Astronomy Archives - State of the Planet

artistic set of large blue rings on top of snowy peak

Olafur Eliasson’s Latest Creation Combines Art and Science on an Italian Glacier

The renowned artist installed an astronomical device to draw attention to the changing climate at Italy’s Hochjochferner glacier.

by |November 18, 2020

Quiz: The Decade in Science News

On the event horizon of a new decade, keep calm and put your lab coat on, and test your knowledge of some of the developments that made headlines in the 2010s.

Scientists Track Deep History of Planets’ Motions, and Effects on Earth’s Climate

Scientists are developing a geologic record of how other planets have influenced the orbit of Earth, and thus its climate, over the last 200 million-plus years.

by |March 4, 2019

Days on Earth Are Getting Longer. You Can Thank the Moon, Not the Seasons.

For anyone who has ever wished there were more hours in the day, geoscientists have some good news: Days on Earth are getting longer. Very slowly.

by |June 4, 2018

Celestial Music

Did you ever watch stars, and hear distant singing?
New telescopes see that the galaxy’s ringing!
Listen now carefully, open your ears
To Johannes Kepler’s great “music of spheres.”

by |January 2, 2015
Image Credit: SCIENCE VIDEOLAB

Black Holes

In most observed galaxy hearts,
Massive black holes reside,
Formed from dark-baryon parts,
As huge stars collapse or collide.

by |April 18, 2014

A Moon Holiday to Get Away From It All

A national park on the moon? Preposterous? Not if the Apollo Lunar Landing Legacy Act, put forward by Congresswomen Donna Reed (D – Maryland) and Eddie Bernice Johnson (D – Texas) passes. We could very well be on our way to having a national park on the Moon protecting sites of historical value – where men first set foot on the moon.

by |July 24, 2013

The Starry Messenger

Summer Ash, a current Frontiers of Science Fellow at Columbia College, takes a page out of Galileo’s book and looks towards the cosmos under the ever-enlightening lens of a telescope. Read her ruminations on our night sky here: The Starry Messenger The universality of the sky was revealed to me last night. It started simply… read more

by |October 19, 2009