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| KEN CROSWELL'S ARTICLES BY DATE |
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May 13, 2013: Saturn Is Shaking Its Rings*: Oscillations inside the giant planet perturb its rings, promising new clues to the nature of its enormous interior.
May 2, 2013: Diamond Planets Get Even More Precious: Carbon planets are a lot rarer than had been thought.
April 1, 2013: Gentle or Jumping? The Varied Lives of Hot Jupiters*: A newborn star's iron abundance foretells whether its gas giants face a violent future.
March 20, 2013: Star Performers: The Magellanic Clouds: Two intrepid galaxies dash past the Milky Way--and dazzle astronomers.
March 13, 2013: "Cold" Hydrogen Molecules Found on Hot Stars*: Surprise discovery may probe the conditions on white dwarfs.
December 18, 2012: Another Earth 12 Light-Years Away?: Five planets may orbit Tau Ceti.
December 3, 2012: Galaxy Grande: Milky Way May Be More Massive Than Thought*: Hubble observations of a speedy galaxy weigh on the Milky Way and indicate that our Galaxy is at least a trillion times as massive as the Sun.
December 3, 2012: Older Vega Is Mature Enough for Primitive Life*: The star of Contact is older than had been thought.
November 28, 2012: Gargantuan Black Hole Occupies Modest Galaxy: It's one of the biggest black holes ever seen.
November 2012: Pluto's Revenge: Hubble Finds a Fifth Moon: Discovery boosts Pluto's planetary cred.
October 19, 2012: The Return of a Great Nineteenth-Century Meteor Shower*: Long thought nearly extinct, the Andromedid meteor shower staged a surprise outburst last December—and may return in 2018 and 2023.
July 31, 2012: Did Runaway Stars Reionize the Ancient Universe?*: Hot stars booted out of their galactic homes may be responsible for creating the conditions that led to today's universe.
July 18, 2012: Hubble Spots the Farthest Spiral Galaxy Ever Seen: It flaunted its spiral arms just 3 billion years after the big bang.
July 4, 2012: Poof! Planet-Forming Disk Vanishes Into Thin Air: The same cosmic mystery may have occurred in our solar system.
June 6, 2012: Pluto's Moons Offer Hints of Alien Worlds*: The distant satellites may show how planets orbit double stars.
May 30, 2012: The Milky Way's Oldest and Wisest Stars: An astronomer invents a new technique to trace the origins of our Galaxy.
May 24, 2012: How Many Stars Never Make the Big Time?*: Search for brown dwarfs reveals the odds of stellar success.
May 7, 2012: Hot Jupiters Are Loners: Gas giants orbiting next to their suns have no close planetary neighbors.
May 2, 2012: Giant Black Hole Shreds and Swallows Helpless Star: Astronomers watch the drama unfold from 2.1 billion light-years away.
April 24, 2012: Galaxies Defy Astronomers' Expectations: Galaxies formed stars differently in the early universe.
April 7, 2012: Tides Turn Some "Habitable" Planets Into Hellish Hothouses*: Planets close to small red dwarfs may be "tidal Venuses."
March 22, 2012: One Black Hole Won't Ruin Your Day: If a primordial black hole hits Earth, you'll probably feel just fine.
February 21, 2012: Some Planets Are Alien Invaders*: Billions of stars in our Galaxy may have captured their most distant worlds.
February 3, 2012: Double Star Hosts Ancient World*: It's 2 billion years older than Earth.
January 6, 2012: The Star That Never Was*: Stardom is just a pipe dream.
December 16, 2011: Is Jupiter Eating Its Own Heart?*: Some gas giant planets may have destroyed their cores.
December 14, 2011: Danger: Black Hole Dead Ahead!: What may be a gas cloud is hurtling toward the Galaxy's biggest black hole.
December 7, 2011: Giant Stars Bare Their Whirling Hearts: Their cores spins much faster than their surfaces.
November 29, 2011: Starburst in Andromeda*: The giant Andromeda Galaxy owes a bit of its beauty to a galactic encounter.
November 11, 2011: The Fastest Spinning Normal Star*: It spins 300 times faster than the Sun.
November 10, 2011: Pristine Relics of the Big Bang Spotted: Two distant gas clouds appear untouched by stars.
September 6, 2011: Baby Star Found on Earth's Doorstep: The nearest pre-main-sequence star ever found may sport glowing planets.
August 12, 2011: "Earth-Mars" Collision May Have Hit Alien Solar System*: Did something whack a dim star's planet--and create a new moon?
August 8, 2011: The Fate of the First Black Hole*: The black hole of Cygnus X-1 will likely separate from its long-suffering partner.
July 22, 2011: The Milky Way's Dimmest Star Cluster*: Segue 3 ekes out just 90 Suns' worth of light.
June 28, 2011: Famous Black Hole Confirmed After Forty Years*: The first parallax to Cygnus X-1 reveals that it must contain a black hole.
June 25, 2011: Busted! Nearby Galaxy Is a Stellar Thief*: The Large Magellanic Cloud snatched stars from its long-time companion.
June 14, 2011: Galactic Hit and Run*: Astronomers reconstruct a celestial accident.
May 12, 2011: Far-out Earths Could Support Alien Life*: A life-bearing planet can exist far from its star--if its air abounds with hydrogen.
April 12, 2011: Do Spiral Galaxies Form from the Inside Out?*: Distant spiral sheds light on galaxy formation.
March 21, 2011: Can Dying Stars Support Life?: White dwarfs may have habitable planets.
March 12, 2011: Newly Found Brown Dwarf Is Ultracool*: It's room temperature.
March 8, 2011: Distant Galaxy Helped Relight the Universe*: It began forming stars only 150 to 300 million years after the big bang.
February 10, 2011: Future of Cosmology Looks Bright in a Dark Universe: Cosmologists will still be able to do their job--even a trillion years from now.
January 14, 2011: Hot World Breaks Record*: It's the hottest planet yet.
December 7, 2010: Dancing Stars Turn on the Red Light*: Two stars merge and trigger a rare type of nova.
December 2010: Star Struck: Astronomers turn their telescopes to the unbounded beauty of the Milky Way.
November 19, 2010: Can the Sun's Siblings Be Found?*: The Milky Way's spiral arms may have scattered the Sun's siblings hither and yon.
September/October 2010: Wrong-Way Planets: Many extrasolar planets orbit their stars against the grain.
September 1, 2010: Tilting Stars May Explain Backward Planets*: Stellar flips may explain some wrong-way planets.
August 26, 2010: Galactic Collisions Spread The Wealth*: When galaxies collide, regions rich and poor in metals mix it up.
August 12, 2010: Stars Steal Their Planet's Moons: Hot Jupiters may be moonless.
July 2, 2010: Planets "Sing" in Three-Part Harmony*: Astronomers discover the first three-planet resonance--around a star just 15 light-years away.
