What is the origin of the letters used in star classification?
Back to Article List From the December 2025 issue Stellar spectral types originally followed alphabetical order, but as astronomers observed ...
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Can a binary companion survive a supernova blast?
Back to Article List From the December 2025 issue When a supernova explodes, it doesn’t destroy its companion star — ...
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Why does the same side of the Moon always face Earth?
Back to Article List From the December 2025 issue Earth's gravity pulling on the Moon's tidal bulges created a force ...
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Why are astronomical jets always concentrated like a laser?
Back to Article List From the December 2025 issue At least two ingredients are probably needed to make jets — ...
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Did Pluto’s gravity affect the trajectory of New Horizons when it flew past?Â
Back to Article List From the November 2025 issue Pluto did both bend and accelerate the path of the spacecraft, ...
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Is the New Moon ever visible?
Back to Article List From the October 2025 issue The New Moon is typically invisible to the naked eye. However, ...
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Before spacecraft, how did astronomers study the giant planets?
Back to Article List From the August 2025 issue Prior to flybys, scientists used mathematical laws and observation to determine ...
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Will Voyager 1 and 2 be damaged passing through the Oort Cloud?
Back to Article List From the August 2025 issue Your odds of winning the lottery are still 100,000 times larger ...
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Why are there so many different types of stars?
Back to Article List From the August 2025 issue Two factors result in so many different types of stars: the ...
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Is dew point or relative humidity more important for good astronomical seeing?
This view from the GOES-East satellite’s band 8 shows the atmosphere above the continental U.S. imaged at 6.2 microns, in ...
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