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Your online destination for news articles on planets, cosmology, NASA, space missions, and more. You’ll also find information on how to observe upcoming visible sky events such as meteor showers, solar and lunar eclipses, key planetary appearances, comets, and asteroids.
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In the past seven days, the Dawn spacecraft revealed unexpected geologic features on the asteroid Vesta, astronomers detect the first normal-sized black hole away from the immediate vicinity of our galaxy, new mesaurements indicated that billions of rocky planets exist in the habitable zones around red dwarfs, scientists discovered huge tornadoes on the Sun, and more.
Published: March 30, 2012 |
 | Based on new, more accurate measurements of distant galaxies, astronomers believe the expansion of the universe started accelerating some 5 to 7 billion years ago.
By Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Published: March 30, 2012 |
 | A team of scientists has mapped the distribution of elements in the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A in unprecedented detail.
By Chandra X-ray Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Published: March 30, 2012 |
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Astronomers discover why and how comets explode, fizzle out, or survive a flight through the Sun's atmosphere.
By Royal Astronomical Society, United Kingdom
Published: March 30, 2012 |
 | The picture represents part of a 10-year project involving scientists from the United Kingdom, Europe, and Chile who gathered data from two telescopes.
By Royal Astronomical Society, United Kingdom
Published: March 29, 2012 |
 | The Mars Science Laboratory mission will attempt to place its rover, Curiosity, at the foot of Mount Sharp this August.
By Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California
Published: March 29, 2012 |
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These storms drag winding magnetic field and electric currents into the high solar atmosphere, which could play a key role in driving coronal mass ejections.
By Royal Astronomical Society, United Kingdom
Published: March 29, 2012 |
 | These observations bring scientists closer to understanding the complexities of Saturn’s magnetosphere and its ever-elusive rotation period.
By Royal Astronomical Society, United Kingdom
Published: March 28, 2012 |
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Astronomers have discovered two planets that orbit an extremely metal-poor star with an estimated age of 12.8 billion years.
By Max Planck Institute, Garching, Germany
Published: March 28, 2012 |
 | New measurements indicate that about 100 super-Earth planets lie in the habitable zones around stars in our Sun’s neighborhood.
By ESO, Garching, Germany
Published: March 28, 2012 |
 | The team used the Chandra X-ray Observatory to make six 100,000-second-long exposures of Centaurus A, detecting an object with 50,000 times the X-ray brightness of our Sun.
By Royal Astronomical Society, United Kingdom
Published: March 27, 2012 |
 | Data show that while mergers triggered star formation in some galaxies in the early universe, the majority of star-forming galaxies were not undergoing interactions; the amount of gas present drove the formation.
By Royal Astronomical Society, United Kingdom
Published: March 27, 2012 |
 | More than 60 student-requested images were taken aboard the Ebb spacecraft March 15–17 and downlinked to Earth March 20.
By NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
Published: March 26, 2012 |
 | Scientists did not expect such a wide variety of distinct dark deposits across Vesta’s surface.
By NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
Published: March 26, 2012 |
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In the past seven days, scientists released the widest deep view of the sky ever made using infrared light, new research indicated that hypervelocity planets could be speeding through our galaxy, MESSENGER completed its first year in orbit around Mercury, and more.
Published: March 23, 2012 |
 | Such speedy worlds, called hypervelocity planets, are produced in the same way as hypervelocity stars.
By Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Published: March 23, 2012 |
 | The measurement was achieved by using the solar telescope aboard a NASA satellite, thereby bypassing the blurring caused by Earth’s atmosphere that occurs when observations are made from the ground.
By University of Hawaii at Manoa's Institute for Astronomy, Honolulu
Published: March 23, 2012 |
 | Astronomers suspect that the rectangular galaxy may resemble an inflated disk seen side-on.
By Subaru Telescope Facility, Hilo, Hawaii
Published: March 22, 2012 |
 | Scientists have discovered that the core of the innermost planet is larger and more complex than expected and that Mercury’s formation wasn’t as orderly as some assumed.
By University of California, Santa Barbara
Published: March 22, 2012 |
 | Studies suggest that type Ia supernovae likely originate from an exotic scenario, possibly the explosive merger of two white dwarfs.
By Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Published: March 21, 2012 |
 | A treasure-trove of new infrared data is made available to astronomers, including records of more than 200,000 galaxies.
By ESO, Garching, Germany
Published: March 21, 2012 |
 | While cosmic radiation poses risks to astronauts and spacecraft, it also may have been a fundamental agent of change on celestial bodies by irradiating water ice and causing chemical reactions.
By University of New Hampshire, Durham
Published: March 20, 2012 |
 | Scientists identified high-energy radiation from baby Sun-like stars as the likely force that carves gaps in protoplanetary disks. The gaps then act as barricades, corralling planets into certain orbits.
By University of Leicester, United Kingdom
Published: March 20, 2012 |
 | A giant cloud of gas and dust 770 light-years away contains the first clear case of a clump of potentially star-forming gas on the verge of creating dense cores without the influence of nearby stars.
By NRAO, Socorro, New Mexico
Published: March 19, 2012 |
 | Gravitational lensing candidates are invaluable for estimating the mass of a quasar’s host galaxy.
By STScl, Baltimore, Maryland
Published: March 19, 2012 |
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In the past seven days, scientists released all the infrared data from NASA's WISE mission, Chandra researchers created the most detailed 3-D pictures yet taken of dark matter in a galaxy cluster, the telescope industry lost a great innovator, and more.
