SUNSET: 
Curiosity Rover Exposes Mountain’s Origin
Scientists have used an innovative measure of Mars's gravity to reveal the origin of the mountain the rover is exploring.
Amateur Scopes Help Find Planet Formation’s Missing Link
A surprisingly inexpensive setup of amateur equipment is helping astronomers on their quest to find Kuiper Belt objects of every size to better understand how planets formed in our solar system.
What Quasars Can Teach Us About Dark Energy
Astronomers have found a way to turn quasars into standard candles, with potentially far-reaching implications for the nature of mysterious dark energy.
60-second Astro News: Latest from Ultima Thule & A Tall-Tailed Galaxy
This week in astronomy news, see two stunning images — one from the edge of the solar system, the newest image of Ultima Thule, and the other from the depths of the Coma Cluster of galaxies.
Scientists Question Popular Planet Formation Theory
New studies are challenging the core accretion theory, the primary model astronomers use to understand how worlds form in our solar system and beyond.
How “Light Echoes” Revealed a Black Hole’s Feeding Habits
Astronomers are taking a cue from bats, using a method similar to echolocation to map out the feeding environment around a black hole.
60-second Astro News: White Dwarfs & Hot Jupiters
This week in astronomy news: Space telescopes show us that white dwarfs are crystallizing in their cores and cloudy night skies are universal among hot Jupiters.
The Dragon in Orion's Nebula
NASA's planebound SOFIA observatory has captured a far-infrared view of the Orion Nebula that reveals the actions of the region's stars — and the striking illusion of a dragon at the nebula's core.
NASA’s TESS Mission Announces New Planets, Supernovae
The TESS mission announces eight confirmed planets along with hundreds of exoplanet candidates.
60-Second Astro News: Entering Asteroid Orbit & Imaging Io's Volcanoes
This week in astronomy news, the spacecraft Osiris-REX reached orbit around asteroid Bennu while the Juno probe snapped photos of volcanic plumes from Jupiter's moon Io.
60-second Astro News: Most Distant Solar System Object & Saturn's Disappearing Rings
In astronomy news this week, astronomers announce the most distant solar system object discovered to date and estimate the limited lifetime of Saturn's spectacular rings.
60-Second Astro News: TESS's First Exoplanet, Asteroid Hides a Galaxy
TESS finds its first exoplanet — a super-Earth around bright nearby star Pi Mensae — and astronomers watched an asteroid hide a galaxy to get the details on the asteroid's size, shape, and orbit.
Super-Earth Discovered in (Fictional) Vulcan System
Thirty years ago, Gene Roddenberry, of Star Trek fame, and three astronomers made the case that the orange-hued star 40 Eridani A ought to host Vulcan, Mr. Spock's home. Now, a robotic survey has discovered a planet around that very star.
60-Second Astro News: Starbirth, Stardeath, and the Evolution of Galaxies
Starbirth and stardeath light up a nearby galaxy while faraway galaxies twist and bend in these new images from NASA's Hubble and Chandra space observatories.
What Makes Supernovae Superluminous?
A new technique gives astronomers a closer look at what makes some stellar carnage so incredibly luminous.
Middleweight Black Holes Provide Window to Early Universe
How did supermassive black holes form? Two studies discovered dozens of middling-mass black holes in dwarf galaxies to fuel an ongoing debate.
60-second Astro News: Three Stunning Astronomy Pictures
In astronomy news this week: A stunning just-released photo of last year's eclipse, 15,000 galaxies revealed in Hubble's new ultraviolet view of the deep sky, and watching star formation in action in the spiral galaxy M74.
Mind the Gap: Gaia Mission Reveals the Insides of Stars
Astronomers have discovered a hiccup in stellar luminosities that may point to a new understanding of stellar structure.
60-Second Astro News: Must-See Images of the Week
Catch up on this week in astronomy news with a trio of images: a pair of near-Earth asteroid twins, ground-based views that beat Hubble's, and the tumultuous galactic center.
60-Second Astro News: Impact Shaped Ice Giant, Jupiter's Moons Cause Complicated Aurorae & Eta Carinae, the Cosmic Ray Gun
This week in astronomy: Simulations show what kind of cataclysmic impact shaped the ice giant Uranus's evolution, new observations from Juno reveal complex auroral patterns due to Jupiter's moons, and NuSTAR provides conclusive evidence that the superstar Eta Carinae acts as a cosmic-ray accelerator.
