Tuesday, October 28, 2025

Fate of Water-Rich Planets Around White Dwarfs

Artist's illustration of an Earth-like exoplanet orbiting a white dwarf. (Credit: W. M. Keck Observatory/Adam Makarenko)

Can water-rich exoplanets survive orbiting white dwarf stars, the latter of which are remnants of Sun-like stars? This is what a recent study accepted to The Astrophysical Journal hopes to address as a team of researchers investigated the likelihood of small, rocky worlds with close orbits to white dwarfs could harbor life. This study has the potential to help scientists better understand the conditions for finding life as we know it, or don’t know it, and where to find it.



Spying Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Near Perihelion

Comet 3I/ATLAS 'going green' in late September. Credit: Gerald Rhemann/Michael Jager.

Everyone’s favorite interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS isn’t really hiding near perihelion this week, as amateur astronomers reveal. Don’t believe the breathless ballyhoo that you’re currently reading around the web about interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS. In a clockwork Universe, comets are the big wildcard, and interstellar comets doubly so. This particular comet is scientifically interesting enough in its own right, no alien interlopers needed.



Many Asteroid Rotations Are Chaotic. A New Model Helps Explain Them.

Asteroids spin. Most of them do so rather slowly, and up until now most theories of asteroid rotation have failed to explain exactly why. A new paper from Wen-Han Zhou at the University of Tokyo and his co-authors might finally be able to fully explain that mystery as well as a few others related to asteroid rotation. Their work was presented at the Joint Meeting of the Europlanet Science Congress and the American Astronomical Society’s Division for Planetary Science in late September and could impact our understanding of how best to defend against a potentially hazardous asteroid.



Building Homes Beyond Earth

A new study has reviewed how space habitat designs have evolved from inflatable bubbles to 3D-printed structures built from Martian dust. The research traces how engineers have wrestled with extreme temperatures, the bombmardment of radiation, and the challenge of building on worlds without breathable air, transforming each obstacle into solved problems with innovative ideas and designs that could soon house the first permanent residents of the Moon and Mars.



Monday, October 27, 2025

Spectral Biosignatures of Airborne Microbes in Planetary Atmospheres

Artist's illustration of the TRAPPIST-1 system with TRAPPIST-1 e in the lower right. This study examined the potential for finding life in the atmospheres of habitable exoplanets. (Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, and J. Olmsted/Space Telescope Science Institute)

Could scientists find life in the clouds of exoplanet atmospheres? This is what a recently submitted manuscript hopes to address as a team of researchers investigated how the biosignatures of microbes could be identified in exoplanet atmospheres and clouds. This study has the potential to help scientists develop new methods for finding life on exoplanets, either as we know it or even as we don’t know it.



Scientists Discover Ingredients for Life Just Beyond our Galaxy

Artist’s impression of the planet-forming disc around the star V883 Orionis. © Credit: ESO/L. Calçada/T. Müller (MPIA/HdA) (CC BY 4.0)

A team led by a University of Maryland astronomer detected large complex organic molecules in ices outside of the Milky Way for the first time, offering a glimpse into the chemistry of the early universe.



The Cosmic Microwave Background is a Wall of Light. Here's How We Might See Beyond It

An illustration showing the timeline of the Universe as we see it, looking at ever more distant objects. Clear in the image is the wall of light at about 380,000 years after the Big Bang. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/A. Kashlinsky (GSFC)

We cannot see directly beyond the cosmic microwave background, which means we can't directly observe the first 380,000 years of the Universe. But there are indirect ways we might observe this period.



The Quest for Corrosion Proof Satellites

Two CubeSats orbiting around Earth after being deployed from the ISS Kibō module's Small Satellite Orbital Deployer. The environment for satellites in low Earth orbit makes them susceptible to atmospheric drag and to corrosion (Credit : NASA)

Satellites orbiting Earth face a constant assault from highly reactive single atom of oxygen which are created when solar radiation splits oxygen molecules in the upper atmosphere. These atoms don't just create drag that pulls spacecraft back to Earth, they also bind to satellite surfaces, causing corrosion that limits most satellites to roughly five year lifespans. A team of engineers at the University of Texas at Dallas have been developing a protective coating using techniques borrowed from microelectronics and optical manufacturing to counter the effects. The process the team have developed enables satellites to withstand conditions even harsher than those found in space. If successful, this coating could not only extend satellite lifetimes but enable spacecraft to operate in very low Earth orbit, a region currently too hostile for most missions.



