As A Rough Year Ends, We Turn To The Cosmos For Some Perspective
As 2016 winds down, we take a moment to contemplate the billions of years that led to 2017 and the billions more yet to come.
Astronomy
Astronomers Are On A Celestial Treasure Hunt. The Prize? Planet Nine
Earlier this year, a pair of scientists predicted the existence of a ninth planet based on computer modeling of the solar system. This fall, the race is on to be the first to spot it in a telescope.
Mysterious Brown Mountain Lights Caught On Tape, Questions Remain
For years, there have been reports of strange lights seen in the Linville Gorge region of Western North Carolina.
Juno Arrives To Check On Jupiter's Affairs
Jupiter - the Roman God of the Sky and Thunder, King of the gods, and the name given to the largest planet in our solar system. It's a planet so large that, not including the sun, the rest of the solar system would fit inside with plenty of room to spare.
Jupiter's moons are named after the god's many lovers. According to mythology, when Jupiter thought his wife suspected him of cheating, he turned himself into a cloud to cover his affairs.
Now, NASA has sent the Juno Spacecraft, named after Jupiter's wife, to discover just what Jupiter has hidden beneath its clouds.
A Fitting Tribute For A Stargazing Love: A Trip To The Moon
Gene and Carolyn Shoemaker made a life together gazing at the stars. So when Gene died, Carolyn could think of no better resting place for his ashes than one of his favorite places — the moon itself.
'Star Trackers' Help Juno Find Its Way
Space navigation is tricky. There's no up or down, no left or right, and no road signs. This device uses stars to help determine if a spacecraft is off course. It takes nifty pictures, too.
The Long Path To Life And The Recycled Star You Are
To make enough of the elements to support the chemical complexity of biology, we need an enormously old universe. Stars truly are the factories of life. But for you or your cat to exist, several generations of stars need to have come and gone - each born from the atoms of previous generations, like the babies of the Orion Nebula.
Planet Visible During Rare Mercury Transit
Today you have a rare opportunity today to see a planet in motion.
The Long Path To Life And The Recycled Star You Are
To make enough of the elements to support the chemical complexity of biology, we need an enormously old universe. Stars truly are the factories of life. But for you or your cat to exist, several generations of stars need to have come and gone - each born from the atoms of previous generations, like the babies of the Orion Nebula.
Supermassive Black Holes May Be More Common Than Anyone Imagined
A black hole with about 17 billion times the mass of our sun has turned up in another remote galaxy. Astronomers now think these mass-eating monsters may not be so rare after all.