SUNSET: 
Great Red Spot Shrinking
Observations by amateur astronomers confirm that Jupiter's gargantuan storm is still tightening its waistline.
Fermi Detects Cosmic Fog
An international team has used the disappearance of high-energy photons to narrow in on the origin of the light suffusing the cosmos.
Sky at a Glance | November 2nd, 2012
Jupiter, flanked by Aldebaran and Beta Tauri, shines big and bright just a month from opposition.
About Meteors
Meteors, meteoroids, meteorites, and fireballs — keep all these look-alike terms straight.
Tour November's Sky! | November 1st, 2012
Mars is very low in the west after sunset, and Jupiter rises a couple hours later. But most of the planetary action is in the eastern sky before dawn.
Stray Stars Might Solve Infrared Puzzle
A new study suggests that lonesome stars in galaxies’ farthest outskirts contribute to a mysterious, blotchy glow that permeates the sky.
Saturn’s Frankenstorm: The Aftermath
Though Saturn’s Great White Spot faded by the end of 2011, infrared telescopes have revealed the storm's long-lasting impact.
Sky at a Glance | October 26th, 2012
The Moon shines with forthcoming winter sights low in the east, while summer stars still descend in the west — including Arcturus, now taking on its guise as the Ghost of Summer Suns.
Fomalhaut b: An Exoplanet Redeemed
New analysis suggests that Fomalhaut b — an exoplanet discovered in 2008 and disputed ever since — really does exist.
The Flares from Milky Way’s Black Hole
Our galaxy’s central supermassive black hole emits regular, mysterious X-ray flares. For the first time, NASA’s newest sharp-eyed telescope has captured a high-energy view of the action.
Beads on a Galaxy-Scale String
A new image from the Australia Telescope Compact Array shows a series of brilliant knots along the jet shooting from a supermassive black hole. While not the first sighting of a string of pearls gracing a galaxy's jet, the new image is a striking look at a mysterious phenomenon.
S&T's Audio Sky Tour for December 2012
Mars lurks low in the west after sunset, just as Jupiter rises dramatically in the east. Meanwhile, a mythic tale unfolds among the stars and constellations overhead.
Newtonian How-To Book
Everything you'll need to know about building a big Newt.
Auroras Grace Stellar Skies
Stunning auroras play in Earth's upper atmosphere, and similar cascading curtains grace the skies of giant planets, brown dwarfs — and even small stars.
Sky at a Glance | October 19th, 2012
The crescent Moon points to the pairup of Mars and Antares, then the gibbous Moon glides below the Square of Pegasus, and Arcturus becomes the Ghost of Summer Suns.
News From Across the Solar System
From new models of the Moon's formation to planets forming around distant stars, nearly 800 planetary scientists had plenty of new results to present this week when they met in Reno, Nevada.
October Meteors Slow and Fast
As Earth wheels through the October portion of its orbit around the Sun, it passes through two reliable annual meteoroid streams: one fast, one slow, both long-lasting.
Revisiting Orion's Stellar Membership
The Orion Nebula hosts a well studied star cluster, the gold standard by which astronomers measure all other clusters. New research suggests that this benchmark might need to be revised.
Cosmic Relief with David Grinspoon
It All Started with Mariner 2
Fifty years ago this August, with the launch of Mariner 2 toward Venus, something profoundly new appeared around the Sun.
