Apr 14 Decades since the last great comet show, a promising candidate breaks down By Isabella Isaacs-Thomas The comet, known as C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS), has shown signs of falling apart, and is no longer expected to treat stargazers in the Northern Hemisphere to a spectacular show. Continue reading
Aug 01 New 3D maps of the Milky Way confirm our galaxy is warped By Vicky Stein It turns out our Milky Way galaxy isn't the flat spiral disk we thought it was before -- dark matter or collisions with other galaxies could have twisted it out of shape. Continue reading
Jun 07 Did the birth of the solar system make meteorites? Here’s a tell-tale clue By William Herbst, James Greenwood, The Conversation Despite decades of intense study, there is no general consensus on how most meteorites formed. An astronomer and a geologist offer a new theory of what happened during the solar system's birth to create these valuable relics of our past. Continue reading
Apr 11 Katie Bouman ‘hardly knew what a black hole was.’ Her algorithm helped us see one By Vicky Stein Imaging scientist Katie Bouman chats with the PBS NewsHour about how she crafted an algorithm that constructed the first ever photo of a black hole. Continue reading
Apr 10 Here is the first photo of a black hole By Nsikan Akpan On Wednesday, the Event Horizon Telescope released the first-ever image of a black hole, a historic moment shared by scientists spread around the world. Continue reading
Apr 09 WATCH: What does a black hole look like? Scientists reveal the first picture By Nsikan Akpan The Event Horizon Telescope is expected to release the first image of a black hole on Wednesday. In preparation for what might be a momentous day, here’s what you need to know. Continue reading
Apr 06 A heavy-metal planet orbiting a dead star may foretell our world’s end By Jonathan O'Callaghan, Scientific American The iron core of what was once a world has been found around a white dwarf star, shedding light on the final days of planetary systems — including our own. Continue reading
Dec 13 You may not even need a telescope this weekend to see this comet By Shannon Schmoll, The Conversation Comet 46P/Wirtanen is expected to make an appearance Dec. 14 to 19 that may well be visible even to the naked eye. Photo by Suchart Kuathan/via Getty Images… Continue reading
Sep 11 Meet the scientist behind these stunning images of Jupiter By Vicky Stein Candice Hansen-Koharcheck, a planetary scientist, has been photographing celestial bodies for decades. But for the Juno mission, her collaborators are citizen scientists. Continue reading
Jun 27 Hayabusa2, a Japanese spacecraft, arrives at Ryugu asteroid to retrieve minerals By Jeremy Hsu, Scientific American If all goes according to plan, two spacecraft will commence close encounters with two asteroids by the end of August, in order to retrieve organic materials dating back to the solar system’s birth. Continue reading