Read MoreNora Schmidt2026-08-01The Hidden Giant: Beta Pictoris d Revealed After 11 YearsAstronomers have identified Beta Pictoris d, a faint gas giant hidden for 11 years inside the well-studied Beta Pictoris system. Confirmed by VLT and JWST data, the planet offers new insights into young planetary systems and debris disc dynamics.
Read MoreOliver Hayes2026-07-31Why Europas Hidden Ocean May Be Locked Under Thick IceNew simulations indicate Europa's icy shell may rapidly freeze upward-moving ocean water, sealing fractures and complicating efforts to sample the subsurface ocean. Upcoming missions will test these findings.
Read MoreOliver Hayes2026-07-313Earth Could Face Twice the Damage from Extreme Solar StormsNew analysis suggests Earth's magnetic response to extreme solar storms may be up to twice as large as thought, increasing risks to satellites, power grids, and navigation systems and calling for revised planning.
Read MoreNora Schmidt2026-07-292Tiny Fossils, Big Questions: When Complex Life BeganResearchers hunting for tiny eukaryotic microfossils in ancient clays are rewriting the timeline of complex life and sharpening astrobiology’s search strategies for preserved biosignatures on Mars and icy moons.
Read MoreNora Schmidt2026-07-292Star S301 Skims Sagittarius A* at 8% of Light SpeedS301, an S-star orbiting Sagittarius A*, reaches over 8% of light speed and passes within about 24 AU of the black hole. Its motion offers rare tests of general relativity and alternative gravity models.
Read MoreNora Schmidt2026-07-292Hidden Primordial Black Holes Could Ignite Type Ia StarsNew models propose that primordial black holes passing through white dwarfs can trigger some Type Ia supernovae, producing observable explosion signatures and distinctive chemical traces across the Milky Way.
Read MoreOliver Hayes2026-07-273Helium Leak Reveals Atmosphere on LHS 1140 b ExoplanetA near-infrared detection of escaping helium around LHS 1140 b provides the strongest evidence yet that a rocky, habitable-zone exoplanet has retained an atmosphere, opening new avenues for ground-based follow-up.
Read MoreOliver Hayes2026-07-263A Moon as Big as Jupiter? A Brown Dwarf's Giant CompanionAstronomers using VLT and CRIRES+ report a near-Jupiter-mass companion orbiting brown dwarf CD-35 2722 B. The finding blurs the line between exomoon and exoplanet and prompts new questions about formation and classification.
Read MoreNora Schmidt2026-07-243Black Hole Mergers: A Thermodynamic Shortcut to RemnantsPenn State researchers propose that entropy maximization predicts the mass and spin of black hole remnants. This thermodynamic shortcut matches numerical relativity within a few percent and could reshape gravitational-wave analysis.
Read MoreOliver Hayes2026-07-234How a Single Asteroid Breakup Haunted Earth, Moon, MarsA new study links the breakup of the Eulalia asteroid to a surge of impacts across the inner solar system about 800 million years ago, offering a plausible cause for lunar crater spikes and potential effects on Earth and Mars.
Read MoreNora Schmidt2026-07-222How Sunlight Spends Millennia Before Reaching EarthEnergy produced in the Sun's core can take around 170,000 years to reach the surface. This article explains the photon random walk, revised diffusion estimates, and why sunlight is both immediate and ancient.
Read MoreOliver Hayes2026-07-21SpaceX Schedules New Starship Launch After Engine FixSpaceX plans an early-morning Starship launch after fixing a propulsion fault that forced a July abort. The flight will carry 20 Starlink satellites on a suborbital test of deployment and laser links.
Read MoreNora Schmidt2026-07-203How a New Entropy Rule Rewrites Black Hole ThermodynamicsPenn State researchers propose measuring black hole entropy using dynamical horizons, extending Hawking's thermodynamic laws to evolving black holes and improving interpretation of mergers and evaporation.
Read MoreNora Schmidt2026-07-193Saltwater Chemistry Discovered Inside Hillsborough MeteoriteA New Jersey meteorite recovered in 2024 reveals salt-rich brines once flowed through its parent asteroid, driving organic chemistry and producing amino acids that could inform origins-of-life theories.
Read MoreNora Schmidt2026-07-183Nearby Black Hole Ignites a Persistent Radio BeaconA nearby spiral galaxy has sustained an extraordinary radio outburst for over eight years. Astronomers investigate a long-lived jet from a rapidly accreting black hole, offering a laboratory for early-Universe phenomena.
Read MoreNora Schmidt2026-07-182Starship Launch Abort: Raptor Engine Fail Halts SpaceX PushSpaceX aborted a Starship launch when four new Raptor engines failed to ignite. The company will replace engines and delay the next attempt as it investigates, with implications for Starlink deployment and investor confidence.
Read MoreNora Schmidt2026-07-172NASA Chooses Companies to Advance Moon and Mars TechnologiesNASA selected 41 proposals from 37 U.S. companies to co-develop technologies for sustained Moon and Mars exploration, focusing on power, surface operations, orbital logistics, and dust protection.
Read MoreOliver Hayes2026-07-17Behind Mars Missions: JPL, Lockheed Martin and HiRISE TeamsA concise look at the institutions running Perseverance and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, detailing roles from JPL and Caltech to Lockheed Martin, the University of Arizona, and BAE Systems.
Read MoreNora Schmidt2026-07-162Astronomers Find the Faintest Planet Ever Seen from EarthAstronomers have confirmed Beta Pictoris d, the faintest planet ever directly imaged from Earth, using VLT and JWST data. The detection reveals a cooler, lower-mass gas giant and highlights the value of archival observations.
Read MoreNora Schmidt2026-07-152When Light Turns Hostile: Drag on Relativistic Solar SailsA new analysis shows that at roughly 75% of light speed, diffusely scattered photons can create drag on laser-driven solar sails, reducing acceleration efficiency and shaping materials and mission design.
