovery that Europa has geysers, and therefore definitive proof of a liquid ocean, there’s a lot of…
Tonight: The Rise of the 2013 “Mini-Moon”
The final Full Moon of 2013 occurs tonight, and along with it comes something special: the most distant and visually…
Thousands Of Supermassive Black Holes Could Lurk In New X-Ray Data
Supermassive black holes likely are behind most of the nearly 100,000 new X-ray sources plotted by the Swift X-ray Telescope,…
When Is a Star Not a Star?
When it's a brown dwarf -- but where do we draw the line? Often called "failed stars," brown dwarfs are…
This Picture Symbolizes The Changing Mission Of One Plucky Spacecraft
Besides being a darn pretty picture of the Helix nebula, this snapshot is a bit of symbolism for NASA. The…
Why Exoplanet-Hunting Is ‘Like Seeing A Flea In A Lightbulb’
Exoplanets are really tiny compared to their host star, and it's hard to imagine sometimes how astronomers can even find…
Fast Radio Bursts May Originate Closer to Home Than Previously Thought
Fast radio bursts — eruptions of extreme energy that occur only once and last a thousandth of a second —…