Image: Westerlund 1, an eye-catching star cluster

Westerlund 1, the biggest and closest “super” star cluster to Earth, dazzles in this image released on July 23, 2025. This view combines X-ray data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory (in pink, blue, purple, and orange), infrared data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (in yellow, gold, and blue), and optical data from NASA’s Hubble […]

Astronomers discover rare Einstein cross with a fifth image, revealing hidden dark matter

When Rutgers theoretical astrophysicist Charles Keeton first saw an unusual picture shared by his colleague, he was intrigued.

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Tying theory to practice when searching for dark energy

Science is a story of coming up with theories then doing our best to disprove them. That is especially true for theories on a grand, cosmological scale, though disproving them can be particularly hard.

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Delayed dispatch, untimely incident command cited in Mich. high school shooting report

An independent review says incident command wasn’t formally established until 25 minutes after the shooter was in custody and fire crews were dispatched late

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Trump deploys National Guard to Memphis, calling it a ‘replica’ of D.C. crackdown

Trump said troops would be deployed and join a special task force in the city comprised of various federal agencies, including the FBI, DEA, ICE and the U.S. Marshal’s service

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Fly through Gaia’s 3D map of stellar nurseries

Scientists created the most accurate three-dimensional map of star-formation regions in our Milky Way galaxy, based on data from the European Space Agency’s Gaia space telescope. This map will teach us more about these obscure cloudy areas, and the hot young stars that shape them.

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Off-duty Fla. officer ambushed, killed in ‘out-and-out assassination’

Edgewater Officer David Jewell was purchasing a hot dog at a gas station when an employee left the building, re-entered with a gun and repeatedly shot Jewell from behind

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A rover to mine Martian volcanoes

Different parts of Mars have different advantages and disadvantages when it comes to their available resources, just like Earth. The polar caps are likely the most valuable in terms of their water content, which will be critical to any early stage crewed mission to the red planet.

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Ancient brown dwarf reveals cloud chemistry secrets

Deep in space, an ancient brown dwarf nicknamed “The Accident” has revealed the first-ever detection of a molecule that scientists have been searching for in planetary atmospheres for decades.

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Monitoring sediment buildup in underwater bridge tunnels with the help of high-energy muons

Over 200 underwater bridge tunnels exist for vehicular traffic around the world, providing connectivity between cities. Once constructed, however, these tunnels are difficult to monitor and maintain, often requiring shutdowns or invasive methods that pose structural risks.

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New images reveal unexpected polarization flips near M87’s supermassive black hole

The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration, with a substantial contribution from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIfR), has unveiled new, detailed images of the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy M87. These reveal a dynamic environment with changing polarization patterns near the black hole. For the first time in EHT […]

A spacecraft could explore 3I/ATLAS to learn more about ‘cosmic noon’

The period known as “cosmic noon,” which took place roughly 2 to 3 billion years after the Big Bang, was characterized by the rapid formation of new stars and planetary systems. Naturally, objects dated to this period are coveted by scientists hoping to learn more about the processes that led to the formation of planets […]

Partial solar eclipse at the bottom of the world closes out the year’s sun and moon spectacles

The bottom of the world is front and center for a partial solar eclipse next week.

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Two historians claim the Ancient Egyptians did not build the Pyramids

The historians and authors of a ‘controversial’ forthcoming book firmly believe there is a strong possibility a second ‘Great Sphinx’ remains buried at the Giza plateau and suggest the Great Pyramid at Giza were built thousands of years earlier than previously thought, and not by the ancient Egyptians.

Two historians have questioned whether the […]

Earth’s history written in the stars: Zircon crystals reveal galactic influence

New Curtin University research has uncovered a striking link between the structure of our galaxy and the evolution of Earth’s crust, showing its development was shaped by the impact of meteorites during its journey through the Milky Way and not solely through internal processes as was previously widely considered.

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