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Astronomy

The team gathers at the top of the proposed Giant Magellan Telescope site on top of Las Campanas looking back toward the twin Magellan telescopes and homebase.

Day 4: Peak Conditions for a New Telescope

Secretary Clough scopes out the site for the Giant Magellan Telescope and bids goodbye to Las Campanas

An eyepiece on the 6.5 meter Magellan/Clay telescope allows Secretary Clough to see amazing sights in the night sky, including the planet Saturn, the star Eta Carinae and the Omega Centauri.

Day 3: The Excitement of Astronomy

A daytime tour of the Magellan facility and its surrounding hillside is topped off by a perfect evening of stargazing

Smithsonian Secretary G. Wayne Clough (yellow hat) standing on a scaffolding with a group of Smithsonian employees outside the DuPont telescope.

Day 2: Stargazing in the Andes Mountains

Up high among wild burros and llamas, a Smithsonian astronomer observes and studies the millions of stars in the sky

The Chilean Andes

Day 1: A Stop in Santiago

Smithsonian Secretary G. Wayne Clough explores Santiago before heading to the Las Campanas Observatory in the Chilean Andes

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Hubble’s Ugliest Photographs

The Hubble Space Telescope’s Finest Photos

Now that the telescope has received its final upgrades, we look back on Hubble’s most memorable images from space

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100 Hours of Astronomy Webcast

Using shadows and the moon, Olson determined the moment Ansel Adams photographed Autumn Moon. When conditions recurred 57 years later, Olson was ready.

Forensic Astronomer Solves Fine Arts Puzzles

Astrophysicist Don Olson breaks down the barriers between science and art by analyzing literature and paintings from the past

Sarah Zielinski (left) is an assistant editor at Smithsonian magazine and Jennifer Drapkin (right) is a senior editor at Mental Floss magazine.

Jennifer Drapkin and Sarah Zielinski on “Celestial Sleuth”

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Vote for Hubble’s Next Target

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Astronomer Explains Consequences of a More Massive Milky Way

NASA's Stardust capsule returned from a seven-year, three-billion-mile trip to collect dust from comet Wild 2.

Stardust Memories

Cosmic dust may reveal some of the uncovered secrets of our universe

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The Universe Has Its Secrets; We’ve Got Science Rap

Galileo

Galileo, Reconsidered

The first biography of Galileo Galilei resurfaces and offers a new theory as to why the astronomer was put on trial

Maybe Life Arrived from Beyond the Stars, Says Meteorite

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Update: Quake-Hit Pandas; Mars Lander

Coming Soon to a Cineplex Far, Far Away

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Into the Void

Unraveling an astronomical mystery… and a presidency

Homing In on Black Holes

To gain insight into the most mysterious objects in the universe, astronomers shine a light at the chaotic core of our Milky Way

Bright Moon, Warm Earth?

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