SUNSET: 
Blast from the Very Far Past
A gamma-ray burst seen to occur last April happened in the era of the earliest stars, when the universe was only 630 million years old and the "reionization era" was getting under way. But this news isn't exactly news.
Sky at a Glance | October 23rd, 2009
With Halloween approaching, it's the season for the annual Ghost of Summer Suns. This week also sees a busy schedule of mutual events among Jupiter's moons. And in the early-morning hours, fiery Mars is approaching the Beehive.
And Then There Were 400
Thirty new extrasolar planets are announced, including more super-Earths and some that orbit low-metallicity stars.
Sky at a Glance | October 16th, 2009
The waxing crescent Moon emerges from the sunset this week. But Jupiter, king of the gods and king of the planets, is also the king target for backyard telescope users these evenings, with lots going on.
Sky at a Glance | October 9th, 2009
Jupiter is a hub of backyard-telescope activity after dark. And Venus, Mercury, and Saturn dance at dawn.
The LCROSS Impact, Continued
We've added updates our story on the Moon probe that NASA hoped would raise a big dust-and-vapor splash. The debris plume has indeed been seen. But how much information can be extracted from it?
Veteran S&T Editor Wins Reporting Award
J. Kelly Beatty has received plaudits from the planetary-science community he has covered for 35 years.
Sky at a Glance | October 2nd, 2009
Venus, Mercury, and Saturn dance at dawn this week. And get ready for the LCROSS impact on the Moon — whether you'll watch with a telescope, on TV, or on the web.
Big Pix from Herschel
Europe's new Herschel Space Observatory is up and running and showing what it can do. You've never seen the far-infrared sky like this.
Sky at a Glance | September 25th, 2009
The Moon waxes across the evening sky this week. Venus shines in the east at dawn, with challenging Mercury and Saturn coming into view below it.
Sky at a Glance | September 18th, 2009
Bright Venus and much fainter Regulus pair up closely on the morning of Sunday the 20th. Bring binoculars. And Jupiter dominates the evening sky, with its moons and bands awaiting your telescope.
Super-Earth "Planet From Hell" Refined
CoRoT-7b, a hot super-Earth orbiting an orange dwarf in Monoceros, had proved to be rocky, not gaseous. It's truly a Dante-like inferno, with liquid-lava temperatures on one side and unearthly cold on the other.
Sky at a Glance | September 11th, 2009
The waning Moon passes Venus in the dawn this week, as Venus nears Regulus. Jupiter dominates the evening sky, awaiting your telescope.
Refurbished Hubble Shows Its Stuff
Hubble's upgraded cameras and instruments are fully up and running. NASA has released a bunch of new pictures and results showing off what the buffed-up scope can do.
Sky at a Glance | September 4th, 2009
Jupiter now dominates the evening sky, awaiting your telescope. In the dawn sky, the Moon meets tiny Mars.
Sky at a Glance | August 28th, 2009
Jupiter shows off during the evening this week, all four of its big moons briefly hide, and two planets at dawn have separate encounters with star clusters.
Sky at a Glance | August 21st, 2009
Jupiter, just past opposition, shows its Red Spot, a double shadow transit, and, briefly, just one moon. Mars pairs up with a star cluster. And Vega crosses the zenith, signaling that Milky-Way-rich Sagittarius stands highest due south.
Jupiter's Moons Dance for You!
Right now you can watch one of Jupiter's satellites hide another with its own disk or shadow. These pairings only happen every six years!
New Limits on the Big Bang
LIGO, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory, has just announced its first big astronomy result: Two years of data rule out certain versions of the inflationary-universe theory of what drove the Big Bang.
Sky at a Glance | August 14th, 2009
Saturn and Mercury pass each other very low in the sunset. Jupiter is at opposition. And the Moon meets up with Venus at dawn.
