Space

Bending Spacetime Reveals New Planet Hidden in Archived TESS Data Featured image: [Illustration of gravitational microlensing effect showing a foreground star bending spacetime and magnifying a background star; credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech] NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has found a Jupiter-like world orbiting a star 40,000 light-years away using a technique straight out of Einstein’s theory […]

Astronomers Spot an Extremely Rare Sextuple Galaxy Mega-Merger Featured image: [Composite X-ray/optical image of the galaxy cluster WHY J0501+01 showing the sextuple merger and intracluster light; credit: Z.L. Wen et al., Chinese Academy of Sciences / Einstein Probe] A team of astronomers led by Z.L. Wen of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has identified an […]

An Extended Barrage of Asteroid Impacts Made Early Earth Too Hot to Form Continents Date: 2026-07-03 Featured image: [Artist’s impression of the Hadean Earth under heavy asteroid bombardment; credit: NASA/Simons Foundation] The Hadean eon, named after the Greek underworld for its hellish conditions, has long presented a puzzle to geologists: almost no rocks survive from […]

What Will Happen to the Moon in the Far Future? From Boiling Oceans to a Fiery End Featured image: [The Moon as seen from Earth, with an artist’s overlay showing its gradual recession; credit: NASA/ESA] The Moon formed tens of millions of years after Earth when a Mars-sized object named Theia slammed into the young […]

In 1776, the Moon Was a Clock, a Calendar and a Streetlight, and It Was 31 Feet Closer to Earth Featured image: Illustration of the waning gibbous moon over a colonial American landscape, July 1776; credit: NASA/Historical Society On July 4, 1776, as the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, a waning gibbous […]

The Fleeting Laboratory: New Paper Offers Comprehensive Guide for Total Solar Eclipse Science Featured image: [Composite image of the solar corona during the April 8, 2024 total solar eclipse showing intricate coronal streamers; credit: Suprit Singh/IIT Delhi] A new paper published on arXiv offers what may be the most comprehensive practical guide yet written for […]

JWST Probes Rare Calcium-Strong Supernova SN 2024uj, Revealing Helium and Molecular Surprises Featured image: JWST NIRSpec spectral data visualization showing emission lines from SN 2024uj; credit: NASA/ESA/CSA The James Webb Space Telescope has turned its infrared gaze on one of the rarest and most enigmatic classes of stellar explosions, revealing unexpected complexity in the calcium-strong […]

Isar Aerospace to Launch German-Built Planet Imaging Satellite, Marking All-German Space Mission Date: 2026-07-03 Featured image: [Isar Aerospace’s Spectrum rocket on the launch pad at Andoya Spaceport; credit: Isar Aerospace] Isar Aerospace has signed a contract with Planet Labs Germany GmbH to launch a high-resolution Pelican imaging satellite on the company’s Spectrum rocket, in what […]

White House Establishes UAP Science Advisory Council Led by Harvard’s Avi Loeb Date: 2026-07-03 Featured image: [Photograph of Avi Loeb at a press conference; credit: Harvard University] The White House has approved a new UAP Science Advisory Council tasked with bringing rigorous scientific methodology to the study of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena. The council, chaired by […]

NASA Seeks Volunteers for Yearlong Simulated Moon and Mars Mission in New MMEA Program Featured image: [A research volunteer wearing augmented reality goggles for simulated astronaut tasks inside an analog habitat; credit: NASA] NASA is recruiting volunteers for its newly launched Moon and Mars Exploration Analog (MMEA), a yearlong simulation designed to test how crews […]