Observational surveys looking for the smallest super-massive black holes come up empty; could they be hiding in plain sight?

Presents the metallicity profile of the Andromeda galaxy (M31) derived from spectroscopic analysis of a large sample of HII regions and planetary nebulae.

The Prisoner's Dilemma is one of the classic problems in game theory, first posed in 1950 and studied exhaustively for generations. Remarkably, a new solution has been discovered that prompts us t...

Describes SN 2010ay, a bright Type Ic supernova with broad spectral lines, found in a host galaxy with low metallicity, and discusses its implications for GRB progenitors.

Discusses strategies for preparing undergraduate students for research careers, highlighting the use of Astrobites for integrating current research into educational settings.

You've finally done it - completed your first scientific paper for publication. What do you do with it now?

The current and next generation of large scale spectroscopic surveys could provide new clues in the hunt for the carriers producing mysterious interstellar absorption features.

We discuss software development in astronomy with Bill Joye and tour the newest version of his ubiquitous program, ds9.

A flurry of recent papers point to detection of a ~130 GeV gamma-ray emission line from near the Galactic center. If real, this could be the first detection of a signature of annihilating dark mat...

We sat down with MIT Professor Sara Seager to ask her about her role in the new asteroid mining venture Planetary Resources, how it might change the field of astronomy, and what your odds are for g...

Sarah Dodson-Robinson identifies a correlation between planetary radius and stellar metallicity among gas giants in the Kepler catalog that may indicate a change in the structure and formation mech...

Abraham Loeb proposes the creation of "credit rating agencies" to evaluate the riskiness to young researches of emerging theories in physics.

Analyzes the size distributions of iron-nickel-sulfur droplets at the nanoscale found in Stardust mission samples from comet 81P/Wild 2, providing insights into cometary formation.

A "lab?" In astronomy? Learn how John Johnson is bringing chemistry to his new group at Caltech.

Are you an undergraduate researcher? Read what a Caltech professor has to say about why what you're doing is important and why you're going to be better at it than you ever thought.

Are you planning on going to grad school? Check out what the chair of the graduate admissions committee at Caltech has to say about getting into a program like his.

What's the best way to sample a banana? A new code implements an efficient solution to this and other Bayesian inference problems.

An essay on the observational science of astronomy in the twenty-first century and my own experiences training in the field, which won Harvard University's 2012 Bowdoin Prize for Graduate Students ...

We think many galaxies we see today had mergers and interactions in their past, but how can we know for sure? Bonfini et al. look to evidence from a subtle pattern in the distribution of globular ...

Astrobites looks back at its first year as the astro-ph reader's digest.