October 22, 2009 Mark Reid and Colleagues Awarded Largest Ever VLBA Project to Map Milky Way Over the next five years, Mark Reid and an international team of scientists will use the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) to map the spiral structure of the Milky Way.  Read More...

October 08, 2009 Smithsonian's NASM Collaborates with HCO to Open Public Observatory in Washington In celebration of the International Year of Astronomy, Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum recently collaborated with Harvard College Observatory to open its first Public Observatory on the Mall.   Read More...

September 11, 2009 Astronomers Solve Mystery of Dusty Foot Trails Crossing Telescope Mirrors Accustomed to peering through the dust and debris of outer space, astronomers at the Smithsonian’s Whipple Observatory in southern Arizona were perplexed to find fresh deposits of dust and dirt upon the fragile mirrors of their telescopes.  Read More...