Another Earth-like Exoplanet Crossed Off The List: The JWST Shows That GJ 3929b Has No Atmosphere

In 2022, astronomers announced the discovery of GJ 3929b. It's a rocky planet, similar to Earth in both mass and size. Astronomers have examined the planet with the JWST and concluded that it's a barren world with no atmosphere.

A New Model for Early Black Hole Formation Could Revolutionize Cosmologicy

A new theoretical study by University of Virginia astrophysicist Jonathan Tan, a research professor with the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences’ Department of Astronomy, proposes a comprehensive framework for the birth of supermassive black holes.

NASA Commanded Psyche To Turn Around And Capture Images Of Earth And The Moon

New images from NASA's Psyche spacecraft show that its cameras are working just fine. By pointing them at Earth and the Moon, NASA was able to test the spacecraft's cameras and science instruments. Since both bodies reflect light like Psyche, and since their spectra are familiar, it's a valuable opportunity to test and calibrate the instruments.

Roman's High-Latitude Time-Domain Survey Will Find Tens of Thousands of Supernovae

For thousands of years, humanity viewed the skies as unchanging, except for a few “wandering stars” (that we now know are planets). As we improved our ability to perceive the cosmos with light-gathering telescopes and electronic detectors, we realized that the universe is full of things that change in brightness, whether it be an exploding star or a matter-gulping black hole. NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is poised to deliver an avalanche of such transients, including thousands of “standard candle” supernovae that allow us to measure the expansion history of the universe.

These Rare Star Systems Are A New Tool To Understand Brown Dwarfs

The discovery of an extremely rare quadruple star system could significantly advance our understanding of brown dwarfs, astronomers say. Brown dwarfs in wide binary orbits offer a chance to determine their properties more clearly.

Using Video Game Techniques To Optimze Solar Sails

Sometimes inspiration can strike from the most unexpected places. It can result in a cross-pollination between ideas commonly used in one field but applied to a completely different one. That might have been the case with a recent paper on lightsail design from researchers at the University of Nottingham that used techniques typically used in video games to develop a new and improved structure of a lightsail.

Tidal Forces and Orbital Evolution of Habitable Zone Planets

How do tidal forces determine a planet’s orbital evolution, specifically planets in the habitable zone? This is what a recently submitted study hopes to address as an international team of researchers investigated how tidal forces far more powerful than experienced on Earth could influence orbital evolution of habitable zone planets with highly eccentric orbits around low-mass stars. This study has the potential to help researchers better understand the formation and evolution of exoplanets, specifically regarding where we could find life beyond Earth.

It's Official: Asteroids Ryugu and Bennu Are Siblings

Some scientists thought that the asteroids Ryugu and Bennu were from the same family. Now that they have samples and JWST spectra from both, the verdict is in: They're both from the Polana collisional family, a diverse and widespread family of asteroids.

A Distant Star Explodes While Swallowing Its Black Hole Companion

Astronomers have discovered what may be a massive star exploding while trying to swallow a black hole companion, offering an explanation for one of the strangest stellar explosions ever seen.

Moon Flybys Could Save Fuel On Interplanetary Missions

The Three Body Problem isn’t just the name of a viral Netflix series or a Hugo Award winning sci-fi book. It also represents a really problem in astrodynamics - and one that can cause headaches to mission planners in terms of its complexity, but also one that offers the promise of an easier way to enter stable orbits that might otherwise be possible. A new paper from researchers at the Beijing Institute of Technology shows one way those orbital maneuvers might be enhanced while exploring planetary systems - by using a gravity assist from its moons.

A 3D Printed Alumnium Mirror Could Enable Enhance CubeSat Observations

Compact, reflective, easy to manufacture mirrors are a critical component for advancing astronomical technology in space. Mirrors are a key component in most telescopes, though they are notoriously hard to manufacture with the necessary precision, especially at large scales. A new paper from researchers in the UK uses additive manufacturing to make a thin, flexible, and lightweight mirror out of aluminum and analyzes its properties to see if it will be useful in applications such as CubeSats.

