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A 4-star system caught eclipsing itself in a way never seen before

Astronomers have found a four-star system doing something that has never been confirmed before. The system, TIC 433545934, has two close pairs of stars orbiting each other. While each pair eclipses its own two stars, as usual, only one pair eclipses the other. A paper outlining the properties of this unique system was submitted to the arXiv preprint server on Aug. 13. It has been accepted for publication in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

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New free-space optical link adds a wireless component to the nation’s longest quantum network

There’s a new lighthouse on Long Island. But instead of shining light to guide ships through waterways, this one transmits and receives particles of light that carry quantum information. Perched atop a seven-story building at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, the “Quantum Lighthouse” is a key pillar of the free-space optical (FSO) link spanning Brookhaven Lab, the State University of New York at Stony Brook (Stony Brook University) and Yale University.

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China says unmanned moon mission delayed over ‘launch conditions’

China’s manned space agency said Sunday it is delaying a research moon mission that is part of Beijing’s efforts to land a crew there by 2030, less than two weeks after a rare launch failure.

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JWST peeks at Callisto’s ancient scars

Of Jupiter’s four Galilean moons, Callisto is the one that gets the least attention. Io is constantly being resurfaced by volcanoes. Europa has a giant liquid water ocean. And Ganymede has its own magnetic field that interacts with its parent planet in weird ways. Callisto, by comparison, seems sedate, with its ancient, crater-saturated surface seemingly frozen in time. But new data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) shows that even this most benign of the Big Four moons is more active than previously realized.

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China abruptly postpones ambitious Chang’e-7 lunar mission launch

China said on Sunday it was postponing its planned ambitious Chang’e-7 lunar mission, which was set to carry out explorations including searching for water ice on the moon.

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The superconducting gap of an ultrathin nickelate defies expectations

Superconductors are materials that carry electrical current with zero resistance below a specific critical temperature. In conventional superconductors, the transition to superconductivity generally occurs at very low temperatures.

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Man sets fire near gas pumps, Wash. deputies prevent possible explosion

Spokane County deputies activated the emergency shutoff switch before taking the man into custody

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Quantum computer microscope is set to significantly improve electron microscopy

Electron microscopes are used wherever particularly small details need to be imaged. But from a strictly physical point of view, every electron in a conventional electron microscope represents a missed opportunity: If all you do is count electrons, any additional quantum information they carry remains unused.

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‘One of our own’: Conn. law enforcement rallies around 10-year-old battling cancer

Collin Genetti-Moore has loved everything to do with police since he dressed as a cop for Halloween at age 2; 24 law enforcement agencies gathered to honor Collin with a ceremony and parade

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Mars Curiosity rover discovers massive field of polygons

The surface of Mars is home to some of the most breathtaking and awe-inspiring landscapes in the solar system. This is primarily because the Red Planet lacks several resurfacing processes that Earth possesses, including plate tectonics, volcanism and flowing water.

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Near-total lunar eclipse is coming up with the Americas in prime position

Now it’s the moon’s turn to pull a disappearing act. After being shut out of this month’s total solar eclipse, the Americas will have the best seats in the celestial house when Earth’s shadow briefly envelops the moon. Almost the entire lunar surface will be masked Thursday night into Friday—a whopping 96%—making this an especially deep partial eclipse.

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Man arrested after shooting at Minn. deputy in cruiser, smashing windshield

The driver made a U-Turn in order to shoot at the Ramsey County deputy, who was following the vehicle after witnessing a road rage incident

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Earth’s magnetosphere might not protect us from superstorms after all

Science seems like a straightforward endeavor. You come up with a hypothesis, collect data to prove or disprove it, and analyze that data to see whether the hypothesis is right. But anyone who actually does science will tell you that it is often not that straightforward. One of the most common complexities is data analysis.

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Fla. city reaches ‘historic’ police pay deal, aims to add new positions

Under the agreement with the Fraternal Order of Police, Hialeah officers could receive compounded salary increases of about 25% to 30% over three years

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Laser-cut aluminum foil could replace costly terahertz polarizers

When physicists at the ARC Centre for Transformative Meta-Optical Systems (TMOS) needed a key component for their terahertz experiments, they ran into a frustrating problem—they needed tiny optical devices, known as wire-grid polarizers, but these cost thousands of dollars each.

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