SUNSET: 
Mars Methane Boosts Chances for Life
Two independent teams have reported new tantalizing evidence of Martian methane — a gas possibly suggestive of current life on the red planet.
Exoplanet Resonance Animations
An artist depicts the two planets orbiting the red-dwarf star Gliese 876. The two planets are locked in a 2:1 mean-motion resonance, meaning that over long time scales, the inner planet completes two revolutions every time the outer planet completes one. Courtesy Mark A. Garlick. As astronomers have discovered more…
The Dwindling Kuiper Belt
Following observations by several teams with various telescopes, astronomers are realizing that Kuiper-Belt objects are generally smaller than previously thought.
This Is a Quiet Sun?
A series of major solar flares from sunspot 696 has kept geomagnetic activity near or above "storm" level ever since November 7th.
More Science Findings From Cassini
Scientists at the American Astronomical Society's Division of Planetary Sciences Meeting in Louisville, Kentucky, were treated to a slew of results from the Cassini spacecraft.
Orionids in a (Reasonably) Dark Sky
This is a fairly good year for observing the annual Orionid meteor shower, whose maximum generally lasts from around October 20th to 26th.
Jupiter's Daytime Disappearance
Jupiter's belts are faintly visible as it disappears behind the Moon's bright limb.Sky & Telescope photo by Gary Seronik. Observers across the eastern part of North America were treated to a daytime occultation of Jupiter by the thin crescent Moon on November 9, 2004. Fortunately, most observers had either clear…
The Moon Meets Jupiter and Venus
The crescent Moon joins Jupiter and Venus in the east at dawn to create a beautiful scene on November 9th and 10th.
Astro Image in the News:
Hubble Snaps a Shadow-Spotted Jupiter
Hubble made an infrared movie of Jupiter last March while three of the planet's moons were casting their shadows on its face.
Tycho's Supernova Companion Discovered
This Chandra X-ray Observatory image reveals the gaseous remnant created by a supernova observed by Tycho Brahe in 1572. Red, green, and blue represent low, medium, and high X-ray energies, respectively. The lack of a central point source is one of several pieces of evidence that the remnant was created…
Asteroids Tell Tale of Jupiter Migration
Scientists assembled this Jupiter mosaic from a series of Cassini images taken during the December 2000 flyby. New research suggests that Jupiter formed farther from the Sun and migrated in to its present orbit.Courtesy NASA / JPL / Space Science Institute. In 1984 astrophysicists Julio A. Fernández and Wing-Huen Ip…
The World-Series Eclipse
Scattered clouds seemed to be the norm across most of the eastern parts of Europe and almost all of the Americas: the visibility zone of the last total lunar eclipse until 2007.
Titan: "A World Apart"
Cassini's first brush with Saturn's giant moon revealed a diverse, geologically active landscape.
October's Ideal Lunar Eclipse
The total lunar eclipse on October 27th is beautifully timed and placed for skywatchers in the Americas. Don't miss it: it's the last one until 2007.
Earth's Twisty Spacewarp
Einstein wins again. Evidence from superstable satellites indicates that Earth's rotation twists the space around us — ever so slightly.
November Meteors
Two meteor showers peak this month: the weak Taurids produce up to 8 or 10 meteors per hour throughout early and mid-November while the Leonids peak on the morning of the 17th.
Rocky Planets Galore?
Around dozens of young stars, the Spitzer Space Telescope finds disks of dusty debris — the result of planetary smashups.
Kepler's Supernova in the Spotlight
Infrared, visual, and X-ray telescopes images come together in this mosaic of Kepler’s Supernova remnant.
A Newfound Globular Cluster
The Spitzer Space Telescope has revealed one of the closest globulars known.
