SUNSET: 
Kooky Kuiper-Belt Object
Observers have spotted a distant body that's veered far off the interplanetary highway.
Little Asteroid Makes a Big Splash
You'd think that a car-size space rock racing through space and slamming into Earth's atmosphere at night would put on a dazzling show. One did just that early Tuesday morning — but did anyone on the ground actually see it?
The New Face of Mercury
NASA's Messenger spacecraft slipped past the innermost planet on October 6th, revealing an amazing Mercurian landscape never before seen at close range.
Rock from Space to Burn Up over Africa
Late Monday night, October 6-7, 2008, a tiny asteroid will enter Earth's atmosphere over Sudan, creating a spectacular explosion in the night sky.
Meteor Strike Forecast for Oct. 6-7
Many telescopes around the world are looking for asteroids that might potentially hit Earth. Every candidate has turned out to be a false alarm — until now!
The Sun Goes Round and (Less) Round
Incredibly precise measurements of the solar surface show that our star isn't quite as spherical as once thought.
Hubble Shuts Down, Repairs Delayed
With a Space Shuttle poised and ready in Florida to begin the fifth and final Hubble house call, the venerable orbiting observatory has had a malfunction that will probably delay the repair mission until early next year.
The Solar Wind Takes a Breather
In the 50 years that space physicists have tracked it, the outward "wind" of charged particles coming off the Sun and flowing past Earth has never been weaker than it is right now.
Opportunity's Mad Dash
After spending 4½ years doing geologists' bidding on Mars, you'd think that NASA would give its rovers a rest. Instead, one of them has started rolling toward a large crater that it likely won't reach for two years.
Haumea: Dwarf-Planet Name Game
After three years of controversy over who discovered it, a large object in the Kuiper Belt has finally been christened by the International Astronomical Union — but the discovery rights are far from settled!
The Multiverse: Big Bangs Without End
Several lines of physics hint that our universe is just one of many, born in countless separate Big Bangs.
Moon Crosses the Pleiades
On Friday night, September 19–20, observers in northeastern North America, eastern Canada, and western Europe have a fine chance to watch the Moon cover up stars in the Pleiades.
Astro-gear Galore in Pasadena
The Pacific Astronomy and Telescope Show drew a large crowds last weekend in Pasadena, California.
Is This an Alien Planet?
Last April a trio of astronomers spotted something dim, warm, and perplexing next to a not-too-distant star in northern Scorpius.
Eta Carinae: A Supermassive Showoff
An enormous and famously erratic star in the southern sky might have demonstrated a new kind of stellar explosion during its dazzling eruption in the 1840s.
Hubble Finds a Mystery Object
What was it? While monitoring a cluster of galaxies, the Hubble Space Telescope recorded what seems like a new class of astronomical object brightening and fading over six months.
Double-Barrel Blast
A gamma-ray burst detected on March 19th was so bright it could be seen with the naked eye. And now astronomers think they know why.
Possible Fireball Outburst Sept 9-10
An unexpected meteor burst was detected on the night of September 8-9. Bill Cooke of the Marshall Space Flight Center is urging meteor watchers to see if the activity continues on the night of September 9-10.
Venus Meets Mars
From September 9th through the 15th, Mars and Venus are closely paired low in the west-southwest just after sunset — fitting together easily in the same medium-power telescopic field for most of that time.
Rosetta's "Jewel in the Sky"
European scientists are excitedly poring over results from the Rosetta spacecraft's close flyby of asteroid Steins, even though an unexpected camera glitch cost them the best views of its cratered surface.
