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The interstellar comet that’s spilling its secrets

When 3I/ATLAS swept past the sun in late October 2025, it became only the third confirmed visitor from interstellar space ever detected. Unlike the mysterious ‘Oumuamua, which revealed almost nothing about itself during its brief flyby in 2017, or even 2I/Borisov which appeared in 2019, this latest interstellar traveler arrived with perfect timing for detailed […]

Curiosity sends holiday postcard from Mars

Team members working with NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover created this “postcard” by commanding the rover to take images at two times of day on Nov. 18, 2025, spanning periods that occurred on both the 4,722nd and 4,723rd Martian days, or sols, of the mission.

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When stars fail to explode

Many stars die spectacularly when they explode as supernovae. During these violent explosions, they leave behind thick, chaotic clouds of debris shaped like cauliflowers. But supernova remnant Pa 30 looks nothing like that.

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Space mice come home and start families

Four mice went to space as astronauts. One came back and became a mother. And that simple fact might matter more than you’d think for humanity’s future beyond Earth.

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Could TRAPPIST-1’s seven worlds host moons?

Forty light-years away, seven Earth-sized planets orbit around a dim red dwarf star in one of the most tightly packed planetary systems ever discovered. The TRAPPIST-1 system has captivated astronomers since 2017, with three of its planets orbiting in the habitable zone where liquid water might exist. But there’s been a lingering question whether any […]

Study unveils the dual nature of a young stellar object

Astronomers from the Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES) in India and elsewhere have conducted a long-term photometric and spectroscopic study of a young stellar object known as V1180 Cassiopeiae. Results of the study, published December 23 on the arXiv preprint server, unveil the dual nature of this object.

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Searching for light dark matter by tracking its direction with quantum sensors

Dark matter is an elusive type of matter that does not emit, absorb or reflect light, interacting very weakly with ordinary matter. These characteristics make it impossible to detect using conventional technologies used by physicists to study matter particles.

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Finding runaway stars to help map dark matter in the Milky Way

Hypervelocity stars have, since the 1920s, been an important tool that allows astronomers to study the properties of the Milky Way galaxy, such as its gravitational potential and the distribution of matter. Now astronomers from China have made a large-volume search for hypervelocity stars by utilizing a special class of stars known for their distinct, […]

Experiment nixes ‘sterile’ neutrino explanation of previous unexpected measurements

Experimental particle physicists working at the MicroBooNE experiment at Fermilab National Accelerator Laboratory have found evidence against the existence of a “sterile” type of neutrino hypothesized to be responsible for previous experiments’ anomalous results, as detailed in a paper published in Nature.

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Einstein Probe detects an X-ray flare from nearby star

Using the Einstein Probe (EP), astronomers have detected a new X-ray transient event, which turned out to be an X-ray flare from the star PM J23221-0301 located about 150 light years away. The finding was reported in a research paper published December 18 on the arXiv preprint server.

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Wind-battered Lick Observatory rushes to shield historic telescope after dome damage

Winds exceeding 110 mph that tore across the top of Mount Hamilton early Christmas morning blasted a massive steel protective door off the iconic white dome at Lick Observatory.

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NASA’s Chandra rings in the new year with the Champagne Cluster

Celebrate the New Year with the “Champagne Cluster,” a galaxy cluster seen in this new image from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and optical telescopes.

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Most sensitive radio observations to date find no evidence of technosignature from 3I/ATLAS

Since the interstellar object (ISO) 3I/ATLAS was first discovered on July 1, 2025, it has garnered much attention, including speculation, hopes and fears that it may somehow contain evidence of technologically advanced civilizations outside of our solar system.

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The year’s first meteor shower and supermoon clash in January skies

The year’s first supermoon and meteor shower will sync up in January skies, but the light from one may dim the other.

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Image: JWST captures colliding spiral galaxies

Mid-infrared observations from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, shown in white, gray, and red, are combined here with X-ray data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, highlighted in blue. Together, these different wavelengths reveal a detailed and layered view of a pair of colliding spiral galaxies, captured in an image released on Dec. 1, 2025.

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