WISE
Nearby Brown Dwarf System May Harbor Closest Exoplanet to Earth
In 2012 astronomers announced the discovery of an Earth-like planet circling our nearest neighbor, Alpha Centauri B, a mere 4.3…
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…
Galaxy May Host ‘Death Spiral’ Of Two Black Holes Becoming One
Two black holes in the middle of a galaxy are gravitationally bound to each other and may be starting to…
Exploring Our Galaxy’s Ancient Brown Dwarfs
As the name implies, a brown dwarf is small... only about 7% the size of the Sun. As far as…
Weekly Space Hangout – Aug. 23, 2013: Mars One, Zombie WISE, Luca Parmitano, Wave at Saturn
It's time for the Weekly Space Hangout. This is our weekly rundown on all the big space news stories of…
How A New Family Tree of Space Rocks Could Better Protect Earth
In perhaps the neatest astronomical application of geneology yet, astronomers found 28 "hidden" families of asteroids that could eventually show…
Closely-Orbiting Stellar Companions Surrounded by “Mystery Dust”
Artist's concept showing a dust disk around a binary system containing a white dwarf and a less-massive M (red) dwarf…
How Many Asteroids Are Out There?
Answer: a LOT. And there's new ones being discovered all the time, as this fascinating animation by Scott Manley shows.…
WISE Spies a Hunter’s Flame
A vast star-forming cloud of gas and dust in the constellation Orion shines brightly in this image from NASA's WISE…
The Heavens are Ablaze With Blazars
[/caption] From a JPL press release: Astronomers are actively hunting a class of supermassive black holes throughout the universe called…