Astronomers

My God, it's full of gas.

Marvel at the Newest Map of the Milky Way

It is the most complete map of the cold galaxy ever made

Happy 543rd Birthday, Nicolaus Copernicus

The Renaissance scientist set the stage for modern astronomy

This artist’s impression shows the super-Earth 55 Cancri e in front of its parent star.

Hubble Gets a Whiff of Super-Earth Atmosphere For The First Time

The toasty planet’s atmosphere is similar to a gas giant’s

Happy 452nd Birthday, Galileo

The revolutionary who helped shape modern astronomy

A copy of a photograph of a solar eclipse taken by the English astronomer Arthur Eddington in 1919.

Long-Lost Photos of Eclipses and Stars Found in an Observatory Basement

The stash of old negatives includes a 97-year-old copy of the photo that helped confirm the Theory of Relativity

The "Dog Star" Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky.

Night Sky Wonders to Ring in the New Year

The star Sirius is high in the sky, and comet Catalina is at its brightest

Astronomers have discovered strange chemicals in interstellar objects like the Horsehead Nebula.

Scientists Are Searching for Space Chemicals That Could Never Exist on Earth

Bizarre chemicals in deep space could help explain the origins of life

The Ursid meteor shower appears to radiate from the Little Dipper (top right).

Two Sparkling Meteor Showers Will Bookend the New Year

Sky-watchers should be on the lookout in coming weeks for the Ursid and Quadrantid showers

A new exoplanet was discovered by telescopes at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory

A New Earth-Sized Planet Is Getting Astronomers Riled Up

It could be a rare opportunity for scientists to study an exoplanet’s atmosphere

New Horizons snapped this image of Pluto on July 12, 2015.

How Pluto Got Its Name

New Horizons carries an instrument named for Venetia Burney, the 11-year-old girl who named Pluto

The last of the data from the New Horizons flyby won’t arrive until late 2016.

One Man's Lifelong Pursuit of Pluto is About to Get Real

When the New Horizons spacecraft races by the quasi-planetary body, Alan Stern will have finally met his match

Why Astronomers Are Fighting Back Against Robotic Lawnmowers

It’s a feud fueled by radio frequencies

An artist’s interpretation of an alien planet and its star

Planets Formed Close to Their Stars Are Named for Vulcan, the Roman God of Fire

Closer to their stars than Mercury is to the Sun, these hot worlds deserve an explanation

The scales on Fragment C divide the year by days and signs of the zodiac.

Decoding the Antikythera Mechanism, the First Computer

Hidden inscriptions offer new clues to the origins of a mysterious astronomical mechanism

How One Physicist’s Pursuit of the Cosmos Took Off in Antarctica

Francis Halzen’s amazing experiment heralds the beginning of a new era in astronomy

Why Carl Sagan is Truly Irreplaceable

No one will ever match his talent as the “gatekeeper of scientific credibility”

One of the many mysteries baffling astronomers is how galaxies such as the Milky Way are able to form new stars at an unsustainable rate.

Top Ten Mysteries of the Universe

What are those burning questions about the cosmos that still baffle astronomers today?

None

Astronomer Mike Brown Is the Guy Who Killed Pluto

On the streets of Alexandria, Egypt, a mob led by Peter the Lector brutally murdered Hypatia, one of the last great thinkers of ancient Alexandria.

Hypatia, Ancient Alexandria’s Great Female Scholar

An avowed paganist in a time of religious strife, Hypatia was also one of the first women to study math, astronomy and philosophy

Galileo was the first to discover the moons of Jupiter.

Galileo's Revolutionary Vision Helped Usher In Modern Astronomy

The Italian scientist turned his telescope toward the stars and changed our view of the universe

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