A Fibre Optic Breakthrough Reveals the Universe in Sharper Detail

Reconstructed image of the compact, fast-rotating asymmetric disc around Beta Canis Minoris as captured by the new photonic lantern. The white scale bar at the bottom right marks 1 milli-arcsecond, equivalent to a 6 feet scale at the distance of the moon (Credit: Yoo Jung Kim/UCLA)

Astronomers have discovered a clever way to make a single telescope capture sharper details than should be physically possible. The technique involves feeding starlight through a special optical fibre called a photonic lantern. Anyone else thinking of a certain glowing green lantern from a movie? Alas not, instead of special powers, it splits light according to its spatial patterns like separating a musical chords into individual notes. The researchers achieved resolution that has never been achieved before without linking multiple telescopes together. When they tested the technique on a star 162 light-years away, they not only proved it works but stumbled upon an unexpected discovery, that the star's surrounding gas disc is mysteriously lopsided.



Sunday, October 26, 2025

The Tycho Supernova's Hidden Secret

Tycho's Supernova Remnant. In 1572, the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe observed and studied the explosion of a star that became known as Tycho's supernova (Credit : NASA/CXC/Rutgers/J.Warren & J.Hughes)

The famous Tycho supernova of 1572, witnessed by Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe, didn't explode in empty space as has been assumed. New analysis reveals it detonated inside a planetary nebula, the ghostly shell of gas expelled by an earlier dying star. The evidence lies in two "ear" shaped structures that were sticking out from the remnant's main shell, matching similar features in three other supernovae previously identified as explosions within planetary nebulae. This discovery supports the "core-degenerate" model where a white dwarf star merges with a companion star's core, with the explosion occurring hundreds of thousands of years later while the nebula remains intact. Most strikingly, if Tycho follows this pattern, it suggests that 70-90% of normal Type Ia supernovae may actually be supernovae inside planetary nebulae!



Saturday, October 25, 2025

Galactic Empires May Live at the Center of our Galaxy, Hence Why We Don't Hear from Them

Artist's impression of an SMBH at the center of an Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN). Credit: ESA/ATG

In a recent paper, a team of researchers proposes how humanity may someday relocate its entire civilization near the center of our galaxy to take advantage of the relativistic effects of the supermassive black hole there. They also indicate how other advanced civilizations could have done so already.



AI Learns to Identify Exploding Stars with Just 15 Examples

Diagram displaying how Google Gemini was used to analyze images and identify changes, including explosive events. (Credit: Stoppa & Bulmus et al., Nature Astronomy (2025))

How can artificial intelligence (AI) help astronomers identify celestial objects in the night sky? This is what a recent study published in Nature Astronomy hopes to address as an international team of researchers investigated the potential for using AI to conduct astrophysical surveys of celestial events, including black holes consuming stars or even exploding stars themselves. This study has the potential to help astronomers use AI to enhance the field by reducing time and resources that have traditionally been used to scan the night sky.



Friday, October 24, 2025

This New Super Earth May Have Liquid Water And It's In Our Neighbourhood

This artist's illustration shows GJ 251c, its sibling planet, and the red dwarf they both orbit. GJ 251 c is a rocky super-Earth in its star's habitable zone. At only 18 light-years away, it's a strong candidate for direct imaging. Image Credit: University of California Irvine; Michael Marcheschi / m2design

Astronomers have found a new super-Earth only about 20 light years away. At that distance, it's a candidate for direct imaging.



Are We In The Solitude Zone Of The Universe?

The Very Large Array looking at the Milky Way. Credit - NRAO/AUI/NSF, Jeff Hellerman

Are we alone? It’s probably one of the, if not the most basic questions of human existence. People have been trying to answer it for millennia in one form or another, but only recently have we gained the tools and knowledge to start tractably trying to estimate whether we are or not. Those efforts take the form of famous tools like the Fermi Paradox and the Drake Equation, but there’s always room for a more nuanced understanding. A new paper in Acta Astronautica from Antal Veres of the Hungarian University of Agriculture introduces a new one - The Solitude Zone.



