Astronomy
Follow the Fall 2023 Return of Comet 103P Hartley
Catch periodic cosmic interloper 103P Hartley while you can.
Did a Comet Airburst Destroy a Native American Community?
In 1908, when an object entered the Earth’s atmosphere above the Podkamennaya Tunguska River, it flattened 80 million trees over…
Another New Way to Measure Distance in the Universe: Baryon Acoustic Oscillations
A team of astronomers have developed a new technique that relies on Baryon Acoustic Oscillations to measure cosmic distances.
The Space Station is Getting Gigabit Internet
NASA is upgrading the ISS communication system with the first end-to-end laser relay system.
TESS Finds a Planet That Takes 482 Days to Orbit, the Widest it’s Seen so Far
We're rapidly learning that our Solar System, so familiar to us all, does not represent normal. A couple of decades…
JWST Gazes into the Dark Molecular Clouds at the Heart of the Milky Way
There's an unusual object near the Milky Way's heart that astronomers call "The Brick." It's a massive cloud of gas…
Some Galaxies Contain Double Supermassive Black Holes
Blazars occupy an intriguing spot in the cosmic zoo. They're bright active galactic nuclei (AGN) that blast out cosmic rays,…
A Bizarre Pulsar Switches Between Two Brightness Modes. Astronomers Finally Figured Out Why.
Pulsars are the lighthouses of the universe. These rotating dead stars shoot twin jets of radiation from their poles, usually…
Is Humanity Ready to Realize the Dream of Interstellar Travel?
For generations, humans have dreamed, speculated, and theorized about the possibility of journeying to distant stars, finding habitable planets around…
Did this Supernova Explode Twice?
All supernovae are exploding stars. But the nature of a supernova explosion varies quite a bit. One type, named Type…