Thursday was a short day at the conference. I had to check out of the hotel in the late morning, so I had time only to jump between two sessions (another exoplanet one, and one about near-Earth asteroids [NEAs]). E ditor's note: Liz is posting updates regularly from DPS09 to Twitter.com/AstronomyMag . The exoplanet session focused on what I’ve noticed to be an extremely popular topic here at the conference — modeling exoplanet atmospheres. That...

I started off Wednesday at a lunar science session where presenters focused on results from the Japanese Kaguya mission and the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) . Robert Reedy of the Planetary Science Institute discussed Kaguya maps of the Moon. The probe measured gamma rays to study the distribution of elements, and it produced the first global uranium map of the Moon. E ditor's note: Liz is posting updates regularly from DPS09 to Twitter.com...

One thing I’ve noticed at thisi year’s Division of Planetary Sciences meeting is how well members of the planetary science community support each other. Often when asking a question regarding a talk, the questioner starts out with “great talk.” It’s refreshing to see. There’s a lot of competition in the sciences (so much of a career rides on how many papers one publishes), but clearly there’s a lot of collaboration as well. E ditor's note: Liz...

Monday was my first day at the 2009 Division of Planetary Sciences meeting in Puerto Rico. Unfortunately, I was off to a late start because of one of the worst migraines of my life. But I did get to the afternoon science sessions. E ditor's note: Liz is posting updates regularly from DPS09 to Twitter.com/AstronomyMag . I spent the early afternoon at the Titan science session. Nine scientists talked about the saturnian satellite’s atmosphere and...

This week I’m in Fajardo, Puerto Rico, at the Division of Planetary Sciences meeting. I’ll be blogging daily and posting updates regularly to our Twitter , Facebook , and MySpace pages. Then on Saturday I’ll have the opportunity to tour Arecibo Observatory, which is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It should be a good week, filled with lots of news, science updates, and humid temperatures.

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I’m working on Astronomy ’s article ranking the top 10 space stories of the past year . One of those stories is that 2009 is the International Year of Astronomy. The year has had so many events marking this celebration that it’s hard to narrow down what I should write about. So what events did you find the most impressive? 100 Hours of Astronomy, which occurred back in April? The Earth to the Universe exhibit that could...

Each year Astronomy magazine publishes an article highlighting what we consider the top 10 astronomy stories of the previous year. I’ve started working on the article for 2009 and thought I’d share a few of our ideas for the big stories. We also want your feedback. So if there’s a story you feel strongly should be on our list, let us know! Of course, the mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope has to be on this list. Reviving the aging telescope...

In my newest video, I give you an overview of dark matter , that mysterious stuff that makes up some 90 percent of the universe’s mass. During the last few decades, astronomers have gained convincing evidence that stars, gas, and dust aren’t all there is to the universe. Most of it is “dark” — both dark matter and dark energy. This video focuses on dark matter, and it’s the second video in a series called “Cosmology 101.” Also check out the video...

Perplexed by planets? Confused by cosmology? Baffled by black holes? Then send in your questions to Astronomy magazine at askastro@astronomy.com . If you have an astronomy question about observing, the planets, stars, cosmology, or astronomy history, send it in! Five are selected each month for publication in the Ask Astro section of Astronomy magazine. If your question is selected, we will forward it to an expert for his or her response. Then, the...

Wednesday I had the time to attend most of the big talks (in addition to two press conferences). The first presentation of the morning was about astronomy education, public outreach, and Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles. I was planning on going to the observatory Wednesday night anyhow, so it definitely made me look forward to the visit. Mike Brown, professor of planetary astronomy at the California Institute of Technology, gave the second talk...