SUNSET: 
Voyagers Detect Missing Signal
The Voyager spacecraft have observed long-sought emission from the Milky Way while traveling through the outermost reaches of the Sun’s influence.
Sky & Telescope January 2012
Sky & Telescope's January 2012 issue is now available to digital subscribers.
Another Origin for Cosmic Rays
Recent gamma-ray observations support the longstanding theory that superspeedy particles called cosmic rays have their origin in the havoc-ridden regions around young star clusters.
Detecting Earth
Joseph LazioFor five decades astronomers have used some of the world’s largest radio telescopes to search for signals from other civilizations. So far, our best equipment has not picked up any confirmed signals from extraterrestrials. In his cover story for the January 2012 issue of Sky & Telescope, radio astronomer…
Name That Telescope Array
Have a gift for picking good names? The newly updated Very Large Array wants a snazzy appellation to mark its second lease on life. Submit your suggestion by December 1st.
Europa's Subsurface Lakes
Extensive lens-shaped lakes beneath the surface of Jupiter's moon Europa may explain strange features spread across the satellite's ice shell.
The Oddly Magnetic Moon
Astronomers have had evidence of an ancient Moon-wide magnetic field since the Apollo era. Now two new studies give explanations for how such a field could have existed long after it should have disappeared.
Sunspot Points at Earth
A huge solar blemish mars the Sun’s disk, in perfect view for Earth-based observers.
Chinese Supernova Keeps its Secrets
Astronomers find hints of what kind of explosion caused a "guest star" spotted in ancient skies, but the case isn't closed.
"Blue Stragglers" Renewed by Stealing
Some deceptively youthful stars may find their fountains of youth in material they grab off other stars.
Lensed Light Used to Weigh Dark Matter
Astronomers use a novel method of weighing distant galaxies to measure their masses and find that there's more matter than the galaxies' light can easily explain.
Dark Energy's Early Fingerprints
Studying the effect of galaxy clusters on the background radiation from the early universe, University of Hawaii astronomers have added to the pile of evidence for dark energy.
A Galactic Dead Zone
Astronomers find that the organic compounds common throughout our galaxy and others suddenly disappear along M101's outer edge.
Weighing Black Holes with a Thermometer
Astronomers use the 12-million-kelvin-blaze of a galaxy's central region to measure its supermassive black hole.
Artificial Intelligence Aids Astronomers
Astronomers have designed a neural network that can determine the particulars of binary star systems by just examining their light curves — and it can do it really, really fast.
Are Jupiters Hard to Come By?
A recent survey of stars in the Orion Nebula Cluster reveals that less than 10% of stars there have enough material in their surrounding disks to form Jupiter-sized planets.
Brown-Dwarf Binary Tests Theories
Recent calculations for a pair of failed stars add to astronomers' scant knowledge of brown dwarfs and will help set a reference point for future studies.
Water in Moon Dust Raises Questions
Traces of water recently found in glassy granules brought back 40 years ago by the Apollo 15 crew suggest scientists haven't quite figured out yet just how our Moon formed.
Mercury: The Incredible Shrinking Planet
During its first flyby of Mercury, NASA"s Messenger spacecraft found much less iron on the planet’s surface than expected and a cloud of ionized atoms — including water — caught up in the planet’s magnetosphere. And that’s just for starters.
Regulus’s Secret Companion
Astronomers confirm a low-mass star orbits the Lion’s heart, the bright blue star imaged here to the lower right. But what exactly is it?
