Astronauts arrive at International Space Station on the quickest US express flight yet

Four astronauts pulled up at the International Space Station on Thursday after launching on an eight-hour express that set a U.S. speed record.

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Webb provides crash course on planet-shattering collisions

In the early history of our solar system, scientists theorize that a Mars-sized object called Theia smashed into the infant Earth, vaporizing massive amounts of rock and blasting it into space. Some of that material coalesced into the moon, where NASA’s Artemis program is returning humans, preparing for Mars and shaping the future of space […]

Ultra-precise coatings help power the next generation of gravitational wave detectors

Researchers from The Australian National University (ANU) have engineered new optical coatings for LIGO, the global collaboration hunting gravitational waves from colliding black holes and neutron stars.

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SpaceX launches 4 astronauts on a fast track to the International Space Station

Four astronauts rocketed into orbit Thursday on a space station mission that will stretch until spring, among them a Canadian whose wife will give birth while he’s away.

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A cleaner X-ray view of our galactic center’s hot mess

The center of the Milky Way galaxy is a chaotic place. In addition to the 4-million-solar-mass black hole known as Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), the region is full of gas, dust, strong magnetic fields and stars in various stages of life—from birth to death.

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Following ancient rain toward life-related chemistry clues on Mars

The Mars we know today is a cold, dry world of dust and rocks. However, around 3.8–3.6 billion years ago, it may have looked very different. Geological and mineral evidence suggests that, in its distant past, the planet experienced periods warm and wet enough for water to exist on its surface, potentially forming rivers, lakes […]

Citizen science project recruits volunteers to search for undiscovered black holes

Cosmic detectives are being called on for an interstellar mission to hunt down thousands of invisible black holes lurking in our own backyard. Space scientists from the University of Southampton need amateur astronomers to search for signs that might locate them.

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90-plus-day spaceflights linked to higher rates of hip fractures in astronauts

New research has found that the rate of hip fractures among astronauts after spaceflights lasting more than 90 days was higher than after shorter spaceflights or among people who were not astronauts. The findings of the study in Mayo Clinic Proceedings, underscore the need for expanded assessment of astronauts’ long-term skeletal health.

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Catch a rare lunar occultation of Jupiter plus Saturn at opposition in early October

It’s a busy skywatching month ahead. The first full week of October sees two top-notch skywatching events, with Saturn reaching opposition and the moon occulting Jupiter for North America on Oct. 6.

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Stratospheric observatory Sunrise-III reveals intricate solar magnetic structures

A team of researchers led by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan discovered unexpectedly intricate magnetic structures above quiet-sun regions by observing the sun with the balloon-borne solar observatory Sunrise-III during its 2024 flight in Earth’s stratosphere. The work is published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

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Astronomers link mysterious cosmic flashes to collisions of dead stars

For decades, astronomers have identified collisions between two neutron stars through bursts of gamma rays that can disappear in less than two seconds. But some of these violent encounters may also reveal themselves through X-ray flashes lasting several minutes. A new study published in Science Bulletin provides evidence for this connection, suggesting that merging neutron […]

Sugar found in meteorites may have helped secure its own survival on early Earth

Is there life elsewhere, or is Earth unique in the universe? This is one of humanity’s great unanswered questions. One way to approach this mystery is to investigate how life began here on Earth. Our research explores the conditions in which a mixture of molecules somehow transformed from chemistry into biology.

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Hidden star cluster discovered in Milky Way’s crowded disk defies easy classification

Astronomers have discovered a stellar cluster hidden in the crowded disk of the Milky Way. The object, named Garro 04, was first identified as an unusual collection of stars in observations from the VVVX survey and was later confirmed using infrared spectroscopy. A paper outlining the properties of this seemingly mysterious stellar system was posted […]

Earth and Mars: Built from different cosmic recipes

Four and a half billion years ago, Earth and Mars were born in the rotating cloud of gas and dust that would eventually become our solar system. Yet exactly how the planets formed remains one of the most disputed questions in planetary science.

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Starship’s first orbital flight put its heat shield to the test

SpaceX’s Starship, the most powerful launch vehicle ever developed, reached Earth orbit for the first time on Sept. 28, 2026. This mission, the rocket’s 14th test flight, also marked the first time that Starship deployed Starlink internet satellites into the existing larger constellation: 26 new next-generation nodes in total.

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