Thursday, October 23, 2025

ESA Is Simulating A Solar Storms For Satellite Operator Training

Solar flare, as see by the Solar Orbiter spacecraft. Credit - ESA & NASA/Solar Orbiter/EUI Team

Threats from space aren’t always obvious, but statistically its only a matter of time before one of them happens. One of the most concerning for many space experts is a massive solar storm, like the one that literally lit telegraph paper on fire when it hit back in 1859. In the last 150 years our technology has improved by leaps and bounds, but that also means it's much more susceptible to damage if another event like the “Carrington Event”, as the storm in 1859 is called. Estimates for potential damage range into the trillions of dollars, with full economic recovery taking well over a decade if something isn’t done to mitigate the damage beforehand. As part of that preparedness, the European Space Agency (ESA) has started requiring the operational crew of new satellites, which would be on the frontlines of any solar storm catastrophe, to simulate how they would handle such an event, as described in a recent press release focused on one of those simulations.



Phosphorus Prepared Earth For Complex Life And Could Be A Valuable Biosignature

When organisms evolved to use photosynthesis, it led to the Great Oxygenation Event, where free oxygen accumulated in Earth's atmosphere. The oxygen allowed complex life to evolve, but without pulses of phosphorus into Earth's oceans, there would've been no GOE and no complex life. Image Credit: ESA

A new study has revealed how phosphorus, a nutrient essential for photosynthesis, surged into ancient oceans and started Earth's first major rise in atmospheric oxygen more than 2 billion years ago.



Wednesday, October 22, 2025

Acting NASA Chief Announces More "Shakeups"

Artist's rendering of the Starship HLS (left) and Blue Origin's Blue Moon lunar lander (right). Credit: NASA

Acting NASA chief Sean Duffy announces that NASA's plan to land astronauts on the Moon by 2027 is no longer achievable and announces new competitions to develop a lunar lander.



A Galaxy's Age Determines What Type Of Planets It Can Form

A variety of different rocky planets are shown in this illustration. New research shows how different types of rocky planets form depending on how old the galaxy they're forming in is. It's all because of stellar nucleosynthesis. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt

The chemistry of a galaxy changes over time as generations of stars live and die, spreading the results of their nucleosynthesis out into space. But stars with different masses produce different elements, and these stars have different lifespans. That means that over time, the materials readily available for planet formation also change.



The JWST Spots A Doomed Star Entombed In Thick Dust

This image shows a combined JWST and Hubble view of spiral galaxy NGC 1637, with the region of interest in the top right. The remaining three panels show a detailed view of a red supergiant star before and after it exploded. The star is not visible in the Hubble image before the explosion, but appears in the JWST image. The July 2025 view from Hubble shows the glowing aftermath of the explosion. Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Charles Kilpatrick (Northwestern), Aswin Suresh (Northwestern)

Astronomers working with the JWST, along with help from the Hubble, have found a red supergiant star that eventually exploded as a supernova. The discovery helps solve the 'red supergiant problem' that confounds efforts to understand how these stars serve as progenitors that eventually explode as Type II supernova.



Dark Matter Could Color Our View of the Universe

A photograph of the Cat's Paw Nebula, known for its reddish puffy shape of glowing gas against a star-filled background. Credit: ESO/R. Gendler and R.M. Hannahoe

Dark matter could tint light passing through it, depending on the model. While the effect is tiny, it is just on the edge of our ability to detect it.



Tuesday, October 21, 2025

Two Black Holes Observed Circling Each Other for the First Time

Artistic illustration of OJ287 as a binary black hole system. Credit: AAS 2018

For the first time, astronomers have managed to capture a radio image showing two black holes orbiting each other. The observation confirmed the existence of black hole pairs. In the past, astronomers have only managed to image individual black holes.



