SUNSET: 
Hooray for Huygens!
As Huygens descended through the atmosphere of Titan, the probe recorded this system of stubby, interconnected channels leading to an apparent shoreline. The scene is about 5 kilometers (3 miles) wide.Courtesy ESA/NASA/University of Arizona. Move over, Mars! Saturn's large moon Titan is now the most distant world touched by the…
Call for Observations: Saturn's Moons
Advanced amateurs with CCD-equipped telescopes are encouraged to measure the "opposition effect" — a brightening expected to occur in the Saturnian system during this upcoming opposition (January 13–14).
A Ringside Seat for Huygens's Arrival
Europe's Huygens probe descends to the surface of Titan on January 14th, just as Saturn is at its closest and brightest and ideally placed for observing.
Spitzer Reveals Greedy Stellar Babies in Trifid
The Spitzer Space Telescope works in infrared light, which allows it to peer through the dusty veil of the Trifid Nebula (M20) to see 150 new objects, mostly newborn stars. This image was created from observations on March 31 and April 11, 2004. Red represents 5.8 and 8.0 micron bands,…
Galaxy Maps Reveal Nature of Universe
The latest results from two comprehensive galaxy surveys independently confirm the important role of dark matter and dark energy in the evolution of the cosmos.
Disk Demolition Derby
An artist depicts the collision of two planetesimals in the disk around Vega. Such collisions, which generate huge amounts of dust, occurred frequently in the early days of our solar system's Kuiper Belt.Courtesy NASA / JPL-Caltech / T. Pyle (SSC / Caltech). Two teams of astronomers have reported signs of…
Exoplanet Image Confirmed?
The pink dot in this Hubble Space Telescope infrared image might not look like a big deal, but in all likelihood it's a planetary-mass companion to the brown dwarf 2M 1207, whose location is marked by the gray circle.Courtesy NASA / ESA / Glenn H. Schneider, et al. Astronomers may…
Astro News Briefs: January 3-9
First light for Swift instruments and a new solar telescope.
Astro Image in the News:
Hubble Spies Twisted Spiral
unveiled this stunning image of NGC 1300, the 10th-magnitude barred spiral some 69 million light-years distant in the constellation Eridanus.
A Black Hole Swarm
In this Chandra X-ray Observatory image of the galactic center, the four labeled sources are bright and variable. They are probably binary systems consisting of a stellar-mass black hole and a normal star. The Milky Way's central black hole, known as Sagittarius A*, is the bright spot above source C.Courtesy…
Intriguing Iapetus
This Cassini image shows Iapetus's leading hemisphere, most of which is as dark as an asphalt parking lot. Scientists were amazed to find a giant ridge girdling at least one-third of the moon's circumference. The highest peaks along the ridge are about 20 kilometers (12 miles) high, which rivals Mars's…
Earth Safe from Asteroid 2004 MN4
We should know by February whether the Near Earth Asteroid 2004 MN4 is a real threat.
A Look Back at 2004
Just in case you've forgotten, we covered a lot of astronomical news throughout the past year.
Astro Image in the News:
Iapetus Encountered
Cassini, the craft, was about 72,000 kilometers (44,700 miles) away from Iapetus when it snapped this up-close image of the pockmarked moon.
Amateurs Detect Possible Exoplanet Ringlike Structure
This artist conception depicts a Jupiter-size planet transiting its host star at a close distance, as is the case with TrES-1. Amateur astronomer observations suggest that the planet might be surrounded by a cloud or torus of particles.S&T illustration by Steven A. Simpson. Amateur astronomers may have discovered a ringlike…
A Beautiful Lunar Eclipse
Clear skies throughout much of the Americas and parts of Europe and Africa allowed millions of people to enjoy a beautiful lunar eclipse during the evening of Nov. 8–9, 2003.
Astro Image in the News:
Huygens En Route to Titan
Courtesy NASA / JPL. Cassini captured this image of the Huygens probe (bright dot at the upper right) just 12 hours after it separated from the mothership at 2:00 Universal Time on December 25th. Huygens, built by the European Space Agency, will remain dormant until it approaches Saturn's cloud-enshrouded moon…
The Geminids: An Exception to the Rule
The source of December's annual Geminid meteor shower is not what you might expect.
Astro Image in the News:
Opportune Pictures
The Mars Exploration Rover, Opportunity, continues to image spectacular vistas.
