Space

Subaru and Webb Join Forces to Measure How Light Escaped the Early Universe Featured image: [Artist’s impression of escaping Lyman-alpha radiation from early galaxies during the Epoch of Reionization; credit: NAOJ/NASA/ESA] A team of Japanese astronomers led by Shunta Shimizu of the University of Tokyo has achieved the first direct measurement of the Lyman-alpha (Lyα) […]

Starlink Goes to the Dogs: World’s First Satellite-Connected Collar Tracks Your Pup Anywhere on Earth A lost dog in the backcountry can now call home. Fi, a pet technology company founded in 2017, launched the Fi Ultra on July 8, 2026: the world’s first consumer wearable powered by Starlink’s direct-to-cell satellite network. The collar tracks […]

Magnetic Monsters and Their Surroundings: New Model Explains Universe’s Brightest Supernovae Featured image: [Artist’s impression of a magnetar inside a supernova remnant interacting with surrounding material; credit: NASA/Swift/Sonoma State University/A. Simonnet] Superluminous supernovae (SLSNe) outshine ordinary stellar explosions by a factor of ten or more, and for years astrophysicists have debated what powers them. The […]

Toaster-Sized Thruster Could Give Cubesats Real Maneuvering Power Featured image: [The Parabilis DOTS 2U hybrid propulsion module undergoing hot-fire testing; credit: Parabilis Space Technologies / Space Systems Command] Cubesats are cheap, quick to build, and have transformed access to space over the past decade. But most of them share a glaring limitation: once they reach […]

Gamma-Ray Bursts Reveal the Faint Galaxies That Reionized the Universe Featured image: An artist’s impression of a long gamma-ray burst and its host galaxy; credit: NASA/Swift/Cruz deWilde One of the most persistent questions in cosmology is what caused the reionization of the universe, the epoch when neutral hydrogen gas was stripped of its electrons by […]

Environmental Groups Call Space Data Centers ‘Reckless’ and Demand FCC Halt Licenses Featured image: Artist’s concept of satellites in low Earth orbit above a darkened planet; credit: NASA A coalition of environmental and scientific organizations has petitioned the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to halt licensing of space-based data center projects until a full environmental impact […]

A ‘Phantom Axion’ Could Explain Dark Energy’s Strangest Behavior, New Theory Proposes Featured image: Artist’s concept of the expansion of the universe; credit: NASA/ESA Dark energy, the mysterious force driving the accelerating expansion of the universe, has stubbornly refused to fit neatly into theoretical boxes. Recent data from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) has […]

SpaceX Files for 100,000 Gen3 Starlink Satellites Date: 2026-07-11 Featured image: Artist’s conception of a Starlink satellite deploying its solar arrays in low Earth orbit; credit: SpaceX SpaceX has filed an application with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission for a constellation of up to 100,000 next-generation satellites, a tenfold increase over the Starlink fleet already […]

After 14 Years of Listening, Super-Kamiokande Hears the Whisper of Every Supernova That Ever Exploded Featured image: The Super-Kamiokande detector interior, showing 50,000 tons of ultrapure water lined with photomultiplier tubes; credit: Kamioka Observatory, ICRR, The University of Tokyo Deep beneath a mountain in Japan, a 50,000-ton tank of ultrapure water has detected something no […]

Dark Comets Finally Caught Sprouting Tails, Solving the ‘Oumuamua Mystery Date: 2026-07-11 Featured image: Artist’s impression of the interstellar object ‘Oumuamua outgassing as a dark comet; credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser Nearly a decade after the interstellar object ‘Oumuamua buzzed through the solar system and reignited speculation about alien technology, astronomers have finally caught the smoking gun […]