Articles

Erika Nesvold

At this year’s Division for Planetary Sciences/European Planetary Science Congress meeting, the Exoplanet Dynamics session was packed full of talks on tightly-packed multi-planet systems and their instabilities.

Emily Lakdawalla

The astronomy world is abuzz today because of ESA's announcement of the first release of data from the Gaia mission. Gaia is a five-year mission that will eventually measure the positions and motions of billions of stars; this first data release includes positions for 1.1 billion of them, and proper motions for 2 million.

Franck Marchis

What began as a tantalizing rumor has just become an astonishing fact. Today a group of thirty-one scientists announced the discovery of a terrestrial exoplanet orbiting Proxima Centauri. The discovery of this planet, Proxima Centauri b, is a huge breakthrough not just for astronomers but for all of us. Here’s why.

Judy Schmidt

Amateur image processor Judy Schmidt explains the process of creating gorgeous views of the cosmos from infrared data from the WISE telescope.

Anna Scott

Jet streams are found in planetary atmospheres throughout our solar system. But what exactly are they?

Adam Block

Astrophotographer Adam Block shares his latest image, this time of a menacing spiral galaxy.

Anna Scott

There are two types of atmospheric waves that are critically important on Earth and other planets: gravity waves and planetary waves.

Jingjing Chen

Until just a few years ago, a plot of mass versus size of other worlds would have looked pretty sparse and uninformative. But thanks to the tireless efforts of exoplanet astronomers, we now know fairly precise masses and radii for hundreds of distant worlds.

Meg Schwamb

Meg Schwamb highlights some of the upcoming space-based missions that will search for planets beyond our solar system.

Adam Block

Adam Block brings us his first images processed in the new year, showcasing the beautiful interplay of light and dark.

Adam Block

Astrophotographer Adam Block shares stunning his images of far-away spiral galaxies.

Adam Block

Award-winning astrophotographer Adam Block shares stunning images of a few rarely-imaged pieces of our universe.

Adam Block

Astrophotographer Adam Block brings us images showcasing beauty in details requiring extended exposures to capture.

Adam Block

Award-winning astrophotographer Adam Block presents the first-ever high-resolution color images of the

Adam Block

Award-winning astrophotographer Adam Block shares some images of nebulae and a galaxy with some special qualities to each of them.

Adam Block

Astrophotographer Adam Block brings us images showcasing the evolutionary cycles in our universe.

Adam Block

Astrophotographer Adam Block showcases some stunning images of lesser-known galaxies and nebulae.

Emily Lakdawalla

A few recent newspaper articles provide some updates on the status of Japan's Venus mission, Akatsuki, and the service module of China's Chang'e 5 test vehicle, Xiaofei. In brief: Akatsuki still plans to attempt to enter orbit in December of this year, while Chang'e 5 T1 is headed to lunar orbit. Meanwhile, the Chang'e 3 mission has released an interesting image of M101, the Pinwheel Galaxy.

Adam Block

Astrophotographer Adam Block shares four stunning images capturing the expansiveness of the universe.

Adam Block

Award-winning astrophotographer Adam Block shares his haunting images of three different types of nebulae.