Space Missions

Tiny Telescopes Launch

Successfully launched February 25th, a pair of diminutive telescopes inside basketball-size cubes will give scientists new views of the brightest stars in the galaxy.

Celestial News & Events

Perseids at Their Prime

The annual Perseid meteor shower peaks this weekend, providing skywatchers with a great opportunity to see some incoming bits of the cosmos.

Stellar Science

Black Holes Might Form Like Planets

Astronomers have plenty of evidence for small and large black holes, but have had little luck tracking down the mid-sized variety. One team of researchers suggests the search has been focused on the wrong places all along.

Professional Telescopes

Discovery Channel Telescope's Debut

After seven years of construction, Lowell Observatory's Discovery Channel Telescope is about to come online. The DCT team expects the state-of-the-art 4.3-meter scope to breathe new life into the storied observatory and allow astronomers new views of comets, stars, and deep-space objects.

Space Missions

Do-It-Yourself Space Science

A California startup seeks to democratize space research by putting a tiny, custom-built satellite into orbit — and letting the public decide how to use it.

Astronomy & Observing News

Exoplanet Hunters Dim the Lights

Scientists have devised a new way to dim starlight's blinding glare, a technique that improves on existing technologies to allow astronomers a clearer view of exoplanets orbiting nearby stars.

Cosmology

Dark-Matter Thread Revealed

Scientists have found a dark-matter filament, a strand of the cosmic web that connects clusters of galaxies. It's the first time an individual filament has been detected and is among our first observational glimpses of the universe’s largest structures.

Exoplanets

Seeing Exoplanets in a New Light

Researchers have devised a way to peek at the atmospheres of non-transiting exoplanets. The method may prove to be a valuable tool in astronomers' efforts to characterize planets outside our solar system.

Professional Telescopes

Little Scope Makes Big Finds

Scientists using the diminutive KELT North telescope have discovered two extrasolar planets, one of which is unlike anything yet seen. The finding provides researchers with raw material to study exoplanets, but it also demonstrates that sometimes, the little guys can still win big.

Exoplanets

Small Planets’ Evolutionary Edge

The discovery that planets can form around a variety of stars — and not just specific types, as previously thought — might open the floodgates on the search for habitable worlds in the galaxy.

Stellar Science

Failed Stars Oddly Rare

Astronomers hunting for brown dwarfs in our solar neighborhood have been thrown a surprise: these star wannabes are far less common than previously thought.

Space Missions

NASA’s New Spy Scopes

Out of the blue, NASA finds itself the new owner of two new Hubble-class space telescopes sitting in a warehouse, courtesy of a spy agency that didn't want them. But like many gifts, they aren't exactly free.

Professional Telescopes

ALMA Coming Together

As one of the world's greatest new telescopes takes shape, preliminary results impress.

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