June 22, 2010: Speedy Star Points to More Massive Milky Way*: The fastest halo star ever seen may boost estimates of our Galaxy's mass.
June 2010: Why Jupiter's Big Moons Outnumber Saturn's: Jupiter 4, Saturn 1. Why?
May 25, 2010: Supermassive Black Holes Reveal a Surprising Clue*: A startling correlation between the mass of a galaxy's central black hole and the number of globular clusters may give insights into galactic evolution.
April 9, 2010: "Dark Sun" Is One of Our Nearest Neighbors: A newfound star less than 10 light-years from Earth appears to be the closest brown dwarf ever detected.
February 18, 2010: Ninth Rock From the Sun: It's time for a new and improved definition of "planet"--one that restores Pluto to its former glory.
November 12, 2009: A Star From Another Galaxy*: One of our nearest stellar neighbors--Kapteyn's Star, just 13 light-years from Earth--probably originated in another galaxy.
October 2009: Giant Molecular Cloud in Solar Neighborhood: The California Nebula has a dark secret.
September 26, 2009: No Home For Life in the Galactic Outer Suburbs*: If the Sun had been born near the edge of the Milky Way, we probably wouldn't exist.
September 2009: Galaxy Smash-Up Revealed Next Door: The Small Magellanic Cloud suffered a big collision 7.5 billion years ago.
August 13, 2009: The Milky Way's Secret Companion?*: A large satellite galaxy may be lurking next to ours, hidden from sight.
June 27, 2009: How Red Dwarfs Protect Their Planets*: Red dwarfs may protect their habitable planets better than the Sun protects the Earth.
June 20, 2009: Huge Stellar Nursery Found in Outer Galaxy*: It's more than ten times the size of the Orion Nebula.
February 18, 2009: Extrasolar Neptune-Pluto Analogue Discovered: A newfound pair of extrasolar planets may boost the planetary prospects of Pluto.
August 16, 2008: Milky Way Keeps Grip on Neighbor*: The Large Magellanic Cloud is here to stay.
July 12, 2008: Stellar Theft Sends Guilty Star Into a Spin: A white dwarf explains why Regulus spins so fast it's not round.
April 24, 2008: Will Mercury Hit Earth Someday?: The Sun's innermost planet may crash into Earth.
February 15, 2008: Meteorites from Mercury?*: Some rocks on Earth are probably from Mercury.
December 2007: Catching Andromeda's Light: The giant galaxy next door is a lot like ours.
June 19, 2007: New Distance to the Orion Nebula, Part Two*: Parallax confirms a new, shorter distance to the Orion Nebula.
May 14, 2007: Unveiling a Galactic Collision in Capricornus*: Two objects discovered during the nineteenth century are really colliding galaxies.
May 8, 2007: First Detection of Thorium in Another Galaxy*: Thorium in the Ursa Minor dwarf galaxy offers the first chance to measure another galaxy's age via radioactive dating.
April 6, 2007: The Stellar Origin of Copper*: The copper in pennies arose during the lives of stars like Rigel and Betelgeuse.
April 2007: The Blue Witch: The Witch Head Nebula shines by reflected glory from nearby Rigel.
March 14, 2007: The Widest Very Low Mass Binary*: Two faint red stars in Phoenix are traveling through space together--though separated by more than a hundred Sun-Pluto distances.
January 22, 2007: Malin 1: A Bizarre Galaxy Gets Slightly Less So*: Hubble reveals a normal disk of stars at the center of this giant low surface brightness galaxy.
January 15, 2007: New Distance to the Orion Nebula*: The Orion Nebula is closer than you thought.
December 18, 2006: A Primordial Galaxy in Cetus?*: A nearby dwarf galaxy may be a pristine building block of large galaxies like our own.
December 11, 2006: Is Pluto a Planet? This is a PDF file that presents arguments both for and against Pluto's planethood--please allow two minutes to download.
November 6, 2006: Red Dwarfs With Planets Have Low Metallicities: Three of the nearest red dwarf stars with planets all have less iron than the Sun.
October 30, 2006: Rainbow Whirlpools*: Two rainbow-colored images vividly show the differing distributions of the Whirlpool Galaxy's atomic and molecular hydrogen gas.
October 26, 2006: The First Cepheid Distance to NGC 55*: This galaxy may be orbiting another galaxy in the Sculptor group.
October 23, 2006: Stars Without Galaxies*: Most of the intergalactic stars in the Virgo cluster are old and metal-poor.
October 5, 2006: Pluto Question 2: How bright would the brightest planets look if they were as far as Pluto?
October 3, 2006: No Ocean on Neptune--Yet*: Neptune has no ocean, but it may develop one in 8 billion years.
September 26, 2006: Pluto Question: How bright would Pluto be if it were as close as Mars?
September 21, 2006: The Lives of Red Dwarf Stars*: The closer a red dwarf is to the Galactic plane, the more likely it is to sport magnetic activity.
September 6, 2006: The Pleiades' Lost Sister?*: An ultramassive white dwarf in Eridanus may have escaped from the Pleiades.
July 24, 2006: A Pulsating Red Giant's Bow Shock*: The Spitzer Space Telescope detects a bow shock around R Hydrae.
June 8, 2006: First Precise Distance to Shaula*: The second brightest star in Scorpius is a lot closer to Earth than astronomers had thought.
May 31, 2006: The First Cepheid Distance to Centaurus A*: The Hubble Space Telescope detects the first Cepheids ever seen in an elliptical galaxy--and measures its distance.
May 28, 2006: The First Binary Centaur*: The Hubble Space Telescope spots the first binary centaur ever seen.
April 19, 2006: Two New Galaxies Orbiting the Milky Way: Astronomers discover two satellites of our Galaxy in Boötes and Canes Venatici.
April 9, 2006: Black Holes in Quasars Spin Fast*: The fast spins make quasars emit much more light than they otherwise would.
March 10, 2006: A Solar Twin in the Big Dipper*: There's a star like the Sun in the Big Dipper.
January 31, 2006: The Horsehead Nebula is Rotating*: Astronomers give this famous nebula a spin.
January 29, 2006: Andromeda X: Andromeda's Newest Satellite Galaxy: It's the dimmest galaxy ever seen orbiting Andromeda.
January 19, 2006: Most Stars Are Single*: Two thirds of all star systems are single, like the Sun.
January 11, 2006: The Cosmic Origin of Carbon*: Most carbon on Earth came from stars that did not explode.
January 5, 2006: The Tenth Planet's First Anniversary: January 5 marks the date when the Sun's tenth planet was discovered.
January 3, 2006: Pulsar at the Galactic Center?*: It may be only one light-year from the Milky Way's central black hole.
December 21, 2005: The Three Moons of Pluto*: Astronomers determine the best orbits yet of Pluto's two new moons.
