Astronomy Physics

A Shaking Star Soon Shares Its Secrets

Just as earthquakes help scientists learn about the interior of our planet, the way a star’s surface oscillates yields clues to its internal structure and other key characteristics. Researchers with the Kepler Asteroseismic Investigation are putting that concept to work on a grand scale, monitoring the surface vibrations of thousands of stars to learn their ages, sizes, and inner dynamics.

I wrote about astroseismology for the December 2010 issue of Discover. Read the article here.