Where are the Interstellar Objects 1I/'Oumuamua, 2I/Borisov, and 3I/Atlas Headed Now?

In a recent paper, researchers followed the trajectories of 1I/`Oumuamua, 2I/Borisov, and 3I/ATLAS - three installer objects that have entered the Solar System in the past decade - to constrain their possible origin. Through a series of Monte Carlo simulations, they came up with predictions of where they came from and how old they are.

Detecting Exoplanet Magnetic Fields From The Moon

Exoplanets with and without a magnetic field are predicted to form, behave, and evolve very differently. In order to understand the exoplanet population, and to make progress understanding habitability, astronomers need to understand and constrain exoplanets' magnetic fields. Detecting them may best be done from the Moon.

Astronomers Search for Dark Matter Using Far Away Galaxies

Physicists from the University of Copenhagen have begun using the gigantic magnetic fields of galaxy clusters to observe distant black holes in their search for an elusive particle that has stumped scientists for decades.

How Did Jupiter's Galilean Moons Form?

We already know a decent amount about how planets form, but moon formation is another process entirely, and one we’re not as familiar with. Scientists think they understand how the most important Moon in our solar system (our own) formed, but its violent birth is not the norm, and can’t explain larger moon systems like the Galilean moons around Jupiter. A new book chapter (which was also released as a pre-print paper) from Yuhito Shibaike and Yann Alibert from the University of Bern discusses the differing ideas surrounding the formation of large moon systems, especially the Galileans, and how we might someday be able to differentiate them.

A Cosmic Noon Puzzle: Why Did Cosmic Noon Galaxies Emit So Many Cosmic Rays?

The Universe's early galaxies were engulfed in halos of high-energy cosmic rays. It's likely because they had tangled and turbulent magnetic fields. These fields accelerate cosmic rays to higher energies.

China’s Crewed Lunar Lander Passes Key Test Milestone

China took a step closer to the Moon, with the first short test for their crewed lunar lander. The test was completed on Wednesday, August 6th at a facility in China’s northern Hebei Province, and lasted just under 30 seconds. The tethered test successfully demonstrated the integration and performance of key systems, simulating descent, guidance, control and engine shutdown. This marks the first test for a China’s Manned (crewed) Space Agency (CMSA’s) human-rated lander.

New Theory Points to the Universe's Greatest Fireworks Show

What if the universe began with a fireworks show? A new theory suggests that supermassive black holes, the mysterious giants found at the heart of galaxies, were born from the universe's very first stars in a spectacular flash of light that ionised all of space before vanishing forever. This dramatic "Pop III.1" model could finally explain how these giant stellar remnants grew so impossibly large so quickly after the Big Bang, while potentially solving several major puzzles plaguing modern astronomy, from the Hubble Tension to the nature of Cosmic Dawn itself.

Moonquakes Will Pose Risks To Long-term Lunar Base Structures

Our Moon is a seismically active world and its long history of quakes could affect the safety of permanent base structures there. That's one conclusion from a study of quakes along the Lee-Lincoln fault in the Taurus-Littrow valley where the Apollo 17 astronauts landed in 1972. “The global distribution of young thrust faults like the Lee-Lincoln fault, their potential to be still active and the potential to form new thrust faults from ongoing contraction should be considered when planning the location and assessing stability of permanent outposts on the Moon,” said Smithsonian senior scientist emeritus Thomas R. Watters, lead author of the paper.

Researchers Simulate What a Black Hole "Shadow" Look Like

Supercomputer simulations are helping scientists sharpen their understanding of the environment beyond a black hole’s "shadow," material just outside its event horizon.

The JWST Shows Us That TRAPPIST-1d Is Not As Earth-Like As We Hoped

The exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 d intrigues astronomers looking for possibly habitable worlds beyond our Solar System because it is similar in size to Earth, rocky, and resides in an area around its star where liquid water on its surface is theoretically possible. But according to a new study using data from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, it does not have an Earth-like atmosphere.

