SUNSET: 
WISE Revived for Asteroid Hunt
NASA officials thought they'd switched off the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer for good 2½ years ago. But soon it'll be revived for three years to hunt for small asteroids in Earth's vicinity.
Tour September's Sky! | August 21st, 2013
Dazzling Venus, low in the west after sunset, has close encounters with a moon, a planet, and a star. Meanwhile, the Summer Triangle is high overhead.
Old, Fat Stars Flicker
Observing the pattern of flickers in a star’s light offers a new way for astronomers to measure one of the basic properties of stars — and any exoplanets they might host.
An Observing Mecca in the Sierras
Who would have thought that, just 30 miles from a California city of 500,000+, you'd find some of the best stargazing in all of North America?
Kepler KO'd; NASA Ponders New Purpose
The disabled space telescope's prolific planet-hunting run is officially over, as the team abandons efforts to salvage its full pointing ability and focuses on data analysis. Its next mission? Hunting for a job.
Martian Moon Occults Little Brother
NASA's Mars rover Curiosity watched the larger Martian moon, Phobos, pass right in front of the planet's smaller moon, Deimos.
New Pulsar Explores Heart of Milky Way
A pulsar discovered last April is helping astronomers measure the magnetic field surrounding our galaxy’s central black hole.
"Smoking Gun" from Galactic Smashup?
Observations from the Chandra X-ray Observatory suggest that something has slammed into the spiral galaxy NGC 1232. But you'd never know it from the galaxy's unperturbed appearance
Nova Delphini 2013
Nova Delphini 2013 was discovered on August 14th, peaked two days later at magnitude 4.4, and by early November was down to magnitude 11.
Comet ISON Spotted Again, Faintly
Comet ISON has been imaged low in the dawn at only 14th magnitude. This suggests a modest showing late this year for the supposed "comet of the century."
Friends, Clear Skies at Summer Star Party
The Summer Star Party in western Massachusetts, held just before Stellafane, had fine clear nights, more than 150 good folks, and lots of scopes at its new location.
Wanted: More Young Stargazers
The Astronomical League is tackling a serious threat to the future of organized amateur astronomy: a dearth of stargazers in their teens, 20s, and 30s.
Under Stress, Asteroids May Be Fragile
A new microgravity experiment demonstrates the weird, unstable fluidity of asteroid surfaces, with potential consequences for visiting craft.
Curiosity's Views of Gale Crater
Since its arrival in August 2012, NASA's newest robotic rover has been taking snapshots of the flat Martian plain on which it landed and the tantalizing topography that looms in the distance.
Subaru Sees New "Planet" Directly
A new companion found by direct imaging reveals a potentially cloudless gas giant oddly far from a young sun.
Dead Stars Caught Colliding
Astronomers have detected a signal that looks like it's from two neutron stars crashing together. The observations could be solid evidence for the hypothesized culprits of short gamma-ray bursts.
Get Ready for the 2013 Perseids
Plan to be up late on the nights of August 11-12 and 12-13. Weather permitting, that's when Perseid meteors will flash across virtually Moonless skies.
Glimpse the X-ray Sky
Time and tide wait for no man. So the XMM-Newton space telescope is making every second count. As the telescope shifts its gaze from source to source, it's recording the X-ray sky.
What Powers the Van Allen Belts?
Thanks to a pair of NASA probes launched last year, space physicists have confirmed that relativistic electrons in the radiation belts surrounding Earth arise from "homegrown" acceleration processes.
Seeking the Cosmic Dawn
Astronomers have finally detected a much-hoped-for pattern in the afterglow of the Big Bang, and it might help reveal inflation's signature.
