
A Super-Duper Supernova
A much anticipated new type of exploding star lights up a distant galaxy.
A Rogue Star Going Wild?
Is Eta Carinae, the famously erratic star in the southern sky, tipping off astronomers that its demise might come sooner than later?
Stellar Mystery Solved, Einstein Safe
Astronomers have resolved a long-standing discrepancy with general relativity.
Why Does Exoplanet WASP-18b Exist?
Observers have found a massive planet so close to its star that it orbits in less than a day. Either they were very, very lucky — or theorists really don't understand the inner workings of stars as well as they thought.
Betelgeuse: A Hotheaded Superstar
New, ultrahigh-resolution observations reveal that the red supergiant marking Orion's shoulder is throbbing, churning, and spewing shells of its outer layers into the space around it.
Mapping Starspots by Exoplanet Transits
Astronomers have detected individual starspots by watching exoplanets cross in front of them. New advances may enable extensive mapping of stars' spottedness by this technique, filling gaps left by other methods.
Solar Sleuths Tackle the "Quiet Sun"
New insights, announced this week, help explain why solar activity has been in the doldrums for an unexpectedly long time.
New York Teen Finds Wimpiest Supernova
On November 7, 2008, 14-year-old Caroline Moore of Warwick, New York, discovered a supernova in the galaxy UGC 12682, making her the youngest person ever to find an exploding star.
How Did the Brown Dwarf Get Its Spots?
A binary pair of brown dwarfs, measured with high precision, seems to defy models of star formation — unless one of them is covered with starspots.
Bantamweight Planet and Three Dwarfs
Observing teams have turned up the lowest-mass planet yet detected around a Sunlike star — and a clutch of objects too small to be stars but not really planets either.
Fomalhaut's Disk and Fomalhaut's Spin
Way out in the circumstellar cold, a planet and a rubble disk orbit bright Fomalhaut. Does this have anything to do with the star's own rotation?
The Lost Siblings of the Sun
The Sun and solar system formed 4.6 billion years ago amid a rich cluster of other newborn stars. Where are they now?
Surprising Trove of Gamma-Ray Pulsars
Pulsars flash in radio, but some of them flash a lot more powerfully in gamma rays, due to different processes happening in different places around them.

Fly Through a Supernova Remnant in 3-D
Astronomers have figured out the three-dimensional structure of Cassiopeia A, an expanding supernova remnant. From this, it looks like the star blew up in two parts.
The Mystery of the Missing Brown Dwarfs
Fewer of these dim, glowing coals exist than astronomers once expected. And in particular, they shy away from associating with normal stars.
Tycho's Supernova in Reruns
436-year-old light echoes give a look today at a blast in the Renaissance past. The catch? They're only a twenty-billionth as bright as the original.
Betelgeuse is Making Waves
The famously red supergiant star that marks Orion's shoulder is creating an enormous shock wave as it plows through the interstellar medium. New infrared views from a Japanese space observatory called Akari show what's going on with unprecedented clarity.
NASA Satellite Spots New Type of Pulsar
The Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has made its first major discovery.

The Sun Goes Round and (Less) Round
Incredibly precise measurements of the solar surface show that our star isn't quite as spherical as once thought.