Astronomy
Dirty Curiosity Rover Could Seed Mars With Earthly Bacteria
Curiosity is loaded with bacteria, and it could contaminate Mars
September 11, 2012 |
By Colin Schultz
Curiosity’s Latest: This Gigantic 3D Panorama of Mars
Using Curiosity's left and right navigation cameras, NASA produced a 3D panorama of the Martian surface
September 05, 2012 |
By Colin Schultz
What the Discovery of Hundreds of New Planets Means for Astronomy—and Philosophy
New telescopes are allowing us to look at space more accurately than ever – and what they uncover could change our world
September 2012 |
By Timothy Ferris
Astronomers Find More Than 1,500,000 New Black Holes
Recent findings triple the number of known black holes in the universe
August 30, 2012 |
By Colin Schultz
Neil Armstrong’s Previously Unheard Speech, Recorded One Year Ago
Recorded surreptitiously, the 43 minute-long speech captures Armstrong's presentation one year prior to his passing
August 30, 2012 |
By Colin Schultz
VIDEOS: An Astrophysicist Turns Stars Into Music
Alex Parker at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics takes his work home with him -- and makes stunning visualizations
August 30, 2012 |
By Leah Binkovitz
The Final Frontier – Fifty Years of Space Exploration in One Graphic
From the Curiosity Rover to the Cassini spacecraft, follow the sweeping paths of our space missions
August 24, 2012 |
By Rose Eveleth
Choose Your Own Alien Adventure – The Drake Equation Gets Interactive
No one knows how many alien civilizations are out there - but if you wanted to guess at a number you'd probably turn to the Drake Equation
August 24, 2012 |
By Rose Eveleth
Curiosity’s High-Definition Perspective of its Descent Onto Mars
Bask in the high-definition timelapse images captured by Curiosity as it landed on Mars
August 23, 2012 |
By Colin Schultz
Earth Will Die a Hot Horrible Death when the Sun Expands and Swallows Us, and Now We Know What That Looks Like
Astronomers caught a red giant star swallowing one of its planets, a vision of Earth's own potential fate
August 21, 2012 |
By Colin Schultz
The Sun is Just 0.0007% Away From Being a Perfect Sphere
The Sun is the most perfectly round natural object known in the universe
August 17, 2012 |
By Colin Schultz
Good Morning Curiosity – Wake up With the Same Songs as a Mars Rover
Every Martian morning, the Curiosity rover gets a wakeup song
August 17, 2012 |
By Rose Eveleth
Click Around This High Definition 360° Panorama of Mars
NASA’s Curiosity rover has been on the surface of the red planet for a week today, and this interactive panorama makes you feel like you’re actually there. We know that saying gets bandied about a lot, but it really, really does. As space writer Amy Shira Teitel notes, “how are these things popping up so fast!” By [...]
August 13, 2012 |
By Colin Schultz
What if All 2,299 Exoplanets Orbited One Star?
For the past two years, NASA's planet-hunting Kepler satellite has consistently challenged our view of just how many planets there are out there.
August 13, 2012 |
By Colin Schultz
This Weekend Is Prime Time for Meteor Watching
Between midnight and dawn on any night this coming weekend (for those in the US, times vary for others), look up, turn to the northeast, and admire the annual show of the Perseid meteor shower.
August 10, 2012 |
By Colin Schultz
Fly Through a Gigantic 3D Model of the Universe
Reminiscent of the early 90's Windows screensaver that whisked you through space with a field of zooming stars, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey's A Flight Through the Universe takes you on a trip around the universe.
August 09, 2012 |
By Colin Schultz
Sir Bernard Lovell, The Man The Soviets Tried to Poison With Uranium, Dies at 98
Lovell, of the Lovell telescope, made several advances in radio astronomy and physics.
August 07, 2012 |
By Rose Eveleth
Landing Curiosity on Mars was Way Harder and Way Less Expensive than the Olympics
Landing a car-sized rover on a distant planet using a sky crane is really hard, and really awesome.
August 06, 2012 |
By Rose Eveleth
India Wants to go to Mars Too, And Other Upcoming Space Missions
Though all eyes are on Curiosity, space agencies from around the world have by no means been resting on their laurels.
August 03, 2012 |
By Colin Schultz
If Humans Are Ever Going to See Alien Life, Here’s Where It Will Happen
Scientists are all atwitter over Enceladus, one of Saturn's moons and one of the most likely places in our solar system to harbor life.
July 30, 2012 |
By Rose Eveleth
