A telescope arms race is taking shape around the world. Astronomers are drawing up plans for the biggest, most powerful instruments ever constructed, capable of peering far deeper into the universe — and further back in time — than ever before.
A controversial effort by the US Pentagon to develop ground-based anti-satellite lasers has been highlighted by Congressional hearings held this week.
Japanese scientists have come up with a method for encrypting messages using quasars, which emit radio waves and are thought to be powered by black holes.
Google has struck a partnership with scientists building a huge sky-scanning telescope, with hopes of helping the public access digital footage of asteroids, supernovas and distant galaxies.
A joint Mexico-U.S. effort to build a monster radio telescope in Mexico is causing concerns because the project, the Large Millimeter Telescope, is part of a U.S. Defense Department effort to develop the target acquisition and directed-energy technology needed for anti-satellite warfare.
Overview of the research on adaptive optics and directed energy being done at the U.S. Air Force Starfire Optical Observatory. This facility was previously the subject of a New York Times article which argued the Bush Administration was pursuing anti-satellite laser weapons under the cover of astronomy.
The Swift Space Laboratory -- a joint project between NASA, Britain, and Italy -- is the first satellite dedicated to probing the mysteries of gamma ray bursts.
European researchers have begun work on a research programme to create a flotilla of orbiting mirrors that could return clear pictures of exo-planets, worlds that circle other stars.
Astronomers have demonstrated the use of internet technologies and the principle of interferometry to create a giant "virtual telescope" that has a resolution 5 times that of the Hubble Space Telescope.
An international group of scientists from has been working on an ambitious project whose goal is to simulate on a supercomputer the evolution of the entire universe, from just after the Big Bang until the present.