Read MoreOliver Hayes2026-02-252Is WOH G64 Dying or Just Putting on a Stellar Show?Astronomers debate whether WOH G64 truly evolved from a red supergiant into a yellow hypergiant or if its changing appearance results from binary interaction and circumstellar effects. New titanium oxide detections suggest it may still be a red supergiant.
Read MoreOliver Hayes2026-02-242SpaceX Rocket Re-entry Leaves Detectable Lithium PlumeScientists detected a lithium plume in the upper atmosphere and traced it to an uncontrolled SpaceX Falcon 9 re-entry, revealing measurable metal pollution from space debris and prompting calls for monitoring and regulation.
Read MoreOliver Hayes2026-02-24Artemis II Delay: Moon Rocket Rolled Back for RepairsNASA rolled the Artemis II Moon rocket back to the Vehicle Assembly Building after a helium-system malfunction surfaced following hydrogen leak tests. Repairs could delay the March launch and shift the mission toward April, pending successful fixes.
Read MoreNora Schmidt2026-02-232Hidden Dusty Galaxies Rewrite Early Cosmic TimelineAstronomers used ALMA and JWST to uncover faint, dust-rich galaxies that formed about one billion years after the Big Bang, revealing a possible transitional population that reshapes early galaxy evolution.
Read MoreNora Schmidt2026-02-222Why NASA May Postpone Artemis II: Helium Flow ConcernsNASA may push back the Artemis II crewed lunar flyby after a helium flow anomaly. Teams will roll the rocket back to the assembly building to inspect systems, prioritizing crew safety over schedule.
Read MoreNora Schmidt2026-02-213Gaia Finds a Hidden Swarm of Black Holes in Palomar 5Gaia's precise survey reveals Palomar 5 hosts a hidden population of over 100 stellar-mass black holes. Simulations show these black holes drive star ejection, shaping tidal streams and cluster fate.
Read MoreOliver Hayes2026-02-202How and Why This Comet Stopped Spinning — Then ReversedComet 41P underwent a rare rotational reversal in 2017, slowing to a stop and likely spinning the other way due to asymmetric outgassing. Observations and Hubble data illuminate the mechanics and implications.
Read MoreNora Schmidt2026-02-20Moon South-Pole Landing Will Not Compromise Astronaut SafetyA planned crewed landing near the Moon's south pole remains years away. Jared Isaacman emphasizes astronaut safety after a fueling test and a scathing review of Boeing's Starliner highlighted risks to crewed missions.
Read MoreNora Schmidt2026-02-193Antarctica's Growing Gravity Hole: What Lies BeneathA team of geophysicists reconstructed how a persistent gravity depression beneath Antarctica—the Antarctic Geoid Low—has evolved over 70 million years, linking mantle convection, polar wander, and possible sea-level effects that may have influenced Antarctic glaciation.
Read MoreOliver Hayes2026-02-192Black Hole Rips White Dwarf: Clear X-ray Evidence FinallyA blazing X-ray flare observed in July 2025, EP250702a, matches models of a white dwarf torn apart by an intermediate-mass black hole—potentially the first clear detection of this rare tidal disruption.
Read MoreOliver Hayes2026-02-18How Enceladus' Plasma Dance Lights Saturn's Polar SkiesNew research finds that turbulence breaks Enceladus's Alfvén wing into filaments, enabling electromagnetic waves to bounce off its plasma torus and trigger auroras high in Saturn's ionosphere, with broad implications for Jupiter's moons and future missions.
Read MoreNora Schmidt2026-02-172A Ring of Fire Over Antarctica: Who Will See the Eclipse?A rare annular 'ring of fire' eclipse will cross Antarctica, with partial views in southern Chile, Argentina and parts of Africa. Learn why annular eclipses occur and how to watch safely.
Read MoreOliver Hayes2026-02-162A Star Vanished for 200 Days — The Giant Ring MysteryA Sun-like star dimmed by 97% for nearly 200 days. New research attributes the rare, prolonged eclipse of ASASSN-24fw to a massive ring system around a brown dwarf or super-Jupiter, offering insights into circumplanetary dynamics.
Read MoreNora Schmidt2026-02-163A Distant Black Hole Keeps Getting Brighter and StrangerAT2018hyz, a tidal disruption event, has shown years-long radio brightening. New observations reveal dramatic energy growth, possible delayed outflow or off-axis jet, and implications for black hole physics.
Read MoreOliver Hayes2026-02-153Could the Milky Way’s Heart Be Dense Dark Matter, Instead?An international team suggests the Milky Way’s central mass might be a dense fermionic dark matter core that imitates a black hole’s gravity, matching both S-star orbits and Gaia’s rotation curve while offering testable differences.
Read MoreOliver Hayes2026-02-142A Lost Moon Crash May Explain Saturn’s Young RingsNew simulations suggest Saturn's rings and Titan's odd orbit may stem from a collision between a proto-Titan and a smaller moon about 100 million years ago. Dragonfly could test the theory in the 2030s.
Read MoreOliver Hayes2026-02-143How a Giant Star Vanished Quietly and Became a Black HoleA supergiant in Andromeda quietly collapsed into a black hole after a failed supernova. Archival NEOWISE and optical data show an infrared brightening then a tenfold fade, reshaping how massive stars die.
Read MoreNora Schmidt2026-02-132Why Mars' Long-Chain Organics Defy Abiotic ExplanationsA NASA-led study argues that alkanes detected by Curiosity may have originally been far more abundant than measured, and that known abiotic sources struggle to explain those inferred concentrations on ancient Mars.
Read MoreOliver Hayes2026-02-122Galaxy on the Run: Hubble Sees NGC 4388’s Glowing WakeHubble’s new view of NGC 4388 shows a glowing stream of gas stripped from the galaxy as it moves through the hot intracluster medium of the Virgo cluster, revealing environmental forces that reshape galaxies.
Read MoreNora Schmidt2026-02-123Is the Universe Lopsided? New Evidence and ImplicationsNew analyses comparing the cosmic microwave background with the distribution of distant galaxies reveal a mismatch — the cosmic dipole anomaly — that may challenge the Universe’s long-assumed large-scale symmetry.