Hidden In The Sun's Glare, This Asteroid Is Uncomfortably Close To Earth

This pair of images shows the near-Earth asteroid 2025 SC79 moving through space. It has the third-shortest orbital period of all asteroids, taking only 128 days to complete an orbit. Image Credit: Scott S. Sheppard

Astronomers have detected an extremely fast asteroid in the blinding light of the Sun. Objects are extremely difficult to discern in the Sun's glare, but these 'twilight' asteroids could pose a threat to Earth. It's important that we find them all.



Hera And Europa Clipper Will Pass Through 3I/ATLAS' Tail

3I/ATLAS with its tail, which could eventually be directly detected by Europa Clipper or Hera. Credit - International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/Shadow the Scientist

All sorts of crazy things have been suggested regarding 3I/ATLAS, the third known interstellar object that we’ve discovered. Some are simply conspiracy theories about it being an alien spacecraft, while others have been well-thought out suggestions, like using Martian-based probes to observe the comet as it streaked past the red planet. A new paper pre-published on arXiv and accepted for publication by the Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society by Samuel Grand and Geraint Jones, of the Finnish Meteorological Institute and ESA respectively, falls into the latter category, and suggests utilizing two spacecraft already en route to their separate destinations to potentially detect ions from the object’s spectacular tail that has formed as it approaches the Sun.



Monday, October 20, 2025

Scientist Have Uncovered The First Evidence of the 4.5-Billion-Year-Old “Proto Earth”

Earth during the Hadean Eon. Scientists have found remnants of the ancient proto-Earth that existed before the giant impact that formed the Moon. Image Credit: Tim Bertelink, CC BY-SA 4.0

Researchers have discovered remnants from the primordial Earth before the giant collision that created the Moon. The ingredients of this "proto-Earth" help tell the tale of the entire Solar System. But there are still unanswered questions regarding all of the material that became the Earth.



The Winds on Mars are Stronger Than We Thought

A "Serpent" dust devil imaged by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona

An international research team led by the University of Bern analyzed images taken by the Mars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) camera, CaSSIS, and the stereo camera HRSC, utilizing machine learning. Their work reveals that dust devils, a common feature on Mars, are faster than previously thought.



How A Trick From Radio Astronomy Could Help Astronomers Find Earth-like Planets

A photograph of a full-scale model of the James Webb Telescope. The seven hexagonal mirrors of JWST are clearly seen. Credit: EADS Astrium

By treating optical telescopes as an array of smaller telescopes, astronomers could observe exoplanets more clearly.



What Do We Do If SETI Is Successful?

Image of the Allen Telescope Array, one of the observatories set up for SETI. Credit - Seth Shostak / Science Photo Library

The Search For Extra Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) is evolving. We’ve moved on from the limited thinking of monitoring radio waves to checking for interstellar pushing lasers or even budding Dyson swarms around stars. To match our increased understanding of the ways we might find intelligence elsewhere in the galaxy, the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) is working through an update to its protocols for what researchers should do after a confirmed detection of intelligence outside of Earth. Their new suggestions are available in a pre-print paper on arXiv, but were also voted on at the 2025 International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Sydney, with potential full adoption early next year.



Sunday, October 19, 2025

Constraints On Solar Power Satellites Are More Ground-Based Than Space-Based

Artist's depiction of a space-based solar power satellite. Credit - Mark Garlick / Science Photo Library

Space-based solar power has been gaining more and more traction recently. The recent success of Caltech’s Space Solar Power Project, which demonstrated the feasibility of transmitting power from space to the ground, has been matched by a number of pilot projects throughout the world, all of which are hoping to tap into some of the almost unlimited and constant solar energy that is accessible up in geostationary orbit (GEO). But, according to a new paper from a group of Italian and German researchers, there are plenty of constraints on getting that power down here to Earth - and most of them are more logistical than technical.



Saturday, October 18, 2025

Signs of Late-Stage Cryovolcanism in Pluto’s Hayabusa Terra

Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute/Alex Parker

What can cryovolcanism on Pluto teach scientists about the dwarf planet’s current geological activity? This is what a recent study published in The Planetary Science Journal hopes to address as a team of researchers investigated potential cryovolcanic sites within specific regions on Pluto. This study has the potential to help scientists better understand the current geological activity, including how it can be active while orbiting so far from the Sun.



