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
Jun 20 The science behind the summer solstice By Stephen Schneider, The Conversation The summer solstice brings the longest day and shortest night of the year for 88 percent of Earth’s people. Continue reading
May 10 5 things you never knew about the New Horizons mission to Pluto By Rashmi Shivni NASA New Horizons mission leader Alan Stern and astrobiologist David Grinspoon divulge the most intimate accounts of the decades of planning needed for the Pluto probe in the new book “Chasing New Horizons.”… Continue reading
Apr 16 WATCH LIVE: TESS, NASA’s new exoplanet hunter, launches on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket By Jason Steffen, The Conversation NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) will monitor more than 200,000 stars to discover thousands of exoplanets, ranging from Earth-sized to gas giants. Continue reading
Dec 18 ‘Oumuamua, the alien asteroid, wears an organic coat. But what’s inside? By Rashmi Shivni In the latest ‘Oumuamua update, a research team deciphers the chemical makeup of the cigar-shaped rock. Continue reading
Nov 22 This asteroid is our solar system’s first known ‘alien’ visitor By Rashmi Shivni A cigar-shaped asteroid named ‘Oumuamua is our solar system's first interstellar visitor -- that we know of. Continue reading
Nov 01 100 years of Mount Wilson’s 100-inch telescope, the first to discover the universe By Rashmi Shivni Happy 100th birthday to the 100-inch telescope, best known for being the first to see beyond our Milky Way galaxy. That’s right, it spotted the universe!… Continue reading
Oct 18 Watch 6:08 Witnessing the collision of two neutron stars is a ‘textbook changer.’ Here’s why By Miles O'Brien Astronomers witnessed for the first time ever a rare collision of two dense neutron stars. The discovery began with an instrument called LIGO, which won this year’s Nobel Prize for its discovery of gravitational waves once predicted by Albert Einstein. Continue watching