Astronomy
How Many Satellites are in Space?
The space age began on October 4, 1957 with the launch of the first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1. This tiny…
Taking Measure: A ‘New’ Most Distant Galaxy
"The farthest galaxy yet seen!" Haven't we heard that one before? (See here and here, for example.) While it's true…
Comet LINEAR Suddenly Brightens with Outburst: How to See It
It’s swiftly becoming an “all comets, all the time” sort of observing season. The cyber-ink was barely dry on our…
How to See This Season’s “Other” Comet: 2P/Encke
2013 may well go down as “The Year of the Comet.” After over a decade punctuated by only sporadic bright…
Planck Enters Retirement Shortly; This Picture Shows Just Some Of Its Views
With two days left before Planck switches off forever, the European Space Agency re-posted this beautiful image the telescope recently…
Why is Mars Red?
Another name for Mars is the Red Planet, and if you’ve ever seen it in the sky when the planet…
Tilt-A-Whirl! A Tale Of Strange Planetary Orbits In Kepler-56
A faraway group of planets is puzzling scientists. Newly reported Kepler-56's system has three planets -- two smaller ones close…
Here’s A Nine-Billion-Year Old Gravitational Lens In Space
Here's a picture of what deflected light looks like from 9.4 billion years away. This is the most faraway "gravitational…
How Will the Universe End?
The evidence that the Universe began with the Big Bang is very compelling. 13.8 billion years ago, the entire Universe…
On the Road to One Thousand Exoplanets
A quiet milestone in modern astronomy may soon come to pass. As of today, The Extrasolar Planets Encyclopedia lists a…