A glimpse of the solar system’s origins: Striking details on the molecules inside a meteorite

Researchers at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory and Brookhaven National Laboratory have teamed up to get a fresh look at the complex makeup of meteorites and glimpse into our solar system’s past.

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What ancient Mars rocks reveal about its buried carbonate stores

Carbonate minerals are among the best records of past liquid water on Mars: They form when water carrying dissolved carbon dioxide reacts with rock, and their composition reflects the chemistry of both. Yet Mars has surprisingly little carbonate on its surface compared with what climate models predict, given that the planet likely had a (at […]

Black holes from stellar to supermassive size may follow one jet-launching rule

An early-career Western Australian astrophysicist has helped uncover a universal rule behind one of the most powerful behaviors in the universe: when black holes launch jets. The discovery, published in the journal Nature Astronomy, shows black holes appear to fire off powerful jets at the same critical point in their feeding cycle—whether they are about […]

Japanese supercomputer simulations may explain Webb’s Little Red Dots

Of all the discoveries from the James Webb Space Telescope, the multitude of Little Red Dots it has observed is among the most enigmatic. Now, simulations using the Japanese Supercomputer ATERUI III have explained the nature of the Little Red Dots without requiring any exotic assumptions. The simulations show that the Little Red Dots are […]

NASA spacecraft discovers a huge new crater on the moon

Scientists have discovered a crater on the moon that’s bigger than the Roman Colosseum and is the result of a powerful impact two years ago that initially went undetected.

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Snow, monsoons and oceans shift Earth’s center of mass each year, satellite tracking shows

Seasonal changes redistribute enough water around Earth to shift the planet’s center of mass back and forth by fractions of an inch relative to its geometric center. NASA scientists are on the case, tracking the oscillations because Earth’s center of mass is a crucial reference point for satellite navigation and elevation measurements.

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Muon rings enable precise calibration of telescopes at the Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory

Research initiated as part of a bachelor’s thesis in physics at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) has culminated in a new analytical description of the muon-based calibration of dual-mirror Cherenkov telescopes. The work solves a problem that had remained open for more than 30 years because of the geometric complexity of these optical systems: […]

Newfound ‘baby’ planet smashes record for youngest known world

Astronomers have confirmed a world less than a million years old as the youngest known planet, using data from archives. Called Elias 2-24 b, the baby planet is still whirling in its natal disk of dust and gas.

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From 10 to 22 years: The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope’s mission has just been extended

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope hasn’t yet reached its Sun–Earth L2 orbit, and it already has some good news. NASA has announced that the mission has enough fuel to potentially double its mission length. Though initially scheduled for five years of observations, followed by a five-year extended mission, the entire mission could now reach […]

A 16-minute train delay shows how a solar storm disrupted Victorian technology

A 178-year-old mystery surrounding one of the earliest recorded examples of space weather affecting technology has been solved by an international team led by Lancaster University.

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Webb measures extreme gas outflows from distant ‘dead’ galaxies

Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have measured the most powerful gas outflow ever recorded from a “dead” galaxy outside our cosmic neighborhood and found that even outflows this extreme may not be enough to permanently shut down star formation.

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Nearly 50 ‘ghost galaxies’ emerge around three hosts, challenging dwarf galaxy counts

Dwarf galaxies—with a mass equal to about a billion suns, but often considerably less—are the most abundant in the universe. However, because of their low luminosity, they are very difficult to detect. They have mostly been discovered in the vicinity of the Milky Way, in what is called the Local Group, but also, and in […]

US acknowledges for the first time that it has deployed weapons in space

The United States has confirmed for the first time that it has deployed weapons in space, a remarkable revelation after previous warnings about countries such as Russia possibly weaponizing a global frontier long agreed in treaties to be used for only peaceful purposes.

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SpaceX prepares for first orbital flight of Starship rocket

SpaceX announced Tuesday that it was planning to send its flagship rocket, Starship, into orbit, a key step in its project to one day reach the moon or Mars.

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‘Born-again’ star offers rare chance to watch stellar evolution in real time

Astronomers have confirmed that one of the fastest-changing stars ever observed has entered a new stage of its evolution, offering a rare opportunity to watch a star’s life unfold on human timescales.

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