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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A world 20 light-years away reveals surprisingly organized, Jupiter-like weather

Scientists from Trinity College Dublin have developed a way to unravel changing weather patterns on distant worlds. Using this approach, they discovered that the weather on a well-studied brown dwarf, SIMP 0136, previously linked to northern lights-like phenomena, is largely shaped by just two dominant processes: changes in temperature and the vertical structure of its […]

Webb reveals dynamic panorama of star formation, including smallest known brown dwarfs

This starry view of the nearby star-forming region IC 348 is one of the largest images released to date from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. Using Webb, astronomers searched IC 348 for brown dwarfs, which are less massive than the smallest stars. The researchers discovered brown dwarfs just twice the mass of Jupiter, bringing the […]

CubeSat instrument extends solar storm warnings 10x

The sun is the reason life exists on our small, blue planet. It provides solar radiation that warms the planet and ignites intricate biochemical processes like photosynthesis, producing oxygen for life to breathe. However, while the sun is known for giving life, it can also take it away with solar flares, geomagnetic storms and solar […]

Laser altimeter BELA ready to explore Mercury’s surface

Launched on Oct. 20, 2018, the joint ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission has traveled for almost eight years, using a carefully planned but eventful sequence of planetary flybys and solar-electric propulsion to gradually approach its destination, Mercury. The mission is now entering the final stage of its journey to the smallest and innermost planet of our solar […]

Could the clues to ancient alien civilizations be hiding in moon dust?

Most of our experience with the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) has focused on capturing radio signals that alien species have sent out, whether intentionally or unintentionally. That creates a huge “synchronicity” problem—what if there aren’t any alien civilizations broadcasting radio signals now, but there were a billion years ago? The Milky Way is around […]

A famous galaxy’s black hole has been hiding its most violent behavior

Astronomers have found that a nearby galaxy’s black hole is blasting out a far more powerful and hidden gas outflow than previously realized. Studying NGC 1068, a well-known galaxy with an actively feeding black hole at its center, researchers combined new infrared observations with existing data to map how the black hole’s energy is reshaping […]

Dense galaxies are carving out a bubble in the early universe

When JWST’s first science results started rolling in, it was a triumph for scientific vision and persistence. For years, the fate of the powerful space telescope was uncertain. It went way over budget, and for 25 years, troubling conversations accompanied its ongoing development. Several times, it seemed like it would be canceled, and in 2011, […]

Series of reactions reveals how complex carbon chemistry can begin in frigid space

Before there was Earth, there was chemistry. In the unimaginable cold, dark clouds where stars and planets are born, carbon molecules assemble into more complex forms—starting a chemical journey that could eventually deliver some of life’s basic ingredients to young planets. There’s only one problem: These molecules need heat to form. At least that’s what […]

Active black holes reveal star-forming rings and shock waves in nine nearby galaxies

A new study of nine nearby galaxies has shown that actively growing supermassive black holes may contribute to, rather than prevent, star formation in their host galaxies.

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A new design for a plasma engine fuels on only thin air

Choosing an orbit for a satellite always comes with trade-offs. Very low Earth orbit (VLEO), between 100–450 km (62–280 miles), has distinct advantages. Remote-sensing cameras can take better pictures, communications and radar require less power, and atmospheric drag automatically cleans up dead satellites.

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How the 2024 solar superstorm drained Earth’s radiation belt

In May 2024, Earth experienced its most intense geomagnetic storm since the Halloween storms of 2003. This “superstorm” filled night skies in many parts of the world with colorful aurorae, and it disrupted some infrastructure, such as GPS signals used by agricultural equipment.

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As African space race heats up, Senegal pursues homemade satellites

Senegalese engineers in hairnets and white gloves are carefully assembling a nanosatellite at a French lab—another step toward fostering their own space industry back home.

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Next-gen gravitational wave detectors could spot the first black holes

A few hundred million years after the Big Bang, the first stars ignited—literally the “let there be light” moment for the universe. Now known to astronomers as Population III, or Pop III, stars, these giants were very different from the stars we know today. They formed from pristine hydrogen and helium, with almost no “metal” […]