A New Search for Dark Energy Begins
Credit: Dan Long, Apache Point Observatory Photograph of Senior Operations Engineer Dan Long loading the first Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey instrument cartridge of the night into the Sloan Digital Sky Survey telescope. The cartridge holds a "plug-plate" at the top, which positions a thousand optical fibers (red and blue). These cartridges are locked into the base of the telescope and are changed many times during a night.
Major Advance Made in Understanding the Birth and Early Evolution of the Universe
Aerial view of LIGO facility in Livingston, Louisiana. Credit: LIGO, California Institute of Technology.
Penn State Astronomers Ranked High in Scientific Impact
Peter Mészáros and Donald Schneider
Unusual Shape of Exploded Star Puzzles Scientists
Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/PSU/S. Park and J. Lee); Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Astronomy Team Probes Edge of Supermassive Black Hole
An artist's depiction of the accretion of a thick ring of dust into a supermassive black hole. The accretion produces jets of gamma rays and X-rays. Credit: ESA / V. Beckmann (NASA-GSFC)
New Gamma-Ray Burst Smashes Cosmic Distance Record
Credit: D. Fox, A. Cucchiara (Penn State Univ.), E. Berger (Harvard Univ.) and Gemini Observatory/NSF/AURA
Geriatric Pulsar Discovered and Found Still Kicking
The composite image on the left shows an image from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory in purple and an optical image from the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT) in red, blue and white. Credits: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Penn State/G.Pavlov et al.; Optical: ESO/VLT/UCL/R.Mignani et al; Illustration: CXC/M. Weiss
Gamma-Ray Fireworks Now Erupting from Rare Stellar Object
Credit: NASA/Swift/Jules Halpern (Columbia Univ.)
Drama in the Heart of the Tarantula
A new image of the Tarantula Nebula was generated by Penn State astronomer Leisa Townsley and her colleagues using the Chandra X-Ray Telescope. Credit: NASA/CXC/Penn State/L. Townsley
Scientists Discover New Planet Orbiting Dangerously Close to Giant Star
An artist's impression of a red supergiant engulfing a Jupiter-like planet as it expands. Credit: NASA
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