Within Mars’ Craters, Ice Deposits Have Recorded the History of the Planet

The European Space Agency's Mars Express mission captured this image of the ice-filled Korolev crater near Mars' north pole. Credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin

Mars has experienced multiple ice ages, with each one leaving less ice than the last. By studying craters that serve as “ice archives,” researchers traced how the red planet stored and lost its water over hundreds of millions of years. These frozen records not only reveal Mars’ long-term climate history but also identify hidden resources beneath the surface that could provide drinking water, oxygen, and even rocket fuel for future astronauts.



Listening For Gravitational Waves In The Rhythm of Pulsars

An illustration of binary supermassive black holes against a grid of space. The gravitational waves created by the black holes cause ripples in space and time. Credit: NANOGrav / Olena Shmahalo

Astronomers are listening for cosmic gravitational waves in the rhythm of pulsars. But even after finding them, they will need to distinguish between cosmic waves and the more local waves of black holes.



Friday, October 17, 2025

Starship Could Cut The Travel Time To Uranus In Half

Image of Uranus and its rings from JWST. Credit - NASA

The ice giants remain some of the most interesting places to explore in the solar system. Uranus in particular has drawn a lot of interest lately, especially after the 2022 Decadal Survey from the National Academies named it as the highest priority destination. But as of now, we still don’t have a fully fleshed out and planned mission ready to go for the multiple launch windows in the 2030s. That might actually be an advantage, though, as a new system coming online might change the overall mission design fundamentally. Starship recently continued its recent string of successful tests, and a new paper presented at the IEEE Aerospace Conference by researchers at MIT looked at how this new, much more capable launch system, could impact the development of the Uranus Orbiter and Probe (UOP) that the Decadal Survey suggested.



ESA’s Swarm Constellation Sees Growth in the Magnetic Field’s 'Weak Spot'

An artist's conception of the Swarm trio in space. Credit: ESA.

Earth is a dynamic place, both on its surface and down to its very core. The European Space Agency (ESA) recently released findings from its Swarm constellation of Earth-observing satellites highlighting this fact, documenting activity in the planet’s magnetic field during its decade plus of extended operations. One key finding shows the well-known Southern Atlantic Anomaly is expanding in size.



Thursday, October 16, 2025

What Happened to Those "Little Red Dots"?

Images of little red dots seen in several deep-sky surveys of JWST. Credit: ASA/ESA/CSA/STScI/Dale Kocevski (Colby College)

An international team of astronomers addressed the mystery of the "Little Red Dots" (LRDs) observed by Webb. They conclude that they are likely to be "black hole stars," the early seeds of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) we see at the center of galaxies today. Their findings have implications for our understanding of cosmic evolution.



Research on Previously Unexamined Apollo 17 Moon Rocks Reveals Exotic Sulfur

Commander Eugene Cernan retrieves a drive tube from the Lunar Roving Vehicle during an Apollo 17 EVA. Credit: NASA.

Samples from one of the Apollo 17 drive tubes was recently opened and analyzed by Brown University researchers, who found surprising sulfur isotopes signatures inside.



Microbes Or Their DNA Could Survive In Martian Ice And A Future Rover Could Dig For It

When NASA's Phoenix Lander touched down on Mars in 2008, its landing thruster exposed subsurface ice. In the following days, the lander used its scoop to remove some regolith, exposing more ice that sublimated over the course of four days. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/Texas A&M University

Frozen in time, ancient microbes or their remains could be found in Martian ice deposits during future missions to the red planet. By recreating Mars-like conditions in the lab, a team of researchers from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and Penn State demonstrated that fragments of the molecules that make up proteins in E. coli bacteria, if present in Mars' permafrost and ice caps, could remain intact for over 50 million years, despite harsh and continuous exposure to cosmic radiation.



Wednesday, October 15, 2025

How Black Holes Produce Powerful Relativistic Jets

Artist's impression of a relativistic jet extending from a supermassive black hole at the center of a galaxy. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

In a recent study, theoretical physicists at Goethe University Frankfurt described the origin of powerful jets emanating from the core regions of galaxies using a series of complex simulations.



