Telescopes | Science and Technology News

A Yardstick for the Universe

The Hubble Space Telescope is helping to improve our understanding of the expansion of space, dark energy, and the fate of the cosmos. 11.10.2009

The NASA School of Art

For 50 years, artists have had up-close, insider access to the space program. Here are the results. 10.16.2009

Staring at the Sun, Just as Galileo Did

Astronomers at the Mount Wilson Observatory sketch sunspots every day, continuing a tradition started by Galileo. 05.27.2009

Russia's Dark Horse Plan to Get to Mars

The Fobos-Grunt mission might pave the way for humanity's first permanent space base—on Phobos, Mars' bizarre moon. 05.21.2009

The Frontiers of Astronomy

DISCOVER's panel of top astronomers and astrophysicists discuss some of the biggest questions in the universe. 05.10.2009

Big Picture: The Inspiring Boom in "Super-Earths"

At last we are finding rocky planets like our own. But some are pretty weird: The smallest may have a mineral-vapor atmosphere that condenses as lava rain or rock snow. 05.07.2009

Our Quest to Explore—and Photograph—the Solar System

Each stab outward into space gives us a chance to image some new part of our cosmic neighborhood, from Earth to water on Mars to the strange moons of Jupiter and Saturn. 04.21.2009

Forget Megapixels: Here Comes the Gigapixel Sky Camera

The Pan-Starrs-1 telescope will scan the skies for asteroids and comets that could wipe out life on Earth. 04.03.2009

He Charted the Moon Before Galileo, But You've Probably Never Heard of Him

Did Thomas Harriot keep his great discovery a secret to avoid decapitation? 03.31.2009

The Man Who Made Stars and Planets

Alan Boss has spent a career predicting how stars and planets form—and has often been right. 01.12.2009

Visual Science: A (Dormant) Volcano Is a Great Place to Look at the Sky

Hawaii's Mauna Kea houses the world’s largest astronomical observatory. 01.09.2009

Beyond the Nine Planets

We are only beginning to discover how vast and strange our solar system truly is. 01.06.2009

The Father of Dark Matter Still Gets No Respect

Little-acknowledged Fritz Zwicky got there first on dark matter, neutron stars, and supernovas. 12.31.2008

#27: Astronomers Spy the Youngest Planet Ever Found

The latest, newest protoplanet is a "dusty, rocky, gaseous lump." 12.17.2008

#99: Jupiter Grows (and Loses) a New Spot

The massive planet passed behind the sun and arrived with a brand new decoration. 12.04.2008

How Long Until We Find a Second Earth?

Researchers are racing to find the first planet that might support life as we know it. 10.10.2008

The Solar System Looks Way Better Than It Used To

A comparison of landmark space pictures shows our imaging tech has improved in 40 years. A lot. 10.07.2008

Searching Heaven and Earth for the Real Johannes Kepler

Galileo may be science's most famous martyr, but it was Kepler who solved the mystery of the planets. 10.05.2008

The Race to Save the Hubble Telescope

An inside look at what may be the toughest space mission ever attempted. 08.28.2008

20 Things You Didn't Know About... Telescopes

From Galileo to the Hubble, viewing space has come a long way. 08.27.2008

Is the Universe's Energy Smothered in Dust?

A good dusting of 10,000 galaxies reveals tons of hidden energy. 08.23.2008

Movie Camera to the Stars

The Earth's fastest telescope aims to make the best sky map ever created. 05.13.2008

Battleground Galactica

New tools and techniques reveal space oddities that eclipse everything we've seen. 05.07.2008

The Space Race For the New Millennium

Despite funding concerns, NASA has big plans for moon exploration. 04.23.2008

98. Twin Probes Watch Sun’s Fury in 3-D

01.15.2008

Inside the Search for Extraterrestrial Life

It starts with water and ends with intelligent aliens—hopefully. 12.25.2007

Good Astronomy at Bad Astronomy

A blog that takes no prisoners in its search for cosmic truth 12.11.2007

Scientist of the Year: David Charbonneau

His research heats up the search for alien life—and finds some amazing planets along the way. 12.06.2007

The Great Leap Forward in Space Imaging

From snapshots developed chemically—in space—to hi-tech digital masterpieces 11.30.2007

Fat times for Planet Hunters

New-found worlds are becoming bigger, hotter, and stranger. 11.27.2007

The Ice-Cream Scoop Taken Out of the Universe

A patch of the heavens that contains far more nothingness than the rest of space 11.21.2007