November 11, 2005: The First Interstellar Gas in a Globular Cluster?*: Astronomers find evidence for hydrogen gas between M15's many stars.
November 11, 2005: A Flare for Barnard's Star*: Just six light-years from the Sun, an old red star springs to life.
November 4, 2005: The First Direct Distance to Andromeda*: It agrees perfectly with less direct techniques.
September 12, 2005: A Giant Surprise*: Planet-bearing giant stars tend to be more metal-poor than other stars with planets.
September 2005: The Dumbbell Nebula's Harvest of Nitrogen: An expanding bubble enriches the Galaxy with nitrogen and may help life begin.
August 29, 2005: 100 Billion Brown Dwarfs*: Brown dwarfs may rival the number of all normal stars in our Galaxy.
August 4, 2005: A Solar Twin in Serpens?*: A far-off star may be the Sun's close cousin.
July 27, 2005: The Life and Times of Sirius B*: Sirius was once even brighter.
July/August 2005: Gould's Belt: Ring Around the Sky: Harboring some of the Milky Way's best-known features, Gould's belt lights the sky with superstars.
June 16, 2005: Charging Up the Universe*: When did the universe reionize itself? The Milky Way's oldest stars may hold the answer.
May 27, 2005: Extrasolar Comets*: Here's how to see a comet around another star.
April 19, 2005: The Outer Milky Way's Exotic Origin*: Did a galactic collision create the stars in our Galaxy's outer disk?
April 13, 2005: Andromeda's Vast Starry Disk*: M31 is a lot larger than it looks.
March 28, 2005: The Milky Way's Newest Satellite*: Astronomers spot the dimmest galaxy ever seen--orbiting the Milky Way.
March 2005: Descendants of the Dipper: Heart of the best-known star pattern, the Ursa Major moving group probes the behavior of young stars and the chemical evolution of the Galaxy.
February 18, 2005: The First Dark Galaxy?*: Astronomers may have discovered a galaxy without stars.
February 17, 2005: Pinpointing a Stellar Neighbor*: A feisty red dwarf in Antlia becomes the Sun's 28th nearest neighbor.
February 11, 2005: Do Brown Dwarfs Pulsate?*: The least massive stars may resemble Cepheids.
January 27, 2005: The Galaxy's Youngest Globular Cluster?*: Whiting 1 may be as young as the Sun.
January 19, 2005: The Age of Procyon*: The bright nearby star Procyon is 1.7 billion years old.
January 19, 2005: The Lion's Pumpkin-Shaped Heart: Rapid rotation flattens Regulus.
January 7, 2005: The Distance to a Stellar Youngster*: Astronomers pinpoint the parallax of T Tauri.
January 6, 2005: The Milky Way's First Light*: In its youngest days, our Galaxy may have favored producing stars like Vega and Regulus.
December 10, 2004: A New Star in the Neighborhood*: Astronomers have found a dim red star in the Sun's backyard.
November 15, 2004: Beta Centauri Weighs In*: Astronomers have measured the mass and distance of the eleventh brightest star in the night.
March 2004: M67: The Ultimate Survivor: This ancient star cluster has cheated death for some 4 billion years.
December 2003: The Black Cloud: A frigid blob of gas and dust hovers nearby, possibly foreshadowing a stellar birth.
September 2003: Fluorine: An Element-ary Mystery: The best-known ingredient in toothpaste has stellar origins that are anything but ordinary.
July 2002: The Brightest Red Dwarf: The brightest red dwarf resides in an obscure constellation, catalogued by an equally obscure pioneer in astronomy.
January 27, 2001: Red, Willing, and Able: Far from being desolate backwaters, red dwarfs may harbor an abundance of alien life.
December 13, 1997: 51 Pegasi: Planet, Not Pulsation*: 51 Pegasi's planet is real.
October 1997: The First Cepheid: The Cepheid story did not start with their namesake but with the largely overlooked star Eta Aquilae.
May 3, 1997: Scorpius Star is Twinned with Sun*: If you want to boost your chances of finding extraterrestrial intelligence, point your telescope at a star in the constellation of Scorpius.
April 1995: California Tornado Risk: Tornadoes hit California, too.
July 1993: The South American Appalachians: The Appalachians may be the remnant of an immense mountain range that once extended into Argentina.
January 30, 1993: Hopes Fade in Hunt for Planet X*: A newly determined mass for Neptune dooms Planet X, the hypothetical massive planet beyond Pluto.
December 18/25, 1992: How Lithium Strips Brown Dwarfs of Their Red Disguise*: Here's how to tell a red dwarf from a brown dwarf.
October 24, 1992: Why Intelligent Life Needs Giant Planets*: Without Jupiter and Saturn, intelligent life might never have arisen on Earth.
June 20, 1992: Nitrogen in Pluto's Atmosphere*: Pluto is the only planet apart from Earth with an atmosphere consisting mostly of nitrogen.
| KEN CROSWELL'S ARTICLES BY SUBJECT |
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| THE SOLAR SYSTEM |
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| THE SUN |
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Can the Sun's Siblings Be Found?*: The Milky Way's spiral arms may have scattered the Sun's siblings hither and yon.
| MERCURY |
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Meteorites from Mercury?: Some rocks on Earth are probably from Mercury.
Will Mercury Hit Earth Someday?: The Sun's innermost planet may crash into Earth.
| EARTH |
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California Tornado Risk: Tornadoes hit California, too.
The South American Appalachians: The Appalachians may be the remnant of an immense mountain range that once extended into Argentina.
One Black Hole Won't Ruin Your Day: If a primordial black hole hits Earth, you'll probably feel just fine.
| JUPITER AND SATURN |
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Why Intelligent Life Needs Giant Planets*: Without Jupiter and Saturn, intelligent life might never have arisen on Earth.
Why Jupiter's Big Moons Outnumber Saturn's: Jupiter 4, Saturn 1. Why?
Is Jupiter Eating Its Own Heart?*: Some gas giant planets may have destroyed their cores.
Gentle or Jumping? The Varied Lives of Hot Jupiters*: A newborn star's iron abundance foretells whether its gas giants face a violent future.
Saturn Is Shaking Its Rings*: Oscillations inside the giant planet perturb its rings, promising new clues to the nature of its enormous interior.
| NEPTUNE |
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No Ocean on Neptune--Yet*: Neptune has no ocean, but it may develop one in 8 billion years.
| PLUTO |
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Nitrogen in Pluto's Atmosphere*: Pluto is the only planet apart from Earth with an atmosphere consisting mostly of nitrogen.
The Three Moons of Pluto*: Astronomers determine the best orbits yet of Pluto's two new moons.
Pluto Question: How bright would Pluto be if it were as close as Mars?
Pluto Question 2: How bright would the brightest planets look if they were as far as Pluto?
