SUNSET: 
Shiny Eye for Airborne Observatory
The main mirror for the world's most advanced flying observatory has been transformed from a carefully shaped and polished piece of glass into a highly reflective optical component ready to study the infrared universe.
Little Red Spot Gone?
It's still not clear what will become of Jupiter's Little Red Spot after the recent collision with its two larger siblings.
SOHO Tallies Its 1500th Comet
The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory has now found more comets than all other comet discoverers put together — not bad for a spacecraft that was designed to study the Sun.
Mercury: The Incredible Shrinking Planet
During its first flyby of Mercury, NASA"s Messenger spacecraft found much less iron on the planet’s surface than expected and a cloud of ionized atoms — including water — caught up in the planet’s magnetosphere. And that’s just for starters.
Have You Seen Comet Boattini?
Comet Boattini, now faintly visible to the unaided eye from sites without light pollution, is climbing rapidly higher in the Northern Hemisphere's dawn sky.
Tour July's Sky | July 1st, 2008
There'll be fireworks this month on Independence Day — and plenty of celestial sparklers overhead too, with Saturn and Mars low in the west and Jupiter rising in the east. Download this podcast for a guided tour ! Host: S&T's Kelly Beatty. (5MB MP3 download: running time: 5m 3s)
Regulus’s Secret Companion
Astronomers confirm a low-mass star orbits the Lion’s heart, the bright blue star imaged here to the lower right. But what exactly is it?
Tunguska: 100 Years and Counting
On June 30, 1908, a cosmic impact leveled more than 800 square miles of Siberian taiga — and forever changed how we view the threat to Earth posed by even modest interplanetary collisions.
Cherry Springs Earns Dark-Sky Status
The International Dark-Sky Association has recognized a remote getaway in north-central Pennsylvania as an International Dark-Sky Park.
Martian Dirt is Friendly to Life
The Phoenix lander's first wet chemical analysis of the Martian surface confirms water’s thumbprint and finds the kinds of inorganic minerals you'd have in a backyard garden.
The Two Faces of Mars
Just about the time a Mars-size body creamed Earth with enough force to create the Moon, another big planetoid might have slammed into Mars itself. The result? A two-faced planet and the solar system's largest impact crater.
New Date for Caesar's British Invasion
In 55 BC, when Julius Caesar and his fleet approached the white cliffs of Dover on the British coast, he faced unexpectedly strong tides. Researchers from Texas State University have used tidal measurements and other astronomical clues to revise the exact date of the historic landing.
Dwarf Planets Are Planets Too: Get Involved!
An eminent planetary scientist and former Associate Administrator of Space Science for NASA argues why Pluto should be called a planet.
Imaging Tools and Techniques at MWAIC
Attendees of the MidWest Astro-Imaging Conference were treated to the latest innovations in astrophotography techniques.
The Most Massive Star Yet?
Searching the core of one of the densest young star clusters in the Milky Way, scientists may have beat out primetime TV in the search for the newest big star.
Ulysses' Space Odyssey Ends on July 1st
The only space mission ever to study the Sun’s poles directly will turn off at month’s end after a long life of trial and triumph.
The Mystery of Saturn’s Double Aurorae
New infrared observations reveal a second auroral ring on Saturn that may help astronomers understand what causes the planet's aurorae in the first place.
The Four-Planet Dance of 2008
Every evening in August and September 2008, just after sunset, four planets and two first-magnitude stars combine to form fascinating and ever-changing patterns.
GLAST Heads Up, Up, and Away!
NASA's newest space observatory is safely in orbit and getting ready to probe the high-energy universe.
Hubble Looks into the Coma Cluster
The HST captures a pristine image of various galaxy types grouped together, but what is most intriguing is what the image doesn't reveal.
