SUNSET: 
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.
A Planet Found Through Asteroid Belts
Orbiting Beta Pictoris farther than Saturn orbits the Sun, an unseen planet is apparently shaping the star's asteroid belts.
Clash of the Titans
This XMM-Newton image reveals the X-ray brightness of the intergalactic gas in Abell 754. Core gas from the larger of the two clusters appears as the white and red area at the left. The regions with the highest density of matter are the brightest regions.Courtesy ESA / XMM-Newton / J.…
The Dim Core of a Stripped Star
A dim, Jupiter-size object orbiting a white dwarf seems to be the last remaining bit of an eroded star's core.Art by Jon Lomberg / Gemini Observatory. Deep in Eridanus is a 17th-magnitude white dwarf that occasionally brightens to magnitude 14.5, as tracked by amateurs in the American Association of Variable…
Astro News Briefs: September 20–26
More money for Mars and Kodak's Technical Pan Film is discontinued.
Astro Image in the News:
Toutatis Encounters Earth — and Misses (This Time)
Another asteroid flyby caught on camera.
Astro Image in the News:
Rover Tracks From Space
A new imaging technique has allowed the Mars Global Surveyor to see 0.5 meter resolution views of the Red Planet.
Mars Methane Boosts Chances for Life
Mars Express's Planetary Fourier Spectrometer (PFS)mapped the distribution of water vapor in Mars's thin atmosphere. Water is distributed uniformly at high altitudes, but at low altitudes it is concentrated in three equatorial regions: Arabia Terra, Elysium Planum, and Arcadia-Memnonia. Highest water concentrations are in green; the least are in purple.…
Star Partying in the Alps
The 20th annual Internationales Teleskoptreffen (International Telescope Meeting) drew 250 enthusiasts despite the weather.
Hubble Presses Toward Cosmic Dawn
Astronomers are busily mining the Hubble Ultra Deep Field to understand the early universe.
Stargazers Double Up in Illinois
Two mid-September star parties drew a thousand amateur astronomers to dark-sky sites south of Chicago.
LOFAR: A Giant Radio Telescope Takes Shape
Fifteen thousand humble little antennas will work in concert to form one of the world's most powerful astronomical instruments.
The First Exoplanet Image?
Glowing dimly in infrared light, this double object seems to consist of a brown dwarf and a super-Jupiter.
September Taurids Again?
The September Taurids might peak on the evening of September 13–14, which coincides with the new Moon. The exact date and time of maximum activity, however, are uncertain.
Binary Pulsar Spins Up a Storm
A unique pair of pulsars is inspiring new models for neutron-star magnetospheres.
Genesis Crashes to Earth
After collecting particles of solar wind for more than two years, a spacecraft makes a very hard landing in Utah.
Two More Neptune-mass Exoplanets
Astronomers find two low-mass planets orbiting other stars.