Ninth Rock From the Sun: It's time for a new and improved definition of "planet"--one that restores Pluto to its former glory.
Pluto's Moons Offer Hints of Alien Worlds*: The distant satellites may show how planets orbit double stars.
Pluto's Revenge: Hubble Finds a Fifth Moon: Discovery boosts Pluto's planetary cred.
| ERIS |
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The Tenth Planet's First Anniversary: January 5 marks the date when the Sun's tenth planet was discovered.
| PLANET X |
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Hopes Fade in Hunt for Planet X*: A newly determined mass for Neptune dooms Planet X, the hypothetical massive planet beyond Pluto.
| CENTAURS |
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The First Binary Centaur*: The Hubble Space Telescope spots the first binary centaur ever seen.
| METEORS |
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The Return of a Great Nineteenth-Century Meteor Shower*: Long thought nearly extinct, the Andromedid meteor shower staged a surprise outburst last December—and may return in 2018 and 2023.
| THE STARS |
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Most Stars Are Single*: Two thirds of all star systems are single, like the Sun.
| INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM |
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The Black Cloud: A frigid blob of gas and dust hovers nearby, possibly foreshadowing a stellar birth.
The Star That Never Was*: Stardom is just a pipe dream.
The Blue Witch: The Witch Head Nebula shines by reflected glory from nearby Rigel.
The Horsehead Nebula is Rotating*: Astronomers give this famous nebula a spin.
New Distance to the Orion Nebula*: The Orion Nebula is closer than you thought.
New Distance to the Orion Nebula, Part Two*: Parallax confirms a new, shorter distance to the Orion Nebula.
Huge Stellar Nursery Found in Outer Galaxy*: It's more than ten times the size of the Orion Nebula.
Giant Molecular Cloud in Solar Neighborhood: The California Nebula has a dark secret.
| STAR FORMATION |
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Poof! Planet-Forming Disk Vanishes Into Thin Air: The same cosmic mystery may have occurred in our solar system.
Baby Star Found on Earth's Doorstep*: The nearest pre-main-sequence star ever found may sport glowing planets.
The Distance to a Stellar Youngster*: Astronomers pinpoint the parallax of T Tauri.
| OB STARS |
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Gould's Belt: Ring Around the Sky: Harboring some of the Milky Way's best-known features, Gould's belt lights the sky with superstars.
The Fastest Spinning Normal Star*: It spins 300 times faster than the Sun.
Beta Centauri Weighs In*: Astronomers have measured the mass and distance of the eleventh brightest star in the night.
The Lion's Pumpkin-Shaped Heart: Rapid rotation flattens Regulus.
Stellar Theft Sends Guilty Star Into a Spin: A white dwarf explains why Regulus spins so fast it's not round.
First Precise Distance to Shaula*: The second brightest star in Scorpius is a lot closer to Earth than astronomers had thought.
| A-TYPE MAIN-SEQUENCE STARS |
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The Life and Times of Sirius B*: Sirius was once even brighter.
Older Vega Is Mature Enough for Primitive Life*: The star of Contact is older than had been thought.
| FGK MAIN-SEQUENCE STARS |
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Another Earth 12 Light-Years Away?: Five planets may orbit Tau Ceti.
The Age of Procyon*: The bright nearby star Procyon is 1.7 billion years old.
Scorpius Star is Twinned with Sun*: If you want to boost your chances of finding extraterrestrial intelligence, point your telescope at a star in the constellation of Scorpius.
A Solar Twin in Serpens?*: A far-off star may be the Sun's close cousin.
A Solar Twin in the Big Dipper*: There's a star like the Sun in the Big Dipper.
Double Star Hosts Ancient World*: It's 2 billion years older than Earth.
| RED DWARFS |
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Red, Willing, and Able: Far from being desolate backwaters, red dwarfs may harbor an abundance of alien life.
A Star From Another Galaxy*: One of our nearest stellar neighbors--Kapteyn's Star, just 13 light-years from Earth--probably originated in another galaxy.
How Red Dwarfs Protect Their Planets*: Red dwarfs may protect their habitable planets better than the Sun protects the Earth.
The Brightest Red Dwarf: The brightest red dwarf resides in an obscure constellation, catalogued by an equally obscure pioneer in astronomy.
A Flare for Barnard's Star*: Just six light-years from the Sun, an old red star springs to life.
A New Star in the Neighborhood*: Astronomers have found a dim red star in the Sun's backyard.
Pinpointing a Stellar Neighbor*: A feisty red dwarf in Antlia becomes the Sun's 28th nearest neighbor.
The Lives of Red Dwarf Stars*: The closer a red dwarf is to the Galactic plane, the more likely it is to sport magnetic activity.
Red Dwarfs With Planets Have Low Metallicities: Three of the nearest red dwarf stars with planets all have less iron than the Sun.
The Widest Very Low Mass Binary*: Two faint red stars in Phoenix are traveling through space together--though separated by more than a hundred Sun-Pluto distances.
Planets "Sing" in Three-Part Harmony*: Astronomers discover the first three-planet resonance--around a star just 15 light-years away.
Tides Turn Some "Habitable" Planets Into Hellish Hothouses*: Planets close to small red dwarfs may be "tidal Venuses."
| BROWN DWARFS |
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How Many Stars Never Make the Big Time?*: Search for brown dwarfs reveals the odds of stellar success.
Newly Found Brown Dwarf Is Ultracool*: It's room temperature.
"Dark Sun" Is One of Our Nearest Neighbors: A newfound star less than 10 light-years from Earth appears to be the closest brown dwarf ever detected.
100 Billion Brown Dwarfs*: Brown dwarfs may rival the number of all normal stars in our Galaxy.
Do Brown Dwarfs Pulsate?*: The least massive stars may resemble Cepheids.
How Lithium Strips Brown Dwarfs of Their Red Disguise*: Here's how to tell a red dwarf from a brown dwarf.
| GIANTS AND SUPERGIANTS |
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The First Cepheid: The Cepheid story did not start with their namesake but with the largely overlooked star Eta Aquilae.
Giant Stars Bare Their Whirling Hearts: Their cores spins much faster than their surfaces.
A Giant Surprise*: Planet-bearing giant stars tend to be more metal-poor than other stars with planets.
A Pulsating Red Giant's Bow Shock*: The Spitzer Space Telescope detects a bow shock around R Hydrae.
| PLANETARY NEBULAE |
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The Dumbbell Nebula's Harvest of Nitrogen: An expanding bubble enriches the Galaxy with nitrogen and may help life begin.
| WHITE DWARFS |
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Can Dying Stars Support Life?: White dwarfs may have habitable planets.
"Cold" Hydrogen Molecules Found on Hot Stars*: Surprise discovery may probe the conditions on white dwarfs.
The Life and Times of Sirius B*: Sirius was once even brighter.