Mystery of the "Little Red Dots" May Finally Be Solved

Deep in the darkness, tiny red specks of light have been driving astronomers to distraction. These mysterious "little red dots" discovered by the James Webb Space Telescope shouldn't exist, they’re impossibly compact yet blazingly bright, defying our understanding of how galaxies form. Now, Harvard researchers believe they've solved this billion year old puzzle with a theory involving the universe's rarest structures; dark matter halos.

A Simple Instrument Could Find Martian DNA - If It Exists

Mars still holds the promise of being one of the first places in the solar system humanity will colonize. However, if there was evolutionarily distinct, extant life on the planet, it might sway the heart of even the most ardent Mars colonization fans. So astrobiologists are in a race against time to try to determine whether or not such life exists, before the entire planet becomes an analogue of the Earth’s biosphere, if only unintentionally, and only a shadow of the ones that exists here. A new paper from the Christopher Temby and Jan Spacek of the Agnostic Life Finder (ALF) team discusses one of the most promising ways to prove definitively that life exists on the Red Planet - finding polyelectrolyte polymers - in other words, DNA.

The Vibrational Lives of Black Holes

When black holes are disrupted by things like infalling matter or gravitational waves, they vibrate like a bell struck with a clapper. The vibrations decay over time as the black hole returns to an equilibrium state. Astrophysicists can measure these vibrations to learn more about the black hole.

When Dwarfs Dance, Do Galaxies Merge?

New research shows how the 'dancing' behaviour of dwarf satellite galaxies can predict mergers between their hosts. A distant pair of galaxies is undergoing the same type of merger that Milky Way/Andromeda will undergo. Can the behaviour of their dwarf satellites tell astronomers what will happen when the MW and Andromeda merge?

NASA's Juno Spacecraft Could Intercept 3I/ATLAS as it Approaches Jupiter

arXiv:2507.21402v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: The interstellar object 3I/ATLAS is expected to arrive at a distance of $53.56(\pm 0.45)$ million ${\rm km}$ ($0.358\pm 0.003$~au) from Jupiter on March 16, 2026. We show that applying a total thrust $\Delta$V of $2.6755}$ to lower perijove on September 9, 2025 and then execute a Jupiter Oberth Maneuver, can bring the Juno spacecraft from its orbit around Jupiter to intercept the path of 3I/ATLAS on March 14, 2026. A close fly-by...

Comet's Water Reveals Clues About Life on Earth

A team of scientists have made a discovery that could help solve one of Earth's greatest mysteries, where did our planet's water come from? Using powerful radio telescopes, the researchers have detected water vapour in a comet located far beyond Neptune's orbit, and the results are changing our understanding of how life sustaining water arrived on our world.

Scientists Use Earth's Shadow to Hunt for Alien Probes

For decades, astronomers have searched for signs of extraterrestrial intelligence using radio telescopes and optical instruments, scanning the skies for artificial signals. Now, researchers are taking a different approach, this time looking much closer to home for alien artefacts that might already be in our Solar System.

This Is What Happens Inside Lava Planets

Some exoplanets are so close to their stars that the rock is melted. Astronomers have dozens of these lava planets, maybe more because they're challenging to confirm. New research shows how the JWST can help astronomers understand them.

3I/ATLAS Is Very Actively Releasing Water

3I/ATLAS, our third discovered interstellar visitor, has been in the news a lot lately for a whole host of reasons, and rightly so given the amount of unique scientific data different groups and telescopes have been collecting off of it. A new pre-release paper from researchers at the Auburn University Department of Physics recounts yet another interesting aspect of the new visitor - its water content.

How Telescope Noise Could Help Us Monitor Climate Change

University of Warwick astronomers, in partnership with institutions in Spain, are showing how astronomy tools, that are usually used to study stars, can be repurposed as climate sensors, helping us track how Earth's atmosphere is changing in the face of global warming.

