The cradle used to hold Hubble in the shuttle’s cargo bay during the last servicing mission now resides in a clean room at Goddard Space Flight Center. Richard Talcott photo Over the past 2 decades at Astronomy magazine, I’ve had the pleasure to report on the Hubble Space Telescope and its findings in dozens of feature articles and news stories. So imagine my thrill when I was invited to see some of the final equipment used to service Hubble this...

It’s official: The 215th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Washington, D.C., is the largest astronomical meeting in history. The number of attendees has reached 3,400, several hundred more than the previous record crowd. All of the astronomers here consist entirely of normal matter — the protons, neutrons, and electrons that make up all that we see in the cosmos. But this morning’s press conference shied away from normal stuff and concentrated...

If you weren’t convinced NASA made the right decision to service the Hubble Space Telescope in 2009, the latest Hubble Ultra Deep Field may change your mind. The new image, dubbed HUDF09, made its debut Tuesday morning at the 215th meeting of the American Astronomical Society being held in Washington, D.C. The image targeted a tiny part of the southern sky with observations through 10 filters ranging from ultraviolet through near-infrared wavelengths...

NASA’s Kepler spacecraft has discovered five new planets orbiting stars beyond the Sun in its first 6 weeks of science observations. The planets — designated Kepler 4b, 5b, 6b, 7b, and 8b — orbit their host stars in periods ranging from 3.2 to 4.9 days. All are significantly larger than Earth and have surface temperatures hotter than molten lava. The smallest planet, Kepler 4b, is about the size of Neptune. But Kepler 7b is the strangest: It has a...

For something so dark it could define the word, black holes sure seem to be generating a lot of light at the 215th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Washington, D.C. At a press conference yesterday morning, several scientists spoke about their recent research into these objects, whose gravity is so strong that not even light can escape them. Fortunately for astronomers, a black hole can radiate lots of energy when surrounding matter...

Now that the August 2009 issue of Astronomy is in the mail or already in hand, we’ve updated Astronomy.com with our newest web extras to give subscribers exclusive complementary information to this special issue about our return to the Moon. Take a sneak peek inside the August 2009 Astronomy magazine . If you subscribe to Astronomy , make sure you’re registered with Astronomy.com so you can access these great extras. Here are this issue's highlights...

Special post from Imelda B. Joson and Edwin L. Aguirre In the years since its inception, the Northeast Astro-Imaging Conference (NEAIC) has evolved into the largest gathering of its kind on the East Coast. Astrophotography aficionados from North America, Europe, and Asia have attended or spoken at the 2-day conference, held each year at Rockland Community College in Suffern, New York. “This year’s NEAIC was a resounding success,” said Jim Burnell...

In this video , I discuss the objects you can see with your naked eyes and binoculars in this spring’s sky. The season offers several bright planets, notable constellations, and bright deep-sky objects. You can locate all the night-sky sights I talk about with Astronomy.com's interactive star chart StarDome . Watch the video, " Observe easy-to-find objects in the spring sky ." Venus As darkness falls during the first half of March, your...

A dark night and a small- to medium-sized telescope are all you need to enjoy the deep-sky splendors that dot Earth’s skies. Oh, and one other thing — a good guide that describes what to look for and what you’ll see through the eyepiece. We’re excited to offer one of the best deep-sky observing guides of the past decade. Author and Astronomy magazine Contributing Editor Tom Polakis created an exclusive series of articles for the magazine called “Celestial...

Comet C/2007 N3 (Lulin) remains on track to be the brightest comet of the year. It should peak around 5th magnitude during the second half of February, when it will slide past Spica, Saturn, and Regulus. To track the comet from your location as it crosses the night sky, check out Astronomy.com's interactive star chart — StarDome . To find and track Comet Lulin with StarDome : On the lower right of the dome display, under "Options," click...