The Pleiades' Lost Sister?*: An ultramassive white dwarf in Eridanus may have escaped from the Pleiades.
"Earth-Mars" Collision May Have Hit Alien Solar System*: Did something whack a dim star's planet--and create a new moon?
| NEUTRON STARS AND PULSARS |
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Pulsar at the Galactic Center?*: It may be only one light-year from the Milky Way's central black hole.
| BLACK HOLES |
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Famous Black Hole Confirmed After Forty Years*: The first parallax to Cygnus X-1 reveals that it must contain a black hole.
The Fate of the First Black Hole*: The black hole of Cygnus X-1 will likely separate from its long-suffering partner.
One Black Hole Won't Ruin Your Day: If a primordial black hole hits Earth, you'll probably feel just fine.
| NOVAE |
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Dancing Stars Turn on the Red Light*: Two stars merge and trigger a rare type of nova.
| STAR CLUSTERS |
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The Milky Way's Dimmest Star Cluster*: Segue 3 ekes out just 90 Suns' worth of light.
Can the Sun's Siblings Be Found?*: The Milky Way's spiral arms may have scattered the Sun's siblings hither and yon.
The Pleiades' Lost Sister?*: An ultramassive white dwarf in Eridanus may have escaped from the Pleiades.
M67: The Ultimate Survivor: This ancient star cluster has cheated death for some 4 billion years.
The First Interstellar Gas in a Globular Cluster?*: Astronomers find evidence for hydrogen gas between M15's many stars.
The Galaxy's Youngest Globular Cluster?*: Whiting 1 may be as young as the Sun.
| MOVING GROUPS |
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Baby Star Found on Earth's Doorstep*: The nearest pre-main-sequence star ever found may sport glowing planets.
Descendants of the Dipper: Heart of the best-known star pattern, the Ursa Major moving group probes the behavior of young stars and the chemical evolution of the Galaxy.
| NUCLEOSYNTHESIS |
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The Cosmic Origin of Carbon*: Most carbon on Earth came from stars that did not explode.
The Dumbbell Nebula's Harvest of Nitrogen: An expanding bubble enriches the Galaxy with nitrogen and may help life begin.
Fluorine: An Element-ary Mystery: The best-known ingredient in toothpaste has stellar origins that are anything but ordinary.
The Stellar Origin of Copper*: The copper in pennies arose during the lives of stars like Rigel and Betelgeuse.
| EXTRASOLAR PLANETS |
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51 Pegasi: Planet, Not Pulsation*: 51 Pegasi's planet is real.
Another Earth 12 Light-Years Away?: Five planets may orbit Tau Ceti.
Extrasolar Neptune-Pluto Analogue Discovered: A newfound pair of extrasolar planets may boost the planetary prospects of Pluto.
Hot World Breaks Record*: It's the hottest planet yet.
Far-out Earths Could Support Alien Life*: A life-bearing planet can exist far from its star--if its air abounds with hydrogen.
Can Dying Stars Support Life?: White dwarfs may have habitable planets.
A Giant Surprise*: Planet-bearing giant stars tend to be more metal-poor than other stars with planets.
Extrasolar Comets*: Here's how to see a comet around another star.
Red Dwarfs With Planets Have Low Metallicities: Three of the nearest red dwarf stars with planets all have less iron than the Sun.
Wrong-Way Planets: Many extrasolar planets orbit their stars against the grain.
Tilting Stars May Explain Backward Planets*: Stellar flips may explain some wrong-way planets.
Stars Steal Their Planet's Moons: Hot Jupiters may be moonless.
Planets "Sing" in Three-Part Harmony*: Astronomers discover the first three-planet resonance--around a star just 15 light-years away.
"Earth-Mars" Collision May Have Hit Alien Solar System*: Did something whack a dim star's planet--and create a new moon?
Some Planets Are Alien Invaders*: Billions of stars in our Galaxy may have captured their most distant worlds.
Double Star Hosts Ancient World*: It's 2 billion years older than Earth.
Pluto's Moons Offer Hints of Alien Worlds*: The distant satellites may show how planets orbit double stars.
Hot Jupiters Are Loners: Gas giants orbiting next to their suns have no close planetary neighbors.
Gentle or Jumping? The Varied Lives of Hot Jupiters*: A newborn star's iron abundance foretells whether its gas giants face a violent future.
Diamond Planets Get Even More Precious: Carbon planets are a lot rarer than had been thought.
| EXTRATERRESTRIAL LIFE |
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Far-out Earths Could Support Alien Life*: A life-bearing planet can exist far from its star--if its air abounds with hydrogen.
Can Dying Stars Support Life?: White dwarfs may have habitable planets.
No Home For Life in the Galactic Outer Suburbs*: If the Sun had been born near the edge of the Milky Way, we probably wouldn't exist.
Scorpius Star is Twinned with Sun*: If you want to boost your chances of finding extraterrestrial intelligence, point your telescope at a star in the constellation of Scorpius.
A Solar Twin in Serpens?*: A far-off star may be the Sun's close cousin.
A Solar Twin in the Big Dipper*: There's a star like the Sun in the Big Dipper.
Red, Willing, and Able: Far from being desolate backwaters, red dwarfs may harbor an abundance of alien life.
How Red Dwarfs Protect Their Planets*: Red dwarfs may protect their habitable planets better than the Sun protects the Earth.
Tides Turn Some "Habitable" Planets Into Hellish Hothouses*: Planets close to small red dwarfs may be "tidal Venuses."
| THE GALAXIES |
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Galaxies Defy Astronomers' Expectations: Galaxies formed stars differently in the early universe.
| THE MILKY WAY |
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Star Struck: Astronomers turn their telescopes to the unbounded beauty of the Milky Way.
Galaxy Grande: Milky Way May Be More Massive Than Thought*: Hubble observations of a speedy galaxy weigh on the Milky Way and indicate that our Galaxy is at least a trillion times as massive as the Sun.
Speedy Star Points to More Massive Milky Way*: The fastest halo star ever seen may boost estimates of our Galaxy's mass.
The Outer Milky Way's Exotic Origin*: Did a galactic collision create the stars in our Galaxy's outer disk?
The Milky Way's Oldest and Wisest Stars: An astronomer invents a new technique to trace the origins of our Galaxy.
Charging Up the Universe*: When did the universe reionize itself? The Milky Way's oldest stars may hold the answer.
The Milky Way's First Light*: In its youngest days, our Galaxy may have favored producing stars like Vega and Regulus.
Pulsar at the Galactic Center?*: It may be only one light-year from the Milky Way's central black hole.
Danger: Black Hole Dead Ahead!: What may be a gas cloud is hurtling toward the Galaxy's biggest black hole.
| MILKY WAY SATELLITES |
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Star Performers: The Magellanic Clouds: Two intrepid galaxies dash past the Milky Way--and dazzle astronomers.
