SUNSET: 
Kepler's Planets by the Hundreds
Old data from NASA’s crippled Kepler space telescope has yielded a new windfall of confirmed exoplanets, nearly doubling the number tallied since 1992.
3-D Mapping of Large Magellanic Cloud
A team of astronomers has assembled the first fully three-dimensional view of stellar motions in a nearby galaxy.
A Meteorite Lights up the Lunar Night
Astronomers have witnessed the largest lunar impact to date. With an impact energy equivalent to 15 tons of TNT — approximately 3 times as great as the previous record-holder — the flash was visible even to the naked-eye.
The Purest Star Tells an Ancient Tale
Astronomers have discovered the purest star to date. Composed almost exclusively of hydrogen and helium — with 15 million times less iron than our Sun — it illuminates what happened among the first supernovae in the early universe.
Hot White Dwarfs Show Planet Debris
Both hot and cool white dwarf stars can display the remains of destroyed planets polluting their atmospheres. There now appear to be two routes for this material to make its way in.
Unveiling Ganymede
Get an eyeful of the solar system’s largest moon — a world of ancient, crater-packed plains and broad swaths of younger grooved terrain that defies easy explanation.
Curiosity Navigates the Crossroads
NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory — Curiosity — has successfully crossed a sand dune standing between the rover and its final science destination.
Shedding Light on Circumbinary Systems
Astronomers are beginning to understand the unlikely formation and dangerous survival of exoplanets circling binary stars.