3481–3500 of 6,715 results

Galaxies

Citizen Scientists Probe Early Galaxies

New data collected by Galaxy Zoo show early galaxies with central bars, providing implications about how galaxies grow.

Image of red Moon during lunar eclipse April 15, 2014

Celestial News & Events

Wake Up to a Total Lunar Eclipse on October 8, 2014

Start your day with an eclipse of the full Moon! On the morning of October 8, 2014, a total lunar eclipse will be visible across most of North America.

Burst of light in the night

Celestial News & Events

How to Never Miss an Aurora

Learn exactly how and when to expect the next display of the northern lights with a few easy-to-use online tools.

dust polarization emission at galactic poles

Cosmology

Dust Makes Cosmic Inflation Signal Iffy

A new analysis of Planck data bolsters the claim that the polarization signal heralded as evidence for cosmic inflation is from dust instead.

India's space control center

Solar System

India's Mars Orbiter Mission Arrives Safely

It's a historic day for India's maturing space program, as its first-ever interplanetary explorer successfully slipped into orbit around the Red Planet.

Celestial News & Events

The 2014 Autumnal Equinox Arrives

Astronomically speaking, the fall season comes to the Northern Hemisphere on Tuesday, September 23, 2014 at 02:29 UTC (Monday, September 22 at 10:29 p.m. EDT). At that moment, the Sun passes over the Earth’s equator heading south; this event is called the autumnal equinox.

Solar System

MAVEN Makes It to Mars

On September 21st, after a 33-minute-long rocket firing, NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft slipped into orbit around the Red Planet.

ultracompact dwarf galaxy

Black Holes

Small Galaxy Boasts Big Black Hole

Astronomers have detected a supermassive black hole in the center of a tiny galaxy — where it has no right to be.

Astronomy and Society

Calling All Amateur Astronomers

NASA’s Night Sky Network is conducting a new survey in order to better help the amateur astronomy community.

Philae's Site J

Solar System

Where Will Philae Land on Comet 67P?

European space officials have decided to drop their Philae lander on November 11th onto the small end of the already-active Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. Success is hardly assured.

Approaching

Solar System

Curiosity Readies To Climb "Mount Sharp"

Now two years into its exploration of Mars, NASA's big rover has reached the base of the huge mound that scientists hope will reveal the Red Planet's history.

Solar flare on Septmeber 14, 2014

Celestial News & Events

Potent Solar Flare — Auroras Tonight?

On Wednesday, a powerful X-class flare ripped through the Sun's lower atmosphere and sent a blast wave directly toward Earth that should arrive Friday and produce moderate-to-strong auroras over the weekend.

Quasar illustration

Black Holes

The Quasar Main Sequence

A new diagram might link the diverse visible-light characteristics of quasars to two physical properties — essentially, their accretion rate and orientation. If the analysis holds up, it could point the way toward a long-sought unification.

Celestial News & Events

Meet My Variable Friend SS Cygni

Get acquainted with SS Cygni, the sky's brightest cataclysmic variable star. It's guaranteed to keep you on your toes.

Star before and after adaptive optics

Professional Telescopes

Next-Gen Adaptive Optics

The Subaru Telescope has donned a new pair of glasses called Raven, a multi-object adaptive optics system that enables astronomers to correct for atmospheric turbulence over an unprecedented field of view.

InOMN logo

Celestial News & Events

A Worldwide Night of Moonwatching

International Observe the Moon Night is an event that encourages people to "look up" and enjoy our nearest neighbor. This year's InOMN is Saturday, September 6th. Here's a quiz: What astronomical object looks amazing no matter what the magnification, never looks exactly the same no matter how often you view…

local supercluster

Cosmology

Laniakea: Our Home Supercluster

Astronomers have mapped the cosmic watershed and discovered a massive supercluster that extends more than 500 million light-years and contains 100,000 large galaxies. The Milky Way sits on the edge of this humongous structure.

Fortuitous intersection

Celestial News & Events

See Saturn's Moon Rhea Hide a Star

Watch as the moon Rhea steals a star from the sky for nearly a minute on September 12th.

Exoplanets

Do Exoplanets Transform Between Classes?

A new analysis suggests that hot super-Earths might be the skeletal remnants of hot Jupiters stripped of their atmospheres.

Autumn sky sights near Vega

Celestial News & Events

Tour September's Sky: Farewell to Saturn

The astronomical calendar says autumn arrives on September 22nd. It's a season of transition, with plenty of celestial comings and goings in the evening sky. September’s equinox takes place on the 22nd at 10:29 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. At that moment the Sun shines directly overhead as seen from the…