3101–3120 of 6,715 results
How to see 5 planets at once

Celestial News & Events

Get Up Early, See Five Visible Planets at Once!

Over the next two weeks, for the first time in more than a decade, you can see all of the naked-eye planets — from Mercury to Saturn — together in the predawn sky.

An artist's impression of a damped-lyman alpha system

Galaxies

Seeing Shadows of Ancient Galaxies

A new technique lets astronomers measure nearly invisible clouds of hydrogen gas from across the universe.

ASASSN-15lh

Stellar Science

Brightest Supernova Baffles Astronomers

The most luminous supernova ever discovered, ASASSN-15lh, challenges a popular theory for blazingly bright exploding stars.

Black Holes

Setting Limits to Black Hole Gluttony

Black holes may have a limit to how much they can eat in the public eye.

Aerial view of LIGO Hanford

Black Holes

About The LIGO Gravitational-Wave Rumor. . .

Gossip is racing around the physics and astronomy community: has LIGO finally heard its first black-hole merger? Here’s the reality.

Booster Impact Site

Space Missions

Smack! Booster Impact Site Found on Moon

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has finally spotted the impact of the Apollo 16 booster, more than 43 years after it happened.

Milky Way

Charting 70,000 Stars in the Milky Way

Astronomers have created an age-map of 70,000 stars spanning our galaxy, ushering in a new era of galactic archaeology.

Close-up of NGC 253-dw2 discovery photo

Cosmology

"Strongman" Aussie Discovers Dwarf Galaxy

All amateur Michael Sidonio wanted was a pretty astro-image of NGC 253. What he got instead was credit for discovering a rare dwarf galaxy.

Eta Carinae twins in M83

Stellar Science

Spotting "Twins" of Superstar Eta Carinae

Astronomers looking for clones of a massive and famously unstable star in the Southern Hemisphere sky have found five in other galaxies.

Artist's conception of star formation

Stellar Science

New Clues in Cooking up Planets and Stars

An early peak at a forming star system reveals tantalizing clues about its origin.

Zeta Ophiuchi's shock wave

Stellar Science

Telltale Shock Waves from Runaway Stars

Astronomers are now finding dozens of fast-moving runaway stars by searching for the bow shocks they create in interstellar gas and dust.

USPS Moon stamp

Astronomy and Society

Solar System Featured on New U.S. Stamps

The U.S. Postal Service has unveiled new stamps, to be issued later this year, that feature 10 solar-system objects — including Pluto.

Microthruster, to scale

Space Missions

CubeSats: Future Solar System Explorers?

An innovative and tiny thruster design could prove the future of interplanetary exploration with the tiny satellites known as CubeSats.

Where to find Quadrantid meteors

Celestial News & Events

Quadrantid Meteors Start 2016 with a Bang

The Quadrantid meteors, the year's least-observed major meteor shower, should be in plain sight when it peaks early on January 4th.

Venus-Saturn pairing on January 9, 2016.

Celestial News & Events

Tour January's Sky: Venus & Saturn Pair Up

The first month of 2016 offers a close pairing of Venus and Saturn before dawn, a strong meteor shower, and a parade of bright stars after sunset.

Where to find Mercury (Dec. 30th to Jan. 3rd)

Celestial News & Events

Mercury Shines at Dusk This Weekend

Mercury is usually a shy and elusive catch for naked-eye skywatchers, but for the next few days it shows itself boldly if you look at the right time.

SLS/Orion (artist's conception)

Science and Space Policy

NASA's Budget Gets a Boost

An unexpected omnibus spending package for fiscal year 2016 raises NASA's funding.

Random? Maybe not

Celestial News & Events

Meteor Showers in 2016

Sky & Telescope predicts that the two best meteor showers in 2016 will be the Quadrantids in early January and the Perseids in mid-August.

You may need sunglasses for these rays

Celestial News & Events

What to See with Your New Telescope During 2015 Holidays

Thousands of telescopes are given and received as gifts during the holidays. But once you've assembled your new treasure, then what? Moon, stars, planets? The editors of Sky & Telescope magazine point the way.

Enigmatic gullies on Mars

Solar System

Martian Gullies: Triggered by Dry Ice?

Are enigmatic gullies seen on many steep Martian slopes caused by liquid water or instead by episodic coatings of frozen carbon dioxide?