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New simulation challenges leading explanation for why galaxies stop forming stars

For decades, astronomers have cast galaxy mergers as the universe’s ultimate relationship drama: two galaxies collide, chaos erupts, black holes awaken and star formation comes to a screeching halt. Upending this long-held belief, new research from Florida International University suggests most galaxies don’t “die” in spectacular cosmic pileups after all.

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New radio-burst method helps locate universe’s missing ordinary matter

Stars and galaxies make up much of the universe’s ordinary, observable matter. But for decades, scientists have wrestled with a cosmic conflict: There should be much more.

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Antarctic 12-m Terahertz Telescope project to uncover hidden galaxy formation

A new simulation study suggests that the Antarctic 12-m Terahertz Telescope (ATT12), a next-generation facility led by University of Tsukuba, could uncover between 1 and 10 million dusty star-forming galaxies throughout cosmic history.

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A new compact instrument enables high-fidelity measurements of energetic particles on CubeSats

A team of NASA-sponsored scientists and engineers has developed a novel approach to observing high-energy particles in the near-Earth space environment, incorporating miniaturized sensors into a compact, multiview particle-detection instrument unlike any before it.

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When a SpaceX rocket crashes into the moon, scientists will be watching

On Aug. 5, 2026, an abandoned piece of space junk is predicted to crash into the moon near a spot called Einstein Crater. Astronomers will be watching because the collision and aftermath may be visible from Earth.

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Finding Venus zone planets with PLATO will show us how habitable planets evolve

Dreams of finding a sort of Earth 2.0 motivate much of the thinking around the search for exoplanets. But there is more to exoplanet science than searching for potentially habitable worlds. Scientists need a deeper understanding of the overall exoplanet population to understand the cosmos.

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Scientists use dual-frequency images to explore black hole plasma physics

The first-ever image of a black hole—a glowing, ring-like structure at the heart of galaxy M87—was unveiled to the world in a landmark moment in 2019. Now, researchers have taken the next big step—moving beyond capturing a picture of the black hole to understanding its physics through dual-frequency images.

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New NASA Earth missions gear up to start science flights

Landslides in Alaska. Air quality in Atlanta. Fire clouds out West. From the Arctic fringes to farm country, NASA’s newest class of suborbital Earth Venture missions is gearing up to deliver science that will benefit communities in the United States and beyond.

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Cosmic gymnastics: How the Milky Way once underwent a dramatic flip

The Milky Way may have undergone a dramatic change in orientation during its history, according to new research that helps explain a long-standing mystery about our galaxy. Using supercomputer simulations of galaxies like the Milky Way, a team of astronomers from Durham University found that galaxies with slowly rotating stellar halos are more likely to […]

A star orbiting our galaxy’s supermassive black hole tests the limits of relativity

Although general relativity (GR) is an elegant theory of gravity, we don’t often need to use it. For most gravitational interactions, Newton’s theory of universal gravitation works just fine. Newton’s model is good enough to navigate spacecraft through the solar system and for most stars orbiting Sag A*, the supermassive black hole at the center […]

Mars’s 2018 planetwide dust storm hints at possible solar influence on its weather

Solar storms may affect weather on Mars when they strike at the same time as major Martian dust storms, a new study suggests for the first time. Researchers found evidence of rising temperatures in the red planet’s lower atmosphere when the two events coincided—hinting that Mars may have a more complex atmospheric environment and weather […]

Astronomers catch a recurring black hole eruption in real time

For the third time in 35 years, the black hole at the center of the galaxy IC 3599 has erupted, and this time, astronomers were watching it closely. IC 3599, a galaxy roughly 280 million light-years away, has flared this dramatically twice before, in 1990 and 2010, but both eruptions were only pieced together after […]

One idea, two cosmic mysteries—linking Little Red Dots and globular clusters

A new study led by astronomers at The University of Texas at Austin proposes a theory that could solve two astronomical riddles at once: the nature of Little Red Dots and the origin of globular clusters. Rather than representing distinct objects, the study suggests that one may instead be the ancestor of the other: Little […]

Deep-space CubeSat could stretch solar storm warnings from 15 minutes to 3 hours

Space weather warnings could be received hours before Earth is hit rather than minutes with the help of a miniature UK-built instrument soon to be stationed in deep space. MAGIC (MAGnetometer from Imperial College) is part of the European Space Agency’s Heliospheric Pioneer for Solar and Interplanetary Threats Defense (HENON) CubeSat mission, which is scheduled […]

Researchers advance tech that could help scientists detect habitable worlds beyond our solar system

Are we alone in the universe? For scientists working on NASA’s proposed Habitable Worlds Observatory, that question is no longer purely philosophical. It is increasingly becoming an engineering problem.

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