When Tides Turn White Dwarfs Hot

Image of the Sirius system taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. The arrow points to Sirius B, the closest white dwarf to Earth (Credit : NASA, ESA, STSCI)

White dwarfs are stellar corpses, the slowly cooling remnants of stars that ran out of fuel billions of years ago. Our Sun will eventually share this fate, collapsing into a compact object so dense that the heavier it becomes, the smaller it shrinks. This rather strange property is just one of the aspects of white dwarfs that makes them utterly fascinating and occasionally, utterly baffling. Sometimes we find white dwarfs as part of binary systems and they are usually cool and gently radiating their energy out into space. A team of astronomers have recently discovered a peculiar class of these binary systems that defies expectations. The pair of white dwarfs are orbiting each other faster than once per hour and exhibiting temperatures between 10,000 and 30,000 degrees Kelvin, significantly hotter than expected and twice their usual size.



Tuesday, October 14, 2025

When Black Holes Don’t Play by the Rules

A NASA simulation of a black hole binary (Credit : NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Jeremy Schnittman and Brian P. Powell)

Scientists have begun to piece together the origin story of a cataclysmic collision between two black holes that met their fate on an unusual orbital path. The merger, designated GW200208_222617 (that really rolls of the tongue,) stands out among gravitational wave detections as one of the rare events showing clear signs of orbital eccentricity, meaning the black holes followed a squashed, oval shaped orbit rather than a circular one as they spiralled toward their final encounter.



SpaceX Veteran Lays Out Impulse Space's Roadmap for Making Deliveries to the Moon

An artist's conception shows Impulse Space's lunar lander leaving Earth orbit as a payload on a Helios kick stage. (Credit: Impulse Space)

Impulse Space, the California-based venture founded by veteran SpaceX engineer Tom Mueller, has unveiled its proposed architecture for delivering medium-sized payloads to the moon, starting as early as 2028.



A Message in a Bottle from Another Star

An image of interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS captured by the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) on Gemini South at Cerro Pachón in Chile (Credit : International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA)

For millions of years, a fragment of ice and dust drifted through interstellar space, its origin, a distant planetary system. This summer, that fragment finally entered our Solar System, becoming only the third confirmed interstellar visitor and earning the designation 3I/ATLAS. When astronomers at Auburn University pointed NASA's Swift Observatory toward this icy chunk, they detected water vapour streaming from its surface. It was revealed through the faint ultraviolet glow of hydroxyl molecules and was completely unexpected.



Monday, October 13, 2025

SpaceX Successfully Puts Starship Through 11th Flight Test to Get Ready for the Next Generation

SpaceX's Starship rises up from its launch pad in South Texas. (SpaceX via YouTube)

SpaceX closed out a dramatic chapter in the development of its super-heavy-lift Starship launch system with a successful flight test that mostly followed the script for the previous flight test.



Mathematicians Are Making Earth Based Telescopes Rival Space Observatories

Comparison of an image from the Hyper Suprime-Cam, an ultra-wide-field camera mounted on the Subaru Telescope (left), with an image produced by the new ImageMM algorithm (right). The image on the left is of similar quality to images typically used in practice (Credit : Johns Hopkins University)

Earth's atmosphere has always been the enemy of ground based astronomy and don’t I know it. What would otherwise be crisp, clean datasets gets turned into blurry smudges. Space telescopes avoid the problem entirely but can only photograph tiny fragments of sky. Now, a team of mathematicians has cracked the code with an elegant algorithm that strips away atmospheric interference in seconds, potentially giving ground based observatories space quality vision whilst keeping their ability to survey great regions of sky.



How Urea and Nickel Held Back Earth's Oxygen Revolution

Earth's atmosphere from space, showing a blue layer at the stratosphere, above the clouds of the troposphere. The Moon is visible as a crescent in the background (Credit : NASA Earth Observatory)

When I spotted a headline about Earth's ancient oceans and urea, my brain immediately went to the obvious place. Urea, the same compound found in urine. Yes, scientists are telling us that a component of wee played a crucial role in one of the most important events in our planet's history. Sometimes science really does have a sense of humour.



