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Did this star eat its planets? A new study offers clues on ‘chemical paradox’ of a binary system

Astronomers have investigated a puzzling binary star system in which two stars that may have formed together now show dramatically different chemical compositions. The new study, uploaded to the arXiv preprint server on May 29, hints at the possibility that one of the stars may have swallowed its own planets.

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First steps: America’s grueling second spacewalk

One year after Gemini IV astronaut Edward H. White completed NASA’s first spacewalk the agency prepared for a demanding second excursion. Originally scheduled for Gemini VIII, the extravehicular activity (EVA) was reassigned to Gemini IX-A after that mission ended early, with Gene Cernan taking on the task.

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Leak on space station triggers brief safety alert

Astronauts working on the International Space Station briefly sheltered in a docked capsule Friday as Russian colleagues assessed leak repairs, NASA said.

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Webb unveils young stars across every stage of formation

For this NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope Picture of the Month, we return to the constellation Orion (the Hunter), a location familiar to Webb. This area of the sky is replete with star-forming clouds that make up a complex hundreds of light-years across. We find ourselves in the giant molecular cloud Orion A, of which […]

Could it be aliens? From Cheyava Falls on Mars to exoplanet K2‑18b—here’s what scientists really think

It may seem like we are on the verge of discovering alien life. In 2025, a press release stated that we have the “strongest hints yet” of extraterrestrial life on the exoplanet K2-18b. And when talking about a collected sample from a rock named “Cheyava Falls” on Mars, NASA Administrator Sean Duffy said this was […]

Magnetic field helps binary star systems form, new simulations indicate

New simulations show that interactions with a magnetic field can work to decrease the distance between still forming binary protostars. These results can help explain the characteristics of the binary star systems observed in the Milky Way. The results can also be extrapolated to binary black holes, giving insights into how supermassive black holes evolve. […]

Image: Colorful, chaotic Jupiter

NASA’s Juno spacecraft captured this color-enhanced view of Jupiter’s northern hemisphere during its 61st close flyby of the giant planet on May 12, 2024.

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Tessera AI model offers accessible way to view Earth

A foundation model trained on Earth observation data from Copernicus Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 has been made widely available to researchers, it was announced at a computer industry conference this week in Denver, U.S.

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Record ultraviolet quasar wind reaches 30% light speed near supermassive black hole

A team led by York University researchers has discovered the fastest wind near a supermassive black hole ever found at ultraviolet wavelengths, driven by the disk of matter (quasar) surrounding the black hole.

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Atmosphere survival model refines search for habitable planets

Researchers have developed the Smaller Than Earth Habitability Model (STEHM) to assess which planets can maintain life-supporting atmospheres, focusing on size and atmospheric dynamics.

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Vast astronaut mission kicks off commercial race to replace ISS

The race to replace the aging International Space Station is heating up after US company Vast announced a mission to fly an astronaut to its planned Haven-1 station next year.

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JWST ‘weighs’ dormant black hole 10 billion light-years away

The most distant, nearly invisible dormant black hole has been detected and “weighed” by an international team of astronomers that includes researchers from UCL. The study, published in Science, identified a dormant black hole at the heart of a galaxy known as MRG-M0138 located over 10 billion light years away. It is the most distant […]

Jupiter bow shock reveals electrons accelerating to relativistic speeds

Electrons around Jupiter have been caught in the process of being accelerated, revealing a potentially unified mechanism for particle acceleration. The findings, published in Nature, may help constrain how energetic particles are produced throughout the universe.

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Meteors are ‘extremely common.’ What makes the one over New England ‘rare’?

A sonic boom shook Boston and the larger New England area with the force of 230 tons of TNT. The source came from outer space. The Saturday afternoon event triggered shock waves online, with thousands inquiring what could have caused houses to shake and a sound heard as far away as New Hampshire and Rhode […]

Milky Way black hole’s missing wind finally found after a half-century-long search

The hunt is over. After more than 50 years of searching, astrophysicists at Northwestern University have finally discovered evidence of a powerful wind blowing from the Milky Way’s central supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*).

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