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Total solar eclipse to spellbind Europe

Millions of Europeans will contemplate the sky in awe on Wednesday as a rare total solar eclipse crosses part of the continent and plunges a swath of Spain into eerie daytime darkness.

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Looking to see the solar eclipse from North America? Here’s where and when to catch a sliver

Sorry, North America. After winning the cosmic lottery with a pair of coast-to-coast total solar eclipses, now it’s Europe’s turn.

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The ESCAPE mission will study the evolution of exoplanet atmospheres

The habitable zone concept is useful for understanding which worlds might, possibly, maybe, be habitable. It highlights exoplanets at the right distances from their stars for liquid water to potentially exist on their surfaces. But that alone can’t determine habitability.

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Three energy-loss routes may explain Tarantula Nebula’s X-ray shortfall

Like a collage made of layered sheets of colored cellophane, a vibrant new image layers observations of a famous star-forming nebula from NASA’s space telescopes. The resulting cosmic “craft” reveals new details about the star-forming region known as 30 Doradus, or the Tarantula Nebula.

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Star cluster discovery could change how scientists measure the universe

University of Missouri researchers have uncovered evidence that challenges one of astronomy’s most trusted assumptions, a breakthrough that could reshape how scientists measure galaxies and reconstruct the history of the universe.

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Twisted magnetic field around newborn star confirms decades-old jet theory

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), of which the U.S. National Science Foundation National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NSF NRAO) is a partner, have captured the first direct, high-resolution images of a magnetic field wrapped tightly around the outflow of gas streaming away from a forming star—evidence that solves a decades-old puzzle about how […]

Webb reveals oxygen-rich dust and water surviving near Milky Way’s central black hole

Using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, an international team of astronomers has discovered that dust and water can form and survive surprisingly close to the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy. The observations reveal that the evolved star IRS 3 continues to enrich its surroundings with newly formed material […]

Solar eclipse sparks scramble for protective glasses across Europe

The scramble for protective glasses has reached fever pitch across Europe ahead of Wednesday’s rare total solar eclipse, as pharmacies, opticians and other shops struggled to keep them in stock.

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The telescope that points itself

I’ll admit to using AI for things it was probably never designed for. When my van threw a fault I couldn’t immediately figure out—one that seems notorious for trips back and forth to a repair shop—I ended up in a long (but cheaper) back-and-forth with an AI system, working through the symptoms. The same happened […]

A smarter way to track satellites beyond Earth’s orbit

Most current space activities operate close to Earth in what is called near–Earth orbit. However, as more satellites and other infrastructure begin to extend beyond that region, maintaining situational awareness of those objects will be crucial.

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Rocket debris crashed into the moon—why this could threaten future lunar bases

In the early hours of Wednesday morning, Aug. 5, the upper stage of a Falcon 9 rocket crashed into the moon in an uncontrolled collision.

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Mars could have carried liquid water more recently than we thought

For decades, astronomers have assumed that the Martian surface froze solid around 3 billion years ago and has stayed that way ever since. If this were really the case, any liquid water would have long since either been locked away underground or lost to space.

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DESI releases biggest 2D map of the universe

Hold on to your telescopes: The DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys team has released the largest-ever 2D color map of the universe. The 5.6-trillion-pixel map contains nearly 4 billion celestial objects, primarily stars and galaxies. The data is available for all to use and publicly view through the Legacy Survey Sky Viewer.

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Slow spin could explain why planets become hellish

Hundreds of Venus-like planets could soon help determine why some worlds become sweltering greenhouse hellscapes while others remain capable of supporting life. But before answering that question, scientists first need to know how fast those planets are spinning.

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Astronomers find a new object from the early universe using Webb data

Since it became operational in 2022, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has released some truly breathtaking views of the cosmos. These images highlight how advancements since the days of the venerable Hubble Space Telescope are now providing the deepest and clearest views of the cosmos to date. The work is published on the arXiv […]