SUNSET: 
Star Parties Shine in Hong Kong and Nanjing
Sidewalk astronomy made a hit in one of the most brightly lit places on Earth.
Hermes Is Double!
Radar ranging shows that the newly recovered minor planet Hermes, lost since 1937, is a close binary.
Cosmology Meeting Explores the Outer Limits
Seventy of the world's leading cosmologists met last weekend to tackle the biggest questions in the universe.
A Tiny Asteroid Whizzes By
On Saturday, September 27th, a very small asteroid plunged past Earth well inside the Moon's orbit. Unseen, it passed just 78,000 kilometers (a fifth the Moon's distance) above Earth's surface before barreling back into interplanetary space. Judging by its faintness — 18th magnitude when first picked up the next day…
Astro News Briefs: October 6–12
Five more moons for Uranus makes 27 total.
The Orionids: Steady but Unspectacular
With a fat crescent Moon high in the sky during the predawn hours of the 21st, this is a so-so year for observing the annual Orionid meteor shower.
Austrian Star Party
About 300 amateur astronomers from across Europe gathered in Austria for a star party in later September.
Eclipse 2002: Africa or Australia?
In December the Dark Continent offers a longer duration of totality than the Australian Outback, but the latter site presents much better weather prospects. The choice is yours.
Whirlwind Weekend of Irish Astronomy
In late September skygazers from across Ireland and the United Kingdom flocked to the 18th-annual Whirlpool Star Party.
Astro News Briefs: September 22–28
The Galileo orbiter ends its mission by impacting Jupiter.
Cassini Proves Einstein Right — So Far
Radio links with the Cassini spacecraft show Einstein's general theory of relativity to be correct to one part in 40,000. But new physics could show up just a little beyond.
Europe's Mission to the Moon
The European Space Agency's SMART 1 spacecraft will bein mapping the Moon in January 2005
For the Record
A production error affected a diagram in S. Alan Stern's article "The 3rd Zone: Exploring the Kuiper Belt" in Sky & Telescope's November 2003 issue, pages 30–36. The illustration on the last page was supposed to show the observed colors of Kuiper Belt objects as of 1998, 2000, and 2003.…
Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy Spans the Sky
It seems that the shredded remains of the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy encircle the Milky Way.
A Bizarro "Cometoid"
Is it a comet? Is it an asteroid? Astronomers aren't sure what to call 133P/Elst-Pizarro.
Astro News Briefs: September 15–21
Gamma-ray observatory gets delayed and more evidence for dark energy.
X-Ray Flashes Find a Home
Are brief flashes of X-rays from random points in the sky related to gamma-ray bursts and exploding stars?
Astro News Briefs: September 8–14
Beryllium mirrors for Hubble's successor; new moons for Uranus and Neptune; and Comet Halley Makes an Appearance.
Where Are the Faintest Kuiper Belt Objects?
Astronomers used Kuiper Belt Object 2000 FV53 to guide the Hubble Space Telescope while searching for faint KBOs. The team found only three objects instead of the expected 85. Each of the discoveries is more than 100 times fainter than this KBO. Click on image for an animation.Courtesy NASA and…
Astronomy & Observing News
Astro Image in the News:
Saturn's Varied Colors"}'>
Astro Image in the News:
Saturn's Varied Colors
The Hubble Space Telescope looked at Saturn in three different "lights."
