SUNSET: 
Mystery Signals from Space
Four powerful radio bursts have left astronomers scratching their heads. The bursts appear to come from several billion light-years away and could provide a whole new look at the universe — but observers aren't sure what they are.
Introducing Kerberos and Styx
The newest and smallest of Pluto's five moons have names chosen for their connections to the mythic underworld — and for their popularity in a worldwide contest.
Stars Spinning Beats
A phenomenon you usually hear can now be seen in stars' rotation, and it may help untangle the mysteries of their magnetic fields.
Now Playing: Core Collapse in 3D
Scientists have made the most realistic simulations yet of the violent collapse of dying massive stars in three dimensions.
Good-bye to GALEX
On Friday, flight controllers turned off the Galaxy Evolution Explorer, one of NASA's long-lived space observatories.
Sneaky Star Dating
How old are the Sun's stellar neighbors? An inventive approach suggests that the birth rate for the nearest stars has had two peaks instead of one — meaning two distinct generations are mixing in the neighborhood.
PayPal Stakes Its Claim in Space Tourism
A few years from now, when you’re floating in a space hotel many miles from Earth, you might want to order some coffee. And PayPal wants to make sure you don’t have to pay in cash.
Three Habitable Planets? Maybe
Two new studies highlight the growing importance of red dwarfs in the competitive search for alien worlds — and the challenges of characterizing them.
Chelyabinsk Mega-meteor: Status Report
The cosmic intruder that exploded in the sky on February 15th dropped thousands of fragments onto the snow-covered plains of south-central Russia. Here's an update on what's been found.
COROT Mission Ends
After several months of trying to reboot, mission planners for the exoplanet hunter COROT have declared the satellite's failure official.
A Stonehenge Solstice Remembered
What's it like to be standing at the iconic megalithic monument during midsummer's dawn? Take a walk down memory lane to find out.
2013 National Young Astronomer Awards
The Astronomical League announces the top finishers for the 2013 National Young Astronomer Award program.
A Billion Pixels of Mars-scape
When you take your camera all the way to the Red Planet, no one's going to blame you for taking a lot of touristy snapshots. Put 896 of them together, and here's the result!
Astronomy’s 60 Greatest Mysteries
The editors of Sky & Telescope announce a brand-new special publication that addresses the most pressing questions facing astronomy today.
Winds on Venus: Getting Stronger
The hurricane-like winds at Venus's cloudtops have steadily become faster since 2006 — and planetary scientists have no idea why it's happening.
Universe's Lithium Problem A Bit Better
Studies of primitive stars suggest the universe has far too little of one form of lithium and far too much of another. But new work shows that the second problem might be nonexistent.
Cat’s Paw Nebula: Nearby Mini-Starburst?
The Cat's Paw Nebula is home to many bright, young stars. But thousands of fainter stars concealed behind dust reveal themselves in a new infrared image.
My Hour in the Stratosphere
The stars were not aligned when one of Sky & Telescope's editors signed up to ride NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy.
June 2013 Assessment of Comet ISON
The “comet of the century” was stuck at 16th magnitude when it hid out for the summer. Still, good prospects remain for December. Expect the next update in early September, when the comet reappears from behind the glare of the Sun.