Published: March 16, 2012 |
 | The individual WISE exposures have been combined into an atlas of more than 18,000 images covering the sky, and a catalog listing the infrared properties of more than 560 million individual objects found in the images.
By NASA/JPL, NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
Published: March 16, 2012 |
 | The elements crucial to life on Earth, like oxygen, carbon, and iron, are very scarce in this globular cluster.
By Hubble ESA, Garching, Germany
Published: March 16, 2012 |
 | A team of astronomers has found in six galaxies between 5 and 8 billion light-years away the first direct evidence that gas adrift in intergalactic space does indeed flow back into star-forming galaxies.
By Max Planck Institute, Heidelberg, Germany
Published: March 15, 2012 |
 | The recent work on Abell 383 provides one of the most detailed 3-D pictures yet taken of dark matter in a galaxy cluster.
By Chandra X-ray Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Published: March 15, 2012 |
 | For the first time, it’s clear that Jupiter’s jet streams, like Earth’s, wander off course.
By NASA/JPL
Published: March 14, 2012 |
 | Smooth gas flow seems to have been a big factor in the building of galaxies in the very young universe, whereas mergers became more important later.
By ESO, Garching, Germany
Published: March 14, 2012 |
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The nearest planet to Earth appears high and bright in the evening sky in March.
By Liz Kruesi
Published: March 14, 2012 |
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Tom Johnson founded the telescope company in 1960 and revolutionized the hobby with the Celestron 8.
By Karri Ferron
Published: March 13, 2012 |
 | Scientific results prove the efficacy of Earth’s magnetic field in deflecting the solar wind and protecting our atmosphere.
By ESA, Noordwijk, Netherlands
Published: March 13, 2012 |
 | During the flyby, Cassini created a 30-frame mosaic of Rhea’s leading hemisphere and the side of the moon that faces away from Saturn.
By NASA/JPL
Published: March 13, 2012 |
 | New experiments may help explain why the present universe is filled mostly with matter, and not equal parts of matter and antimatter.
By University of California, Berkeley
Published: March 12, 2012 |
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In the past seven days, a large solar flare sent particles toward Earth, an orbitor captured a dust storm on Mars, scientist got closer to an understanding of antimatter, and more.
Published: March 9, 2012 |
 | Scientists are a step closer to making precision comparisons between ordinary matter and antimatter.
By CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
Published: March 9, 2012 |
 | The findings make scientists suspect that the Milky Way is a much more active star-forming galaxy than previously thought.
By NASA/JPL
Published: March 9, 2012 |
 | Dust devils, which are spinning columns of air, occur on Earth as well as on Mars.
By NASA/JPL
Published: March 8, 2012 |
 | Scientists predict that the coronal mass ejections will impact both Earth and Mars, as well as pass by several NASA spacecraft.
By NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
Published: March 8, 2012 |
 | A recent study has found clear evidence on Venus for a type of space weather outburst quite common on Earth, called a hot flow anomaly.
By NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
Published: March 7, 2012 |
 | The numerous interactions and the large number of gas-rich, star-forming spiral galaxies in the cluster make the members of the Hercules cluster look like the young galaxies of the more distant universe.
By ESO, Garching, Germany
Published: March 7, 2012 |
 | Slated for launch in 2018, Solar Probe Plus will orbit the Sun 24 times, gradually moving in toward the Sun with each pass.
By Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab, Laurel, Maryland
Published: March 6, 2012 |
 | Researchers have conclusively identified a family of nanodiamonds, including the impact form of nanodiamonds called lonsdaleite, which is unique to cosmic impact.
By University of California, Santa Barbara
Published: March 6, 2012 |
 | A stellar census indicates that the merger of a double white dwarf system is a plausible explanation for type Ia supernovae.
By Sloan Digital Sky Survey Press Office in Baltimore, Maryland
Published: March 5, 2012 |
 | Twelve-year-old Jenna Elliott of Sanford, North Carolina, wins a trip to the Northeast Astronomy Forum & Telescope Show with her entry for Astronomy’s 2012 Youth Essay Contest. By Karri Ferron
Published: March 5, 2012 |
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In the past seven days, a dark matter clump defied explanation, astronomers discovered oxygen in saturnian moon Dione's exosphere, a Mars imager celebrated a decade of work, the Very Large Telescope rediscovered life on Earth, and more.
Published: March 2, 2012 |
 | New results from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope confirm that dark matter and galaxies separated in Abell 520 instead of staying anchored together, as predicted.
By NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
Published: March 2, 2012 |
 | Scientists now think oxygen production is a universal process wherever an icy moon is bathed in a strong trapped-radiation and plasma environment.
By University College London, United Kingdom
Published: March 2, 2012 |
 | Astronomers were surprised to see the brightness of the young objects varying by more than 20 percent over just a few weeks.
By ESA, Noordwijk, Netherlands
Published: March 1, 2012 |
 | Out of almost two dozen entries, The Albuquerque Astronomical Society wins Astronomy’s annual award honoring astronomy outreach programs. By Bill Andrews
Published: March 1, 2012 |
 | Since February 2002, the multi-band camera aboard NASA’s Mars Odyssey orbiter has taken more than a half-million images of the Red Planet.
By Arizona State University, Tempe
Published: March 1, 2012 |
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