Busted! Nearby Galaxy Is a Stellar Thief*: The Large Magellanic Cloud snatched stars from its long-time companion.
Milky Way Keeps Grip on Neighbor*: The Large Magellanic Cloud is here to stay.
Galaxy Smash-Up Revealed Next Door: The Small Magellanic Cloud suffered a big collision 7.5 billion years ago.
The Milky Way's Secret Companion?*: A large satellite galaxy may be lurking next to ours, hidden from sight.
Two New Galaxies Orbiting the Milky Way: Astronomers discover two satellites of our Galaxy in Boötes and Canes Venatici.
The Milky Way's Newest Satellite*: Astronomers spot the dimmest galaxy ever seen--orbiting the Milky Way.
First Detection of Thorium in Another Galaxy*: Thorium in the Ursa Minor dwarf galaxy offers the first chance to measure another galaxy's age via radioactive dating.
| THE ANDROMEDA GALAXY |
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Catching Andromeda's Light: The giant galaxy next door is a lot like ours.
Starburst in Andromeda*: The giant Andromeda Galaxy owes a bit of its beauty to a galactic encounter.
The First Direct Distance to Andromeda*: It agrees perfectly with less direct techniques.
Andromeda's Vast Starry Disk*: M31 is a lot larger than it looks.
| ANDROMEDA SATELLITES |
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Andromeda X: Andromeda's Newest Satellite Galaxy: It's the dimmest galaxy ever seen orbiting Andromeda.
| OTHER LOCAL GROUP GALAXIES |
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A Primordial Galaxy in Cetus?*: A nearby dwarf galaxy may be a pristine building block of large galaxies like our own.
| THE SCULPTOR GROUP |
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The First Cepheid Distance to NGC 55*: This galaxy may be orbiting another galaxy in the Sculptor group.
| THE CENTAURUS GROUP |
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The First Cepheid Distance to Centaurus A*: The Hubble Space Telescope detects the first Cepheids ever seen in an elliptical galaxy--and measures its distance.
| THE WHIRLPOOL GALAXY |
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Rainbow Whirlpools*: Two rainbow-colored images vividly show the differing distributions of the Whirlpool Galaxy's atomic and molecular hydrogen gas.
| THE VIRGO CLUSTER |
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The First Dark Galaxy?*: Astronomers may have discovered a galaxy without stars.
Stars Without Galaxies*: Most of the intergalactic stars in the Virgo cluster are old and metal-poor.
| LOW SURFACE BRIGHTNESS GALAXIES |
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Malin 1: A Bizarre Galaxy Gets Slightly Less So*: Hubble reveals a normal disk of stars at the center of this giant low surface brightness galaxy.
| GALAXY FORMATION |
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Hubble Spots the Farthest Spiral Galaxy Ever Seen: It flaunted its spiral arms just 3 billion years after the big bang.
Do Spiral Galaxies Form from the Inside Out?*: Distant spiral sheds light on galaxy formation.
Distant Galaxy Helped Relight the Universe*: It began forming stars only 150 to 300 million years after the big bang.
| CENTRAL BLACK HOLES IN GALAXIES |
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Giant Black Hole Shreds and Swallows Helpless Star: Astronomers watch the drama unfold from 2.1 billion light-years away.
Gargantuan Black Hole Occupies Modest Galaxy: It's one of the biggest black holes ever seen.
Supermassive Black Holes Reveal a Surprising Clue*: A startling correlation between the mass of a galaxy's central black hole and the number of globular clusters may give insights into galactic evolution.
Black Holes in Quasars Spin Fast*: The fast spins make quasars emit much more light than they otherwise would.
Danger: Black Hole Dead Ahead!: What may be a gas cloud is hurtling toward the Galaxy's biggest black hole.
| COLLIDING GALAXIES |
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Galactic Hit and Run*: Astronomers reconstruct a celestial accident.
Unveiling a Galactic Collision in Capricornus*: Two objects discovered during the nineteenth century are really colliding galaxies.
Galactic Collisions Spread The Wealth*: When galaxies collide, regions rich and poor in metals mix it up.
| QUASARS |
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Black Holes in Quasars Spin Fast*: The fast spins make quasars emit much more light than they otherwise would.
| THE UNIVERSE |
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Pristine Relics of the Big Bang Spotted: Two distant gas clouds appear untouched by stars.
Charging Up the Universe*: When did the universe reionize itself? The Milky Way's oldest stars may hold the answer.
Did Runaway Stars Reionize the Ancient Universe?*: Hot stars booted out of their galactic homes may be responsible for creating the conditions that led to today's universe.
Distant Galaxy Helped Relight the Universe*: It began forming stars only 150 to 300 million years after the big bang.
Future of Cosmology Looks Bright in a Dark Universe: Cosmologists will still be able to do their job--even a trillion years from now.
| KEN CROSWELL'S ARTICLES IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER |
|---|
The Age of Procyon*: The bright nearby star Procyon is 1.7 billion years old.
Andromeda's Vast Starry Disk*: M31 is a lot larger than it looks.
Andromeda X: Andromeda's Newest Satellite Galaxy: It's the dimmest galaxy ever seen orbiting Andromeda.
Another Earth 12 Light-Years Away?: Five planets may orbit Tau Ceti.
Baby Star Found on Earth's Doorstep*: The nearest pre-main-sequence star ever found may sport glowing planets.
Beta Centauri Weighs In*: Astronomers have measured the mass and distance of the eleventh brightest star in the night.
100 Billion Brown Dwarfs*: Brown dwarfs may rival the number of all normal stars in our Galaxy.
The Black Cloud: A frigid blob of gas and dust hovers nearby, possibly foreshadowing a stellar birth.
Black Holes in Quasars Spin Fast*: The fast spins make quasars emit much more light than they otherwise would.
The Blue Witch: The Witch Head Nebula shines by reflected glory from nearby Rigel.
The Brightest Red Dwarf: The brightest red dwarf resides in an obscure constellation, catalogued by an equally obscure pioneer in astronomy.
Do Brown Dwarfs Pulsate?*: The least massive stars may resemble Cepheids.
Busted! Nearby Galaxy Is a Stellar Thief*: The Large Magellanic Cloud snatched stars from its long-time companion.
California Tornado Risk: Tornadoes hit California, too.
Catching Andromeda's Light: The giant galaxy next door is a lot like ours.
Charging Up the Universe*: When did the universe reionize itself? The Milky Way's oldest stars may hold the answer.
"Cold" Hydrogen Molecules Found on Hot Stars*: Surprise discovery may probe the conditions on white dwarfs.
The Cosmic Origin of Carbon*: Most carbon on Earth came from stars that did not explode.
Dancing Stars Turn on the Red Light*: Two stars merge and trigger a rare type of nova.
