SUNSET: 
Spotting Comet Dust Around Alien Suns
Have you ever spotted the glow of a “false dawn”? Now astronomers have spotted a similar zodiacal light around nine nearby stars.
Targeting Crisis Averted for New Horizons
NASA scientists have found three potential Kuiper belt objects in the nick of time, saving the Pluto-bound probe from missing out on half of its mission.
Citizen Scientists Probe Early Galaxies
New data collected by Galaxy Zoo show early galaxies with central bars, providing implications about how galaxies grow.
Calling All Amateur Astronomers
NASA’s Night Sky Network is conducting a new survey in order to better help the amateur astronomy community.
Do Exoplanets Transform Between Classes?
A new analysis suggests that hot super-Earths might be the skeletal remnants of hot Jupiters stripped of their atmospheres.
Black Hole Trio Questioned
New data shed light on last month’s exciting discovery of a black hole triplet — but they suggest instead that the threesome is really just a twosome.
GRBs: A New Standard Candle?
Astronomers might be on the brink of developing a new rung on the cosmic distance ladder.
Question Reopened: How do Galaxies Grow?
Evidence from observations sheds doubt on cosmic cannibalism as a source for galaxy growth, suggesting that instead galaxies grow by pulling in gas from the intergalactic medium.
Dwarf Galaxies Packed a Mighty Punch
Light from the puniest galaxies played a bigger role in shaping the early universe than previously thought.
New Radio Burst Deepens Mystery
A newly discovered radio burst places these ultrafast, ultrabright pulses on the cosmic map of unknown phenomena.
Titan Sheds Light on Alien Atmospheres
Saturn’s largest moon Titan played a cameo as an exoplanet, allowing astronomers to better understand how a thick layer of haze or clouds might affect their observations of more distant alien worlds.
Exoplanet Portraits: A Tale of New Instruments
Exoplanet missions are shifting their goals from counting to characterizing, with multiple instruments coming online to directly image these alien worlds.
Two Ancient Exoplanets Discovered
Kapteyn’s star — a nearby star that likely formed outside this galaxy — hosts two planets more than twice as old as Earth.
Three Exoplanet Molds: Metals Matter
Data from NASA's Kepler space telescope point to three distinct molds of exoplanets — rocky worlds, gas dwarfs, and ice/gas giants — distinguishable based on the abundances of heavy elements in their host star’s atmosphere.
Quark Nova Spotted in Cas A?
Two elements deep within Cassiopeia A, hint the supernova remnant underwent a quark nova — a theoretical second explosion that leaves behind a quark star — just days after the original supernova.
Spotting a Nearby Quasar’s Winds
A neighboring galaxy’s central black hole powers strong winds, allowing astronomers — for the first time — to spot those gales pushing out star-forming gas.
Best Model Yet for Cosmic Evolution
Astronomers have created the most realistic computer simulation of the universe’s evolution to date, tracking activity across 13 billion years of cosmic history.
Hidden Treasures in Hubble Images
A new processing technique has revealed once-invisible planetary disks encircling five stars imaged in Hubble’s archive.
Exoplanet Out for a Quick Spin
Astronomers have used a new technique to measure — for the first time — the spin of an extrasolar planet.
Mysteriously Bright Supernova Explained
In 2010, a mysteriously bright supernova appeared, later sparking a debate within the astronomy community. But new images of the now-faded supernova reveal an intervening — and until now invisible — cosmic lens, which magnified its light.