Features

How dying stars bring new planets to life

A doomed star can awaken frozen worlds and even forge new planets out of death’s debris.

Web extra: A dying star gives birth to new planets

Astronomers have long known that planets form in dusty disks around newborn stars. Now, researchers suspect that planets also can develop in debris disks surrounding exploded stars.

Invasion of the robotic telescopes

Step aside, puny humans! Faster and smarter telescopes are tkaing over much of the nightly drudgery of astronomical research. Soon they may make their own discoveries.

Web extra: How robots are looking for planets

A new generation of intelligent robotic telescopes search for planets in other solar systems.

Illustrated: Light’s dual personality

Is light a wave or a particle? Science says both.

Go deep for faint nebulae with astroimager Dean Salman

A dark sky, wide-field scope, and filtered CCD camera enable this Arizona skyshooter to capture distant HII regions in the Milky Way.

Web extra: More Salman Sharpless objects

Spend some time with another dozen celestial wonders.

Explore planetary nebulae in Cygnus

These dying stars offer colored rings, twisted filaments, and odd-shaped blobs.

Web extra: Catalog of Cygnus planetary nebulae

Scope out this constellation’s dozens of dying stars.

Get ready for the great Asian eclipse

The century’s longest total solar eclipse promises to thrill those who stand in the Moon’s shadow.

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