Recent Lunar Discoveries Reveal a "New Moon"
Think you know about the Moon? I did, but then I started reading ‘The New Moon: Water, Exploration, and Future Habitation‘ (Cambridge University Press, 2014) and realized that my knowledge amounted to a teensy scrap of lunar dust.
NASA Mission Captures Orbital Waltz of Pluto and Charon
After a ten year journey, NASA’s New Horizons mission is still 420 million kilometers from the Pluto system – but that’s close enough to begin to see the orbital dance of an icy world and its major moon.
Experiment Triggers Superhot Plasma Outbursts to Untangle Solar Flare Mystery
Re-creating conditions on the sun’s surface inside a laboratory plasma chamber, scientists find surprising insights into solar outbursts
Telescope Will Search for Spacecraft's Post-Pluto Target
The Hubble space telescope could increase the chances of success for the New Horizons mission, which is currently nine tenths of the way to Pluto
"Beast" Asteroid to Fly by Earth on Sunday
What might be the effects if a large asteroid collided with Earth?
Pluto-Bound Spacecraft Faces Crisis
A scramble is on to find an object in the outer solar system's Kuiper Belt in time for a close-up visit
NASA Plans Mars Sample-Return Rover
Planetary geologists are set to narrow down a list of landing sites for a mission set for 2020
Heavenly Sounds: Hearing Astronomical Data Can Lead to Scientific Insights
Converting the energetic hail of cosmic radiation into audible tracks has produced better understanding of the solar wind and other astrophysical events—along with musical enjoyment
Heads Up! Thirteen Years Of Asteroid Impacts On Earth
Since the Chelyabinsk event in early 2013, when a brilliant meteor fireball streaked across Russian skies and exploded with the energy of thirty Hiroshima bombs, humans have paid slightly more attention to the potential danger of asteroids than before.
Telescope Apps Help Amateurs Hunt for Exoplanets
The "Automated Planet Finder" could make astronomers of us all
What do NYC Streets and Asteroids Have in Common?
Fatigue, that’s what. As a particularly frigid winter recedes across the north and east of the United States (we’ve become accustomed to milder weather in past years), the abuse suffered by asphalt roads is becoming apparent.
Chasing the Geomagnetic Storm for a Nighttime Light Experience Like No Other
Days of tracking solar flares, magnetic fields and solar winds pay off for skywatchers when the local weather and space weather cooperate to enable a glimpse of the breathtaking northern lights