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Photo: NASA ER-2 pilot prepares for GEMx flight

NASA ER-2 pilot Kirt Stallings waits inside the transport vehicle moments before boarding the airborne science aircraft at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, on Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025. Outside the window, the aircraft is being readied for a high-altitude mission supporting the Geological Earth Mapping Experiment (GEMx), a multi-year NASA–U.S. Geological Survey […]

Machine learning framework can scan for signs of extraterrestrial life

A machine learning framework can distinguish molecules made by biological processes from those formed through non-biological processes and could be used to analyze samples returned by current and future planetary missions. The findings are published in the journal PNAS Nexus.

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Deep imaging suggests isolated galaxy forms stars without signs of past mergers

Using the Two-meter Twin Telescope (TTT3), Spanish astronomers have conducted deep optical imaging of an isolated dwarf galaxy known as NGC 6789. Results of the new observations, presented November 10 on the arXiv preprint server, shed more light on the star formation process in this galaxy.

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Asteroid 2024 YR4 was Earth’s first real-life defense test

At this point in history, astronomers and engineers who grew up watching “Deep Impact” and “Armageddon,” two movies about the destructive power of asteroid impacts, are likely in relatively high ranking positions at space agencies. “Don’t Look Up” also provided a more modern, though more pessimistic (or, unfortunately, realistic?), look at what might potentially happen […]

Cohesion, charging and chaos on the lunar surface

Most people interested in space exploration already know lunar dust is an absolute nightmare to deal with. We’ve already reported on numerous potential methods for dealing with it, from 3D printing landing pads so we don’t sand blast everything in a given area when a rocket lands, to using liquid nitrogen to push the dust […]

Balloon telescope captures new details of matter swirling around black holes

An international collaboration of physicists including researchers at Washington University in St. Louis has made measurements to better understand how matter falls into black holes and how enormous amounts of energy and light are released in the process.

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Astronomers reveal flat ‘Diamond Ring’ in Cygnus X is a burst bubble remnant

An international team led by researchers from the University of Cologne has solved the mystery of an extraordinary phenomenon known as the “Diamond Ring” in the star-forming region Cygnus X, a huge, ring-shaped structure made of gas and dust that resembles a glowing diamond ring. In similar structures, the formations are not flat but spherical […]

Earth’s earliest life 3.3 billion years ago revealed by faint biosignatures

A new study uncovered fresh chemical evidence of life in rocks more than 3.3 billion years old, along with molecular traces showing that oxygen-producing photosynthesis emerged nearly a billion years earlier than previously thought.

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Earth’s largest modern crater discovered in Southern China

A newly discovered, remarkably well-preserved impact crater is shedding fresh light on how extraterrestrial bodies collide with Earth.

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Solar storms delay the launch of Blue Origin’s big new rocket with Mars orbiters for NASA

Intense solar storms responsible for breathtaking auroras across the U.S. delayed the launch of Blue Origin’s big new rocket Wednesday.

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Unique shape of star’s explosion revealed just a day after detection

Swift observations with the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT) have revealed the explosive death of a star just as the blast was breaking through the star’s surface. For the first time, astronomers unveiled the shape of the explosion at its earliest, fleeting stage.

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Solar storms bring colorful northern lights to unexpected places

Solar storms brought colorful auroras to unexpected places on Tuesday night, and there could be more to come.

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Evidence of ancient underground water reveals Mars may have stayed habitable longer than believed

Scientists from New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) have uncovered new evidence that water once flowed beneath the surface of Mars, revealing that the planet may have remained habitable for life much longer than previously thought.

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High-resolution solar data reveal chromospheric jets’ characteristics in active region

A research team from the Yunnan Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has detailed the physical characteristics of chromospheric jets in and around a sunspot, using high-resolution observations from the New Vacuum Solar Telescope (NVST). Their findings were published in The Astrophysical Journal.

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What a missing signal tells us about alien worlds

When the James Webb Space Telescope detected potential biosignatures in the atmosphere of K2-18 b last year, the discovery sparked intense debate. Here was a sub-Neptune exoplanet 124 light years away, possibly harboring methane, carbon dioxide, and even dimethyl sulfide, which is a gas produced by phytoplankton on Earth. But before we get too excited […]