Archive for the ‘Space & astronomy’ Category

  • Comet Collision: Close Encounters of the Cometary Kind

    What can we learn from whacking comets, up close and personal? What do comets tell us about the early solar system? And what is the role of comets in history?


    Thursday, July 28th, 2005
  • Space Astronomy's Coolest Pix
    Space Astronomy’s Coolest Pix

    In astronomy, it helps to get above it all. Three cool orbiting telescopes are collecting visible, infrared and X-ray light. We ogle their greatest hits.


    Thursday, May 5th, 2005
  • Planet-making: What Happens First?

    Before planets, there was dust. But gravity doesn’t affect dust. So how did the planets form before solar wind blew all the dust away? Experiment shows that dust in planetary nebulas was coated with sticky ice.


    Thursday, March 17th, 2005
  • Saturn’s Secret: Lightning

    Cassini finds lightning strikes on Saturn, haze on moon Titan, dust between the rings, and new rotation rate.


    Wednesday, December 22nd, 2004
  • Planet Formation

    New view of crystals that form into planets in protoplanetary disks. Which came first, the planet or the crystals?


    Wednesday, November 24th, 2004
  • Amateur Astronomy: Big Contribution

    Amateur astronomers watch variable stars, asteroids, comets — helping create a better picture of the universe.


    Thursday, September 9th, 2004
  • Star Formation: The Ultimate How-To…

    Infrared survey of Milky Way shows massive star formation. How could a supernova cause stars to start?


    Thursday, June 24th, 2004
  • Ancient Universe Seen

    Astronomers have just seen galaxies from the first billion years of the universe. They are also racing to understand dark energy, the force that’s spreading the universe apart.


    Thursday, March 11th, 2004
  • Space Travel: Humans vs. Robots

    Bush proposes mission to moon and Mars, but how great are the scientific payoffs of this expensive, risky adventure? Would it be smarter – and cheaper – to send robots?


    Friday, January 30th, 2004
  • Saturn’s Ring Thing

    Why don’t the rings of Saturn just disappear over millions of years. It’s the recycling, that’s why!


    Thursday, December 11th, 2003


Cool Science Images

Image courtesy of Pete Mouginis-Mark, Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, University of Hawaii at Manoa

Virtual Science!

©2010 University of Wisconsin
Board of Regents