Particle shape and size predict asteroid strength, revealing Bennu’s surface is 50 times weaker than ground coffee

In a new Nature Communications study, researchers developed a universal scaling framework for the strength of granular asteroids, showing that their tensile strength can be predicted from the size and shape of their constituent particles.

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Turbulent times for star formation in Stephan’s Quintet

Star formation in galaxies is closely linked to molecular gas. In the distant past, when galaxy interactions were more common, these encounters compressed molecular gas, causing dense clouds to collapse under their own gravity and form new stars.

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Betelgeuse’s atmosphere is becoming spotty and asymmetric—and a nearby companion could be shaping the pattern

For the first time since its dramatic dimming in 2020, a team of astronomers has observed the inner atmosphere of Betelgeuse using the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA). Led by Bill Dent at the University of Manchester, the team found that the giant star’s inner atmosphere has become increasingly uneven and asymmetric, in a way […]

Rescue satellite gets close to NASA’s doomed telescope, even if it can’t save it

A private spacecraft that was supposed to supply a lifeline to NASA’s Swift Observatory managed to get close to the sinking telescope and even snap photos more than a week after the rescue was abandoned.

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Perseverance rover watches Earth vanish behind Martian moon

Earth and the Martian moon Phobos dance together in a series of images recently acquired by NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover. Earth appears as a point of light in the Martian sky, disappearing behind the crescent of Phobos, the larger of Mars’ two moons.

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Hot subdwarfs come into focus as AI scans thousands of stars in Gaia data

There are myriad ways of “being a star,” and scientists spend years trying to uncover and understand them. One unusual type is the so-called hot subdwarf—small stars that burn mysteriously hot for their size. Scientists from the Faculty of Physics and the Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics at Vilnius University (VU) are working to explain […]

Newly discovered 1666 manuscript may trace four-lens telescope experiments to Galileo

A potentially history-altering finding by a University of Limerick researcher may provide the most detailed technical analysis of a telescope demonstrably made by the famous astronomer and scientist Galileo Galilei.

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Photo: NASA’s Hubble spies superbubble scene

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features a sprawling cosmic vista in the Large Magellanic Cloud, or LMC, the largest of the small galaxies that orbit our Milky Way galaxy. At just 160,000 light-years away, the LMC offers a close look at highly active star-forming sites like the one in this image. This photogenic nebula, […]

Why doesn’t Venus have a moon? A new study may have the answer

Venus is one of the solar system’s most unusual planets. It may sometimes be called “Earth’s twin” because of its similar size and density, but it rotates on its axis in the opposite direction of most planets, has surface temperatures hot enough to melt lead and lacks a moon.

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A pair of spacecraft draw closer to Mercury after nearly decade-long voyage

Two Mercury-bound spacecraft left their mother ship behind on Thursday and headed down the home stretch of their nearly decade-long voyage to the solar system’s smallest and closest-to-the-sun planet.

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The biggest black hole merger ever observed could be less massive than it appears

Gravitational waves are ripples in spacetime created when pairs of black holes spiral into each other and eventually merge. But if this ripple has been warped by another massive object on its way to Earth, a new analysis suggests that these black holes might appear far larger than they really are.

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Hubble tracks new decagon encircling Saturn’s south pole

Recent observations with NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have revealed a giant, evolving, 10-sided atmospheric wave encircling Saturn’s south pole. This discovery marks the first time a large, regular-sided jet pattern has been observed in the planet’s southern hemisphere. The feature appears remarkably similar to Saturn’s famous hexagon at its north pole but is also distinctly […]

Cluster’s final reentry strengthens data for safer, more sustainable satellite design

The Cluster mission danced its final dance as Tango reentered the atmosphere Sept. 1 at 11:30:31 p.m. CEST. The end of the Cluster mission in 2024 marked the start of the reentry data-collection campaign. After four targeted reentries, this is now a proven method of safe end-of-life disposal. It also enabled repeated observation of the […]

NASA rocket takes first multi-point look inside radio-disrupting clouds

High above Earth, thin veils of metallic haze drift through the edge of space. Known as sporadic E layers, these high-altitude “clouds” form from the vaporized dust of burned-up meteors, earning their name from the unpredictable way they emerge and then dissipate. Now, new results from a NASA sounding rocket—a suborbital research rocket—that flew five […]

Young sunlike system reveals comets may carry water toward forming planets

Astronomers at Lund University in Sweden have found evidence of exocomets—comets in other solar systems—orbiting a young star similar to our sun. The observations point to a possible mechanism for how water might be transported from the cold outer regions of the planetary system to regions where planets form.

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