The Europa Clipper Mission Tests it Radar Instrument at Mars

NASA's Europa Clipper, the largest interplanetary probe, tested its radar during a Mars flyby. The results show the kind of detailed imagery the probe will capture once it arrives at Jupiter’s moon Europa.

This Could Prevent Rovers From Getting Stuck In Sand Or Dust

Engineers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison uncovered a critical flaw in how lunar and Martian rovers are tested on Earth. Simulations revealed that test results have been misleading for decades because researchers only adjusted rover weight to simulate low gravity—but ignored how Earth’s gravity affects the terrain itself. Using a powerful simulation tool called Chrono, the team showed that sandy surfaces behave very differently on the Moon, where they’re fluffier and less supportive.

Astronomers Detect Most Distant Fast Radio Burst Ever

Astronomers have detected a fast radio burst (FRB) from when the Universe was just 3 billion years old, a remarkable achievement that opens new windows into the early universe and the mysterious phenomena that shaped it.

Stellar Flares Unveil Hidden Magnetic Secrets of TRAPPIST-1

A team of astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have achieved a breakthrough in understanding TRAPPIST-1, the famous red dwarf star hosting seven Earth sized planets. By analysing stellar flares, the team discovered that flares cause dark magnetic features on the star's surface to disappear, creating persistent brightening effects. This represents the first-ever measurement of magnetic feature spectra on an M8 dwarf star.

Lucy Could Visit An Additional Sub-km Asteroid With A Course Correction

Lucy is already well on its way to Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids. But that doesn't mean that it can’t make some improvements to its trajectory along the way. A new paper suggests it might be possible to nudge Lucy into a slightly different orbit, allowing it to pass an as-yet-undiscovered asteroid sometime during its exploration of the L5 cloud of Trojan around Jupiter. If completed, it could lend an entirely new research target to Lucy’s repertoire and further define the differences between the two Trojan clouds.

Planning for the Ultimate Space Mission

What if we could send a probe smaller than a paperclip, yes a paperclip to visit a black hole? It sounds impossible, but one scientist believes this extraordinary mission could become reality within our lifetimes. Astrophysicist Cosimo Bambi has outlined a bold plan to launch microscopic spacecraft toward the nearest black hole, potentially revolutionising our understanding of physics and Einstein's theory of general relativity. While the technology doesn't exist today and would cost trillions, within the next 20-30 years it could become a reality!

NASA Selects Six Companies to Provide Orbital Transfer Vehicle Studies

NASA has selected six companies to produce studies focused on lower-cost ways to launch and deliver spacecraft of various sizes and forms to multiple, difficult-to-reach orbits. The firm-fixed-price awards comprise nine studies with a maximum total value of approximately $1.4 million.

Astronomers Spot the Earliest Confirmed Black Hole at Cosmic Dawn

An international team of astronomers led by The University of Texas at Austin’s Cosmic Frontier Center has confirmed the most distant black hole ever observed. Located at the center of the galaxy CAPERS-LRD-z9, this black hole existed 13.3 billion years ago, just 500 million years after the Big Bang. As such, it provides a unique opportunity to study the structure and evolution of the period known as "Cosmic Dawn."

Hubble Captures Stunning View of Third Interstellar Visitor

A mysterious visitor from another star system is putting on a spectacular show as it streaks through our Solar System, shedding tons of ancient dust and revealing secrets from the depths of interstellar space. Using the Hubble Space Telescope, a team of astronomers have captured unprecedented details of 3I/ATLAS—only the third confirmed object from beyond our Solar System as it awakens under our Sun's warmth, offering a rare glimpse into alien worlds billions of kilometres away.

A 36 Billion Solar Mass Black Hole Detected Thanks To Gravitational Lensing

Astronomers from Brazil and the UK have detected what could be the most massive black hole ever found. It's about 36 billion solar masses, which is a stunning 10,000 times more massive than Sagittarius A*, the monstrous supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way. This behemoth is about 5 billion light-years away.

