An overlooked class of stars could be home to astronomy’s most sought-after prize
Space
Space Puzzle: What’s Behind Earth’s Mysterious New Radiation Belt?
The Van Allen Belts, known to science for more than half a century, throw astronomers a sudden curve
Window on Infinity: The Month in Space
From mapping the moon’s gravity to intense views of the Northern Lights, view our monthly roundup of cosmic highlights from February 2013.
Dazzling Northern Lights over Iceland
The Northern Lights, more properly known as the Aurora Borealis, have long enchanted visitors to Iceland. With their dazzling colors and otherworldly glow, they might look like magic, but the science behind them is well …
Cosmic Fuggedaboudit: Dark Matter May Not Exist At All
A once-improbable theory is challenged by a new, even less probable one
Discovered: The Most Adorable Planet Yet
A newly discovered world orbiting a distant star makes us consider anew how we define a planet at all
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