Danger: Black Hole Dead Ahead!: What may be a gas cloud is hurtling toward the Galaxy's biggest black hole.
"Dark Sun" Is One of Our Nearest Neighbors: A newfound star less than 10 light-years from Earth appears to be the closest brown dwarf ever detected.
Descendants of the Dipper: Heart of the best-known star pattern, the Ursa Major moving group probes the behavior of young stars and the chemical evolution of the Galaxy.
Diamond Planets Get Even More Precious: Carbon planets are a lot rarer than had been thought.
The Distance to a Stellar Youngster*: Astronomers pinpoint the parallax of T Tauri.
Distant Galaxy Helped Relight the Universe*: It began forming stars only 150 to 300 million years after the big bang.
Double Star Hosts Ancient World*: It's 2 billion years older than Earth.
The Dumbbell Nebula's Harvest of Nitrogen: An expanding bubble enriches the Galaxy with nitrogen and may help life begin.
Can Dying Stars Support Life?: White dwarfs may have habitable planets.
"Earth-Mars" Collision May Have Hit Alien Solar System*: Did something whack a dim star's planet--and create a new moon?
Extrasolar Comets*: Here's how to see a comet around another star.
Extrasolar Neptune-Pluto Analogue Discovered: A newfound pair of extrasolar planets may boost the planetary prospects of Pluto.
Famous Black Hole Confirmed After Forty Years*: The first parallax to Cygnus X-1 reveals that it must contain a black hole.
Far-out Earths Could Support Alien Life*: A life-bearing planet can exist far from its star--if its air abounds with hydrogen.
The Fastest Spinning Normal Star*: It spins 300 times faster than the Sun.
The Fate of the First Black Hole*: The black hole of Cygnus X-1 will likely separate from its long-suffering partner.
The First Binary Centaur*: The Hubble Space Telescope spots the first binary centaur ever seen.
The First Cepheid: The Cepheid story did not start with their namesake but with the largely overlooked star Eta Aquilae.
The First Cepheid Distance to Centaurus A*: The Hubble Space Telescope detects the first Cepheids ever seen in an elliptical galaxy--and measures its distance.
The First Cepheid Distance to NGC 55*: This galaxy may be orbiting another galaxy in the Sculptor group.
The First Dark Galaxy?*: Astronomers may have discovered a galaxy without stars.
First Detection of Thorium in Another Galaxy*: Thorium in the Ursa Minor dwarf galaxy offers the first chance to measure another galaxy's age via radioactive dating.
The First Direct Distance to Andromeda*: It agrees perfectly with less direct techniques.
The First Interstellar Gas in a Globular Cluster?*: Astronomers find evidence for hydrogen gas between M15's many stars.
First Precise Distance to Shaula*: The second brightest star in Scorpius is a lot closer to Earth than astronomers had thought.
A Flare for Barnard's Star*: Just six light-years from the Sun, an old red star springs to life.
Fluorine: An Element-ary Mystery: The best-known ingredient in toothpaste has stellar origins that are anything but ordinary.
Future of Cosmology Looks Bright in a Dark Universe: Cosmologists will still be able to do their job--even a trillion years from now.
Galactic Collisions Spread The Wealth*: When galaxies collide, regions rich and poor in metals mix it up.
Galactic Hit and Run*: Astronomers reconstruct a celestial accident.
Galaxies Defy Astronomers' Expectations: Galaxies formed stars differently in the early universe.
Galaxy Grande: Milky Way May Be More Massive Than Thought*: Hubble observations of a speedy galaxy weigh on the Milky Way and indicate that our Galaxy is at least a trillion times as massive as the Sun.
Galaxy Smash-Up Revealed Next Door: The Small Magellanic Cloud suffered a big collision 7.5 billion years ago.
The Galaxy's Youngest Globular Cluster?*: Whiting 1 may be as young as the Sun.
Gargantuan Black Hole Occupies Modest Galaxy: It's one of the biggest black holes ever seen.
Gentle or Jumping? The Varied Lives of Hot Jupiters*: A newborn star's iron abundance foretells whether its gas giants face a violent future.
Giant Black Hole Shreds and Swallows Helpless Star: Astronomers watch the drama unfold from 2.1 billion light-years away.
Giant Molecular Cloud in Solar Neighborhood: The California Nebula has a dark secret.
Giant Stars Bare Their Whirling Hearts: Their cores spins much faster than their surfaces.
A Giant Surprise*: Planet-bearing giant stars tend to be more metal-poor than other stars with planets.
Gould's Belt: Ring Around the Sky: Harboring some of the Milky Way's best-known features, Gould's belt lights the sky with superstars.
Hopes Fade in Hunt for Planet X*: A newly determined mass for Neptune dooms Planet X, the hypothetical massive planet beyond Pluto.
The Horsehead Nebula is Rotating*: Astronomers give this famous nebula a spin.
Hot Jupiters Are Loners: Gas giants orbiting next to their suns have no close planetary neighbors.
Hot World Breaks Record*: It's the hottest planet yet.
How Lithium Strips Brown Dwarfs of Their Red Disguise*: Here's how to tell a red dwarf from a brown dwarf.
How Many Stars Never Make the Big Time?*: Search for brown dwarfs reveals the odds of stellar success.
How Red Dwarfs Protect Their Planets*: Red dwarfs may protect their habitable planets better than the Sun protects the Earth.
Hubble Spots the Farthest Spiral Galaxy Ever Seen: It flaunted its spiral arms just 3 billion years after the big bang.
Huge Stellar Nursery Found in Outer Galaxy*: It's more than ten times the size of the Orion Nebula.
Is Jupiter Eating Its Own Heart?*: Some gas giant planets may have destroyed their cores.
The Life and Times of Sirius B*: Sirius was once even brighter.
The Lion's Pumpkin-Shaped Heart: Rapid rotation flattens Regulus.
The Lives of Red Dwarf Stars*: The closer a red dwarf is to the Galactic plane, the more likely it is to sport magnetic activity.
M67: The Ultimate Survivor: This ancient star cluster has cheated death for some 4 billion years.
Malin 1: A Bizarre Galaxy Gets Slightly Less So*: Hubble reveals a normal disk of stars at the center of this giant low surface brightness galaxy.
Meteorites from Mercury?: Some rocks on Earth are probably from Mercury.
Milky Way Keeps Grip on Neighbor*: The Large Magellanic Cloud is here to stay.
The Milky Way's Dimmest Star Cluster*: Segue 3 ekes out just 90 Suns' worth of light.
The Milky Way's First Light*: In its youngest days, our Galaxy may have favored producing stars like Vega and Regulus.
The Milky Way's Newest Satellite*: Astronomers spot the dimmest galaxy ever seen--orbiting the Milky Way.
The Milky Way's Oldest and Wisest Stars: An astronomer invents a new technique to trace the origins of our Galaxy.