See the August Perseids Battle the Waning Moon

It’s that time of year once again. August sees warm nights, with late summer campers out awaiting that ‘Old Faithful’ of annual meteor showers: the August Perseids. While 2025 also sees the shower peaking right around Full Moon, don’t despair; with a little bit of planning and patience, you can still catch this shower at its best.

Is Mining Asteroids That Impacted The Moon Moon Easier Than Mining Asteroids Themselves?

The resources tucked away in asteroids promise to provide the building blocks of humanity’s expansion into space. However, accessing those resources can prove tricky. There’s the engineering challenge of landing a spacecraft on one of the low-gravity targets and essentially dismantling it while still remaining attached to it. But there’s also a challenge in finding ones that make economic sense to do that to, both in terms of the amount of material they contain as well as the ease of getting to them from Earth. A much easier solution might be right under our noses, according to a new paper from Jayanth Chennamangalam and his co-authors - mine the remnants of asteroids that hit the Moon.

The Martian Landscape Reveals Climate Secrets

Deep cracks stretching hundreds of kilometers across the Martian surface might look like simple scars from ancient impacts, but they're actually windows into a surprisingly dynamic planetary history. New images from Europe's Mars Express spacecraft reveal how these valleys, filled with slow moving rivers of ice and rock, have preserved evidence of climate swings far more extreme than anything Earth has experienced. The story written in these Martian fractures challenges our view of the red planet.

Perseverance Takes a new Panoramic Image of Mars on a Clear Day

‘Float rocks,’ sand ripples, and vast distances are among the sights to see in the latest high-resolution panorama by NASA's Perseverance rover, taken on a particularly clear day.

The JWST Found Evidence Of An Exo-Gas Giant Around Alpha Centauri, Our Closest Sun-Like Neighbour

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have found strong evidence of a giant planet orbiting a star in the stellar system closest to our own Sun. At just 4 light-years away from Earth, the Alpha Centauri triple star system has long been a compelling target in the search for worlds beyond our solar system.

JWST Traces Details of Complex Planetary Nebula

The James Webb Space Telescope’s latest look at a planetary nebula, NGC 6072, provides new insights into the lifecycle of stars. This could help astronomers predict what will happen to our Sun during its final days as well.

A Stellar Explosion Backfires On A Baby Star

A jet from a young star created an expanding bubble that collided with the star's protoplanetary disk. Astronomers have found these explosive bubbles before, but never one that's collided with the disk. What does this mean for planet formation?

Dwarf Galaxies Like the Magellanic Clouds Have Their Own Small Satellite Galaxies

Massive galaxies like the Milky Way have smaller satellite galaxies that are tidally disrupted and absorbed. Astronomers think this is how galaxies assemble hierarchically. New research examines galaxies much less massive than the Milky Way to see if they also have their own, much less massive satellites.

Solar Powered Moon Brick Factory Could Build Future Lunar Cities

Imagine building an entire city on the Moon using nothing but sunlight and lunar soil! Chinese scientists have made this science fiction dream a reality by creating a revolutionary machine that acts like a solar powered 3D printer, melting lunar soil at temperatures exceeding 1,300°C to create strong construction bricks. This technology could transform space exploration by eliminating the need to transport heavy building materials from Earth, making lunar bases not only possible but affordable.

Six Of Ingenuity's Successors Could Be Exploring Mars In 4 Years

Ingenuity marked a number of milestones in space exploration. Arguably most importantly, it proved that powered flight was possible on another planet. However, it did have some limitations, such as being tied to the Perseverance rover and there only being one copy of the helicopter itself. AV Inc, one of the sub-contractors for Ingenuity, hopes to fix those problems with a proposed new mission called Skyfall that would involve six helicopters and no rover.

CHANGE THIS: NASA Installs Key ‘Sunblock’ Shield on Roman Space Telescope

Technicians have successfully installed two sunshields onto NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope’s inner segment. Along with the observatory’s Solar Array Sun Shield and Deployable Aperture Cover, the panels (together called the Lower Instrument Sun Shade), will play a critical role in keeping Roman’s instruments cool and stable as the mission explores the infrared universe. […]