Planets orbiting planets

This is just awesome. Two gas giants orbiting each other as they both orbit the central star. Neat!

The Dunes on Titan

Sand dunes are shaped by wind as they blow across sand. Simple enough. They face the direction of the wind. Again, simple enough. Winds typically flow in the same directly as a planet rotate. Okay, makes sense. Yet the dunes on Titan are facing the direction opposite rotation. Huh? It's all the season's fault. Go here, here and here to read more.

Welcome Solar Dynamics Observatory!

To the suite of satellites studying the Sun. Read more about its capabilities and science goals here.

Hot spot of cosmic rays

Cosmic rays are very energetic charged particles produced in many places out in space which are constantly bombarding the Earth, just like photons - light particles. However, unlike photons, the paths of these particles are bent by the various magnetic fields which surround the Earth, fill our Solar System, stretch between stars, etc. Due to this bending, one expects cosmic rays to come equally from all regions of the sky assuming their original sources are fairly far away. However, there is mounting evidence that this isn't what is observed, as you can read here and here. Why? No one knows, though a nearby supernova remnant may provide some of the answer. Yet another mystery to be solved.

Dating the Solar System...

using the craters of the Moon. Go here to learn more.

Ahhh... SOFIA....

NASA's infrared telescope in a Boeing 747 - so it can go far above the Earth's atmosphere since infrared light is absorbed by water - is over-budget but is finally ready. Nature magazine doesn't approve, as you can read here and here.

The Confusing Spin-Down of Pulsars

Pulsars are believed to rapidly spinning neutron stars whose spin period increases very slowly but regularly - so regularly that there has been talking of using some of them as clock standards, even better than the atomic clocks currently used! However, not all pulsars spin-down so regularly. Read one possibility about why this might be the case here.

Mars's Early Atmosphere

Was apparently much denser, thicker, and richer in carbon dioxide that it is today. Go here to read how studying the chemical composition of rocks on Mars indicates this was the case.

That Flipping Black Holes

No, I'm not using a euphemism for swearing. Black holes can change the direction in which they spin (i.e, flip), and this can have some impressive results. Go here to learn more!

The Moon is Covered in Water!

Really? Well, sort of. Trapped in rocks and ice, not liquid water of course. Go here to learn more.