The Milky Way's Secret Companion?*: A large satellite galaxy may be lurking next to ours, hidden from sight.
Most Stars Are Single*: Two thirds of all star systems are single, like the Sun.
New Distance to the Orion Nebula*: The Orion Nebula is closer than you thought.
New Distance to the Orion Nebula, Part Two*: Parallax confirms a new, shorter distance to the Orion Nebula.
Newly Found Brown Dwarf Is Ultracool*: It's room temperature.
A New Star in the Neighborhood*: Astronomers have found a dim red star in the Sun's backyard.
Ninth Rock From the Sun: It's time for a new and improved definition of "planet"--one that restores Pluto to its former glory.
Nitrogen in Pluto's Atmosphere*: Pluto is the only planet apart from Earth with an atmosphere consisting mostly of nitrogen.
No Home For Life in the Galactic Outer Suburbs*: If the Sun had been born near the edge of the Milky Way, we probably wouldn't exist.
No Ocean on Neptune--Yet*: Neptune has no ocean, but it may develop one in 8 billion years.
Older Vega Is Mature Enough for Primitive Life*: The star of Contact is older than had been thought.
One Black Hole Won't Ruin Your Day: If a primordial black hole hits Earth, you'll probably feel just fine.
The Outer Milky Way's Exotic Origin*: Did a galactic collision create the stars in our Galaxy's outer disk?
51 Pegasi: Planet, Not Pulsation*: 51 Pegasi's planet is real.
Pinpointing a Stellar Neighbor*: A feisty red dwarf in Antlia becomes the Sun's 28th nearest neighbor.
Planets "Sing" in Three-Part Harmony*: Astronomers discover the first three-planet resonance--around a star just 15 light-years away.
The Pleiades' Lost Sister?*: An ultramassive white dwarf in Eridanus may have escaped from the Pleiades.
Pluto Question: How bright would Pluto be if it were as close as Mars?
Pluto Question 2: How bright would the brightest planets look if they were as far as Pluto?
Pluto's Moons Offer Hints of Alien Worlds*: The distant satellites may show how planets orbit double stars.
Pluto's Revenge: Hubble Finds a Fifth Moon: Discovery boosts Pluto's planetary cred.
Poof! Planet-Forming Disk Vanishes Into Thin Air: The same cosmic mystery may have occurred in our solar system.
A Primordial Galaxy in Cetus?*: A nearby dwarf galaxy may be a pristine building block of large galaxies like our own.
Pristine Relics of the Big Bang Spotted: Two distant gas clouds appear untouched by stars.
Pulsar at the Galactic Center?*: It may be only one light-year from the Milky Way's central black hole.
A Pulsating Red Giant's Bow Shock*: The Spitzer Space Telescope detects a bow shock around R Hydrae.
Rainbow Whirlpools*: Two rainbow-colored images vividly show the differing distributions of the Whirlpool Galaxy's atomic and molecular hydrogen gas.
Red Dwarfs With Planets Have Low Metallicities: Three of the nearest red dwarf stars with planets all have less iron than the Sun.
Red, Willing, and Able: Far from being desolate backwaters, red dwarfs may harbor an abundance of alien life.
The Return of a Great Nineteenth-Century Meteor Shower*: Long thought nearly extinct, the Andromedid meteor shower staged a surprise outburst last December—and may return in 2018 and 2023.
Did Runaway Stars Reionize the Ancient Universe?*: Hot stars booted out of their galactic homes may be responsible for creating the conditions that led to today's universe.
Saturn Is Shaking Its Rings*: Oscillations inside the giant planet perturb its rings, promising new clues to the nature of its enormous interior.
Scorpius Star is Twinned with Sun*: If you want to boost your chances of finding extraterrestrial intelligence, point your telescope at a star in the constellation of Scorpius.
A Solar Twin in Serpens?*: A far-off star may be the Sun's close cousin.
A Solar Twin in the Big Dipper*: There's a star like the Sun in the Big Dipper.
Some Planets Are Alien Invaders*: Billions of stars in our Galaxy may have captured their most distant worlds.
The South American Appalachians: The Appalachians may be the remnant of an immense mountain range that once extended into Argentina.
Speedy Star Points to More Massive Milky Way*: The fastest halo star ever seen may boost estimates of our Galaxy's mass.
Do Spiral Galaxies Form from the Inside Out?*: Distant spiral sheds light on galaxy formation.
Starburst in Andromeda*: The giant Andromeda Galaxy owes a bit of its beauty to a galactic encounter.
A Star From Another Galaxy*: One of our nearest stellar neighbors--Kapteyn's Star, just 13 light-years from Earth--probably originated in another galaxy.
Star Performers: The Magellanic Clouds: Two intrepid galaxies dash past the Milky Way--and dazzle astronomers.
Stars Steal Their Planet's Moons: Hot Jupiters may be moonless.
Star Struck: Astronomers turn their telescopes to the unbounded beauty of the Milky Way.
Stars Without Galaxies*: Most of the intergalactic stars in the Virgo cluster are old and metal-poor.
The Star That Never Was*: Stardom is just a pipe dream.
The Stellar Origin of Copper*: The copper in pennies arose during the lives of stars like Rigel and Betelgeuse.
Stellar Theft Sends Guilty Star Into a Spin: A white dwarf explains why Regulus spins so fast it's not round.
Can the Sun's Siblings Be Found?*: The Milky Way's spiral arms may have scattered the Sun's siblings hither and yon.
Supermassive Black Holes Reveal a Surprising Clue*: A startling correlation between the mass of a galaxy's central black hole and the number of globular clusters may give insights into galactic evolution.
The Tenth Planet's First Anniversary: January 5 marks the date when the Sun's tenth planet was discovered.
The Three Moons of Pluto*: Astronomers determine the best orbits yet of Pluto's two new moons.
Tides Turn Some "Habitable" Planets Into Hellish Hothouses*: Planets close to small red dwarfs may be "tidal Venuses."
Tilting Stars May Explain Backward Planets*: Stellar flips may explain some wrong-way planets.
Two New Galaxies Orbiting the Milky Way: Astronomers discover two satellites of our Galaxy in Boötes and Canes Venatici.
Unveiling a Galactic Collision in Capricornus*: Two objects discovered during the nineteenth century are really colliding galaxies.
Why Intelligent Life Needs Giant Planets*: Without Jupiter and Saturn, intelligent life might never have arisen on Earth.
Why Jupiter's Big Moons Outnumber Saturn's: Jupiter 4, Saturn 1. Why?
The Widest Very Low Mass Binary*: Two faint red stars in Phoenix are traveling through space together--though separated by more than a hundred Sun-Pluto distances.
Will Mercury Hit Earth Someday?: The Sun's innermost planet may crash into Earth.
Wrong-Way Planets: Many extrasolar planets orbit their stars against the grain.
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