Astronomy
New Technique Puts Exoplanets on the Scale
Astronomers constantly probe the skies for the unexpected. They search for unforeseen bumps in their data — signaling an unknown…
Search for Planetary Nurseries in the Latest Citizen Science Project
Growing up, my sister played video games and I read books. Now that she has a one-year-old daughter we constantly…
How to Not Die While Stargazing in the Cold
Bitter cold lies ahead for many skywatchers in the U.S. and Canada in the coming week as the polar vortex…
Watch Gaia Go From Lab to Launch in Two Minutes
In the early pre-dawn hours on December 19, 2013, with a rumble and a roar, a Soyuz rocket blazed through…
Selling Rocks from Outer Space: an Interview with ‘Meteorite Man’ Geoff Notkin
What's the oldest thing you've ever held in your hand? A piece of petrified wood? A fossilized trilobite? A chunk…
Dark Sky Regulations Bring Zodiacal Light to Rhode Island Observatory
The result of sunlight reflected off fine particles of dust aligned along the plane of the Solar System, zodiacal light…
Global Warming Explained in 52 Seconds
We are awash in the unseen, the unknown and the unexplained. Our Universe is enshrouded in mystery. Even what we…
Prebiotic Molecules May Form in Exoplanet Atmospheres
Before there was life as we know it, there were molecules. And after many seemingly unlikely steps these molecules underwent…
Happy Holidays from Cassini!
Cassini couldn't make it to the mall this year to do any Christmas shopping but that's ok: we're all getting…
Watch a Star Blast Out Waves of Light
6,500 light-years away in the southern constellation Puppis an enormous star pulses with light and energy, going through the first…