A newly discovered world orbiting a distant star makes us consider anew how we define a planet at all
Space
First Video of the Near-Miss Asteroid
For something that made so much news and caused so much anxiety, the asteroid known as 2012 DA14 sure doesn’t look like much. A 150-ft. (45 m) rock that passed just 17,200 mi. (28,680 km) from Earth (or thousands of miles below …
Deep-Space Photos: Hubble’s Greatest Hits
The Hubble Telescope has been active for nearly a quarter of a century. Here are some of the telescope’s most striking images—a tiny fraction of the things it’s seen and the images it’s sent home in its long and productive life.
Telescope to Hunt for Missing 96% of the Universe
One of astronomy’s greatest riddles may be on the way to being solved
Solved: How Cosmic Rays Are Made
A ubiquitous form of energy is at last traced back to its source
PHOTOS: Russia Meteor Explosion Shatters Windows, Injures Hundreds
In scenes that could have been from a Hollywood movie, a flaming meteor streaked across the sky and exploded over central Russia Friday, injuring some 1,000 people, according to Associated Press reports. The meteor, which struck …
The Storm of Space Rocks: Nothing to Worry About—For Now
Today’s Russian meteor and later flyby of a big asteroid are no cause for panic—tbut they are a cause for vigilance
Asteroid Hits Earth! How the Doomsday Scenario Would Play Out
We can’t protect ourselves from incoming ordnance, but we have a pretty good idea of what a big hit would be like
How You Can Name Pluto’s New Moons
The lonely ex-planet has some nameless babies to keep it company
A Mirror Earth Right Around the Corner?
A new study suggests Earth-like worlds might be more numerous — and a lot closer — than we knew
