April 28, 2016 Surprise! Gigantic black hole found in cosmic backwater One of the biggest black holes ever found sits in a cosmic backwater, like a towering skyscraper in a small town.
April 28, 2016 At Venus, a Japanese spacecraft is almost ready for big science A Japanese spacecraft's long-awaited Venus campaign is finally about to begin.
April 28, 2016 'Laser cloak' could hide Earth from evil aliens A simple laser beam could disrupt aliens' observations of Earth, making it look like there's nobody home on the third rock from the sun, a new study suggests.
April 28, 2016 New alien planet boasts rare triple suns Eat your heart out, Tatooine: A newly discovered alien planet has not one, not two, but three suns in its sky.
April 28, 2016 Pluto's 'unprecedented' ice provinces and other surprises from NASA's New Horizons Pluto, known for more than eight decades as just a faint, fuzzy and faraway point of light, is shaping up to be one of the most complex and diverse worlds in the solar system.
April 28, 2016 Spring is here! Check out the equinox's quirky math As the Earth makes its annual trek around the sun, certain events are of special importance, both to astronomers and to the public at large.
April 28, 2016 Real-life 'Death Star' continues to destroy alien worlds The real-life "Death Star" that astronomers recently caught in the act of destroying a planet is continuing to disintegrate nearby orbiting objects, researchers say.
April 28, 2016 'A demon ate the Sun' How solar eclipses inspired superstition The first and only total solar eclipse of 2016 will roll across the sky this week. Total solar eclipses — when the moon's shadow blocks the sun entirely — are spectacular events, highly anticipated by astronomers, astrophotographers and casual spectators alike
April 28, 2016 Leap day: The story behind this quirky calendar event Monday is Feb. 29 — the bissextle or "leap day," an artifact that dates back to the year 46 B.C. Back then, Julius Caesar took the advice of the learned astronomer Sosigenes of Alexandria, who knew from Egyptian experience that the tropical year (also known as the solar year) was about 365.25 days in length.
April 28, 2016 100-foot asteroid to buzz Earth next month An asteroid as long as a basketball court will give Earth a close shave next month — though scientists aren't sure just how close.
