Asteroid 2004 MN4: A Really Near Miss!
Radar results are in: this once-scary asteroid will become a naked-eye object when it skims by Earth in 2029.
Fly Me to the Moons
NASA's Cassini orbiter continues to take stunning images of Saturn's moons.
A Flurry of Exoplanet Discoveries
This artist's concept depicts a disk of gas and dust around a young brown dwarf. Low-mass disks like this should be capable of forming planetary systems with perhaps one gas giant and several Earth-size bodies.Courtesy NASA / JPL / Caltech. Discoveries of extrasolar planets are coming so fast and furious…
Hubble Takes a Hit
The rumors that circulated in late January were true: The Bush Administration's proposed budget for fiscal year 2006 includes no money to service the Hubble Space Telescope.
Astro Image in the News:
The Real Rhea
Courtesy NASA / JPL / Space Science Institute. Cassini's narrow-angle camera acquired this image of Saturn's moon Rhea on January 16th. With a diameter of 1,528 kilometers (949 miles), Rhea edges out Iapetus for being Saturn's second largest satellite, though it is less than half the size of Earth's Moon.…
SOHO Comet Catcher
The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory satellite is on the verge of spotting comet number 1,000.
Perseids Peak as Predicted
Preliminary analysis of the 2004 Perseid meteor shower confirms the forecast of an unusually brief and intense peak of meteor activity over Europe and Asia.
2004: An Excellent Year for the Perseids
The Perseid meteor shower, due to peak on the morning of August 12th, should put on a nice show — and may display a surprising new component.
The 2003 Perseids in Moonlight
This year the light from the full Moon will wash out the faint meteors belonging to this favorite shower.
A Great Year for the Perseids
The most dependable of all meteor showers reaches the peak of its display in a moonless sky.
AAVSO Names New Director
The American Association of Variable Star Observers announced that Arne A. Henden will be the new director.
A Late-Night Jupiter Occultation
The waning Moon covers bright Jupiter before dawn on December 7th for observers in the eastern two-thirds of the US and Canada.
Celestial Highlights for 2004
Eclipses, occultations, comets, and a transit of Venus — it’s going to be an exciting year for observers.
Newfound Star Sparks Brown-Dwarf Debate
Can one binary star cast doubt on myriad brown dwarfs?
Catch Comet Machholz at Its Best
For observers in the northern hemisphere, all the circumstances are at their best in the first half of January for viewing this fine little comet.
Wild, Weird Titan Reveals More Secrets
The most Earthlike world in the solar system is also the strangest ever encountered.
Senator Vows to Fight for Hubble
Amid new rumors that NASA plans to abandon the Hubble Space Telescope), Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-Maryland) has vowed to continue fighting to keep the observatory operating.
Opportunity Finds an Iron Meteorite
Tests have confirmed that the basketball-size Heat Shield Rock, imaged here by Opportunity's panoramic camera, is a meteorite composed primarily of iron and nickel. Note the small 'blueberries' that surround the meteorite.Courtesy NASA / JPL / Cornell University. On December 21, 2004, the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity arrived at its…
David Lunt (1942-2005)
The founder and principal designer of Coronado Technology Group brought hydrogen-alpha solar observing to the masses.
Standing on the Surface of Titan
The trimphant success of the Huygens probe will keep astronomers busy studying Saturn's largest moon for years to come.