Quasars Say Earth Is 1/2 a Pinkie Smaller

We now know the planet is quite mushy—but at least we know. 10.12.2007

Map: Alien Weather Report

A planet with supersonic winds, where a day lasts a year 07.16.2007

20 Things You Didn't Know About... Galileo

Einstein's favorite scientist died an ardent Catholic. 07.02.2007

One Spectacular Stellar Death

The biggest recent supernova revealed how stars live and die. 05.22.2007

The Birth of Dark Energy

A dark force that is pulling the cosmos apart 04.16.2007

The Hunt for Other Earths Heats Up

We could hit the jackpot by 2010. 04.10.2007

Sunset over Mars

Requiem for the Mars Global Surveyor 03.14.2007

Cosmic Katrina

NASA's Cassini spacecraft eyes stormy weather at Saturn's south pole. 02.25.2007

World's Biggest Binoculars

Astronomers open a new window onto the universe. 12.10.2006

Map: X-Ray Vision Shows How a Galaxy Cluster Grows

New X-ray data unveils the dynamics of galaxy cluster Abell 3266. 09.01.2006

Map: Earth's Fourth Dimension

A gravitational rainbow points to our planet's invisible topography. 08.14.2006

Life's a Beach on Saturn's Moon

Saturn's biggest moon has giant sand-dune deserts. 08.01.2006

How To Make Anything Look Like a Toy

It's a small world after all that frame tilting. 07.01.2006

The Dark Side of the Sun

Scientists spot solar storms before they spin this way. 06.25.2006

NASA Turns Away From The Final Frontier

Budget cuts rein in explorers. 06.01.2006

Skylights

The cosmos brims with color, but our eyes aren't engineered to see it 04.02.2006

Sky Lights

Scientists celebrate 100 years of understanding cosmic speed limits 12.01.2005

Sky Lights

Stargazers can't fight summer's high humidity, but they can learn to love it 07.24.2005

How Nature Builds a Planet

A new space telescope tells us we really had no idea what was going on out there. 07.24.2005

On Top of Kitt Peak

Seven thousand feet above Arizona's saguaro forests, a unique gathering of observatories probe the universe's darkest secrets 05.01.2005

Sky Lights

Even in the darkest depths of space, there's no escaping light pollution 04.28.2005

X-Ray Vision

A completely different view of ravenous black holes, exploding stars, colliding galaxies, and other wonders of the universe a human eye can't see 02.05.2005

A Brilliant Future Without the Hubble

07.25.2004

Here Comes the Sun"" Web Exclusive: A Tale of Two Telescopes

04.09.2004

Here Comes the Sun"" Web Exclusive: Greenbelt, We Have a Problem

04.09.2004

A Field Guide to the Invisible Universe

At least 96 percent of the cosmos cannot be seen through any telescope, but what we cannot detect may hold the secret of our fate 12.23.2003

Burnout

New images from Hubble preview the death of our sun: swift, colorful, and surprisingly tempestuous 11.09.2003

Aerospace: Ed Weiler

The Hubble Telescope's Best Friend 11.09.2003

Space Scientist: Geoff Marcy and Paul Butler

The Astronomers Who Proved Carl Sagan Correct 11.09.2003

Sky Lights

The sky turns cloudy this month. But even on overcast days, there is still plenty of spectacle to see up above 11.08.2003

The Optical Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence

The Optical Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence 11.01.2002

The Very Best Telescope

A powerful, new, and rather bizarre collection of six small telescopes atop Mount Wilson is about to change our view of the stars forever 10.01.2002

Science Travel

The narrow road up Mauna Kea leads to the deep sky 08.01.2002

Imagining Saturn Without Its Rings

06.01.2002

Sky Lights

4 banishes blurry pictures from astronomers' photo albums 03.01.2002

Can We Find Another Earth?

NASA is betting that we can, and a team of Princeton astronomers has a clever design for a telescope that could do it within 20 years 03.01.2002

Sky Lights

Nature's blackest creations slowly reveal their true identities 10.01.2001

Sky Lights

Artists boldly go where no telescope has gone before 05.01.2001

Planetary Superstars

Time to dust off those forgotten telescopes: There's finally a real spectacle up there 10.01.1999

Sky Lights

Time to dust off those forgotten telescopes: There's finally a real spectacle up there 10.01.1999

Sky Lights

Sorry, the real universe isn't that dramatic 09.01.1999

Sky Lights

Check out dusk's dazzling display of the evening star 06.01.1999

From Here to Eternity

Get ready for a new generation of telescopes that can see forever 05.01.1999

Big City Stars

Snow and city lights can make February a sky watcher's washout. Not this year. 02.01.1999

Young Star

Hubble shows the violent birth of a massive star. 10.01.1998

Though our orbiting 2 Telescope is stillgiving us an unprecedented view of the heavens, within a decade or so, accumulated glitches will finally make THE HUBBLE go dark. But don't worry: NASA has a fleet of new telescopes aimed at a universe we can now only imagine. 02.01.1998

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