Sunday, October 12, 2025

The ESA's Mars Express and ExoMars Orbiters Catch a Glimpse of 3I/ATLAS

ExoMars TGO images comet 3I/ATLAS. Credit: ESA/TGO/CaSSIS

Between 1 and 7 October, ESA’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) and Mars Express spacecraft turned their eyes towards interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, as it passed close to Mars.



Imaging Dark Matter One Clump at a Time

Overlay of the infrared emission (black and white) with the radio emission (colour). The dark, low-mass object is located at the gap in the bright part of the arc on the right hand side (Credit : Keck/EVN/GBT/VLBA)

What if you could photograph something completely invisible? To our rather limited eyes that’s what astronomers seem to do all the time with infra red and radio astronomy to name a few. But, astronomers can do this in a rather intriguing way with something that does seem to be truly invisible! A team of astronomers have captured the latest "image" of a dark matter object a million times more massive than our Sun, not by seeing it, but by watching how it warps the light from galaxies billions of light years beyond it. Using an Earth sized telescope network they have revealed one of the smallest dark matter clumps ever found, offering a glimpse into the hidden structure of our universe.



Friday, October 10, 2025

Phosphine Discovered In A Brown Dwarf's Atmosphere For The First Time

Artist's concept of a brown dwarf. Credit - NASA, ESA, CSA, Leah Hustak (STScI)

Phosphine has caused quite a stir in the astronomical world lately. That was largely due to its (still hotly debated) detection in the atmosphere of Venus. While the only known way for phosphine to be created on terrestrial worlds, like Venus, is through some sort of biological origin, it is relatively common among larger gas giants and even “brown dwarfs” - failed stars larger than Jupiter but not quite large enough to start their own hydrogen fusion process. Previously, we hadn’t yet seen phosphine in the atmosphere of brown dwarf in other solar systems, but a new paper from a diverse group of researchers, available in pre-print form on arXiv, used data collected by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to find it for the first time. They also realized the mechanism that made it so hard to spot in the first place - the object’s metallicity.



Thursday, October 9, 2025

New Research Says the "Dark Side" of the Moon is Also the Cold Side

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The interior of the mysterious far side of the moon may be colder than the side constantly facing Earth, suggests a new analysis of rock samples co-led by a UCL and Peking University researcher.



An Asteroid Flew Closer Than The ISS Recently

Image of Asteroid 2025 TF, which made a close approach over Antarctica on October 1st. Credit - ESA / Las Cumbres Observatory

An asteroid recently made the second closest pass to Earth ever observed on October 1st. And astronomers only found it after it had already completed its closest approach. That offers another lesson in how difficult it is to find small objects coming close to our planet in the vast dark ocean of space.



Wednesday, October 8, 2025

Yes, Mars Once Had an Ocean, says New Research

The ESA's Mars Express captured this image of an ancient, dried-up river system that spans nearly 700 km (435 mi) across the surface of Mars. Credit: ESA/Björn Schreiner/FU Berlin

Did Mars Once Have an Ocean? New Research Suggests Yes kerryhensley45577 Wed, 10/01/2025 - 10:21 Did Mars Once Have an Ocean? New Research Suggests Yes https://ift.tt/SpVMyKr



Longstanding “Ice Giant” Classification of Uranus and Neptune Might Be Conflicted

Uranus and Neptune. Credit: NASA

What if our understanding of Uranus and Neptune’s compositions have been wrong, specifically regarding their classifications as “ice giants”? This is what a recent study accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics hopes to address as a team of researchers from the University of Zurich investigated the interior structures of Uranus and Neptune. This study has the potential to help scientists not only better understand the formation and evolution of Uranus and Neptune but could also provide key insights into Jupiter and Saturn, and gaseous exoplanets, too.



The Most Metal-Free Star Ever Observed is Found In Our Own Backyard

Illustration showing the fraction of elements for a first-generation star vs the Sun. First-generation stars are almost entirely hydrogen and helium, while the Sun also contains heavier elements astronomers call metals. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

Astronomers find a nearly metal-free star in our own back yard, which tells us a few interesting things about early star formation.