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A tiny world beyond Neptune has an atmosphere that shouldn’t exist

A team of professional and amateur Japanese astronomers have found evidence for a thin atmosphere around a small body in the outer solar system. The object is so small that it should not have a sustainable atmosphere, raising questions about when and how the atmosphere formed. Future observations to better characterize the atmosphere will help […]

Astronomers uncover over 1,000 radio galaxies with ‘wings,’ expanding a rare cosmic class

Astronomers recently carried out a comprehensive search for strange “winged” radio galaxies using data from the LOFAR Two-meter Sky Survey Data Release 2 (LoTSS DR2) and discovered over 1,000 new systems. The paper outlining these results was submitted to the arXiv preprint server on April 24, 2026.

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Is the Large Magellanic Cloud a first-time visitor?

Our most massive satellite galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), has been the center of a heated debate in the astrophysics community over the last few years. That debate centers on whether this is the LMC’s first or second “pass” by the Milky Way itself—and it has huge implications for the evolution of our galaxy […]

Close-in planets act as ‘bouncers’ to create rogue worlds

Rogue planets sound like rare travelers among the stars, freed from the gravitational constraints of a host system, left to forever wander the interstellar void. But modern models suggest these free floating planets (FFPs) as they are technically known, are actually very common—19 times more common than planets beyond the “snow line,” which is the […]

Astronomers explore the surface composition of a nearby super-Earth

Using MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) on board the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), a team of researchers led by former MPIA (Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg, Germany) Ph.D. student Sebastian Zieba (Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, Cambridge, U.S.) and Laura Kreidberg, MPIA Director and study PI (principal investigator), analyzed the surface composition of […]

A bright moon may dim the Eta Aquarid meteor shower made up of Halley’s comet debris

The Eta Aquarid meteor shower soon will light the sky with debris from Halley’s comet. But a bright moon will spoil the fun this year, making the display harder to glimpse.

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Solar radio bursts reveal hidden magnetic switchbacks near the sun, Parker Solar Probe data suggest

Solar radio bursts are intrinsically linked to the motion of their emitting source through the coronal and heliospheric plasma. Electron transport is mostly confined to magnetic field lines. These electrons move at a substantial fraction of the speed of light and often generate radio emission via the plasma emission process.

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Canada proposes POET mission to hunt Earth-sized planets

Exoplanet science and the search for life beyond Earth continue to advance at break-neck speeds, with the number of confirmed exoplanets by NASA rapidly approaching 6,300, with 223 of those exoplanets being designated as terrestrial (rocky) exoplanets. With the promise of discovering an increasing number of Earth-sized exoplanets increasing every day, new telescopes from across […]

NASA Laser Terminal enhances views during Artemis II mission

Millions of people watched the historic launch of Artemis II and were captivated by the mission’s 10-day journey around the moon as NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen ventured farther into space than any human before. Part of the public’s ability to experience the […]

Seeing an eclipse from Earth is awe‑inspiring—for astronauts in space, the scene was even more grand

The astronauts on Artemis II’s trip to the moon in April 2026 didn’t just have an amazing journey through space. They also saw something extraordinary. They were the first humans to see a total solar eclipse from space.

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A new way to plan trajectories to asteroids

There are tens of thousands of near-Earth objects (NEOs) that represent some of the most easily accessible resources in the solar system. Planning trajectories to rendezvous with these miniature worlds is notoriously difficult, and requires a massive amount of computational power to calculate. But a new paper from astrodynamicist Alessandro Beolchi of Khalifa University of […]

New lithium-plasma engine passes key Mars propulsion test

You’re on the fourth human mission to Mars, and you’re told the Odyssey spacecraft designed to take you there will be the smoothest ride you’ll ever take. It features a newly christened electric propulsion engine which was in the late stages of testing during the first three missions. The mission starts and the spacecraft travels […]

Sentinel-1D goes live: A milestone for Europe’s radar mission

The Copernicus Sentinel-1D satellite, launched last November, is now fully operational after successfully completing its critical in-orbit commissioning phase. With all four Sentinel-1 satellites having now been deployed, this achievement marks a major milestone for this flagship radar mission—a journey that began more than a decade ago and that has helped pave the way for […]

DESI-HVS1 is an old hypervelocity star ejected from the galactic center, observations suggest

Chinese astronomers report the discovery of DESI-HVS1, which may be an old metal-poor hypervelocity star of galactic center origin. The finding, based on the data from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) and ESA’s Gaia satellite, was detailed in a research paper published April 23 on the arXiv pre-print server.

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Hunting the elusive Eta Aquariid meteors

Early May is a good time to watch for a powerful yet often elusive meteor shower, the annual Eta Aquariids. They’re a prolific, yet often elusive for northern hemisphere observers. If skies are clear, watch for a strong annual meteor shower that’s attained an almost mythical status: the May Eta Aquariids.

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