Sky & Telescope

Flying robot explorers could one day grace the skies of other worlds. Quadcopters, the four-propeller drones that have become a familiar sight in terrestrial skies, may be the next big thing in space exploration. Engineers based at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on the Florida Space Coast are working on the next generation of robotic scouts…

The term “diffuse interstellar bands” may not run chills down your back, but it’s code for a spectral mystery has haunted astronomers for almost a century. First discovered in 1922, these absorption lines (more than 400 of them) are seen anytime astronomers look toward dust-reddened stars. But no ions or molecules tested in the lab…

Observations of nearby super-Earth 55 Cancri e reveal huge, as-yet unexplained changes in the exoplanet’s infrared emission. Volcanoes are one possible cause.

A team of astronomers has found indirect evidence of a supermassive black hole’s event horizon, providing further proof that these wacky objects actually exist in nature.