SUNSET: 
Astronomy in Pictures: The Birth of Stars and Planets
Images capture the birth of stars and planets in multiple results from space- and ground-based telescopes.
Not All Star-forming Clouds Are The Same
Astronomers have created the first high-resolution maps of the big, dense gas clouds that form stars within galaxies.
Planets Appear More Massive Than Disks Where They Form
Infant worlds might gobble up dust quickly, the interstellar environment might feed protoplanetary disks, or planet-building dust could be hiding in plain sight. Although disks of gas and dust around young stars are a necessary precursor to planet formation, an expanded survey of stars in our Galaxy confirms earlier doubts…
Too Many Massive Stars in Universe's Youngest Galaxies
A new method of measuring star formation in the earliest galaxies finds that they’re producing more massive stars than expected — a result that could affect our understanding of how galaxies grow their stars.
ALMA Captures Stellar Fireworks in Orion
Stellar fireworks are what remains of a centuries-old explosion, the concussive consequence of four stars that came together in a gravitational tussle.
ALMA Images Spiral Disk Around Baby Stars
Astronomers have imaged a third star embedded in the spiral disk around a pair of baby stars, the first direct evidence of a process of star formation known as disk fragmentation.
ALMA Pans for Galactic Gold in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field
ALMA, the largest telescope array in the world, took a look at the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, and revealed the cosmic history of star formation.
Dark Dwarf Galaxy Discovered
Astronomers using the ALMA array of radio dishes have detected a dwarf galaxy 4 billion light-years away by the pull of its dark matter.
Hidden Galaxies Revealed
Astronomers studying the infrared glow that pervades the universe have pinned down its source: dusty, faint, and faraway galaxies.
The Origin of Massive Stars
High-mass stars may outshine and outweigh the Sun, but observations show all stars may have had a similar beginning.
Searching for Exoplanets Around HL Tau
When astronomers went searching for the planets that must exist around HL Tau, they came up empty — and future searches may not fare much better.
Weighing a Supermassive Black Hole
Combining a novel technique and a world-class telescope, astronomers have measured the mass of the supermassive black hole at the center of barred spiral NGC 1097.
Dust-poor Early Galaxies
New ALMA observations reveal low levels of dust in nine early galaxies, suggesting astronomers should revise some of their calculations.
Ring-Shaped Spyglass to Early Universe
A rare type of gravitational lens offers astronomers a close look at a young, dusty galaxy manufacturing hundreds of stars a year.
ALMA Image Reveals Planetary Genesis
An ALMA submillimeter-wavelength image unveils the dawn of planet formation around a surprisingly young star in unprecedented detail.
17-Day ALMA Strike Ends in Resolution
The 17-day strike at the world’s largest ground-based observatory ended Saturday, and ALMA's revolutionary observations of the millimeter/submillimeter sky restart today.
How ALMA Works Its Magic
ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO) / C. Malin In the November 2013 issue of S&T, I write about a revolutionary new telescope being built in the Chilean Atacama Desert. The Atacama Large Millimiter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) explores a little-known region of the electromagnetic spectrum, waves that are longer than the farthest infrared but shorter…
Alma Observatory Inaugurated
The future is now — the world’s most powerful radio telescope array was inaugurated yesterday.
ALMA Minds the (Planet‑Forming) Gap
For the first time, astronomers have imaged a key stage in planet formation, witnessing the gas streams that signal two gas giant planets sweeping up material around a star.
ALMA Coming Together
As one of the world's greatest new telescopes takes shape, preliminary results impress.
