Fragments can come off spacecraft like satellites and disintegrate into tiny – but dangerous – bits of debris in orbitEuropean Space Agency / Wikimedia CommonsDecades of launching satellites into space have created a growing orbital pollution crisis. According to the Annual Space Environment Report from the European Space Agency (ESA), more than 6,600 tons...
2M1510 (AB) b is an exoplanet on a never-before-seen perpendicular orbit around a brown dwarf binary. (ESO/M. Kornmesser)Just 120 light-years from Earth, astronomers have identified a truly astonishing and one-of-a-kind system in the known universe.Two Brown Dwarfs and a Planet With a Perpendicular OrbitIt consists of two brown dwarfs orbiting each other in an eclipsing...
Miso is a popular Japanese fermented condiment that goes into a range of dishes to provide a punch of umamiWikimedia CommonsAnyone who has read about life aboard spacecraft knows that astronauts live with very limited resources, including meals that are mostly rehydrated.Even though NASA and other space agencies work hard to provide a variety...
Aetherflux hopes to revive and test a 1970s concept for beaming solar power from space to receivers on Earth using lasersAetherfluxThe idea of harvesting solar power in space and beaming it down to Earth — something that could be described as a “Starlink for electricity” — might sound ambitious, maybe even a bit utopian....
Image of 2024 YR4 obtained on 27 January 2025. (NASA/Magdalena Ridge 2.4m telescope/New Mexico Institute of Technology/Ryan)Asteroid 2024 YR4 is making headlines again, but there's still no reason to panic—at least for Earth. The asteroid remains no threat to our planet, with collision odds stuck at a minuscule 0.001 percent. However, the Moon might not...
Spectrum ending on a bangIsar AerospaceContinental Europe’s initial attempt at an orbital space launch came to an unexpected end when Isar Aerospace’s Spectrum rocket returned to Earth with a bang just 30 seconds after takeoff. The rocket crashed and exploded in the Norwegian Sea near the launch pad.Details of the Inaugural Flight from Andøya...
Artist impression of a glowing 'little red dot' surrounded by dust. (Xuanyu Han/Getty Images)The James Webb Space Telescope has provided an unprecedented glimpse into the earliest stages of galaxy formation. Alongside these discoveries, it has also unveiled a few unexpected phenomena—among them, the appearance of small, highly redshifted objects known as "little red dots" (LRDs).While...
Credit: PixabayOur Solar System moves through the Milky Way at about 200 km/s, following a complex orbit around the galaxy's center. Along its journey, it has encountered different cosmic environments, some of which may have influenced Earth's climate. New research suggests that around 14 million years ago, the Solar System passed through the Orion...
Earth shines above as the Sun slowly sinks below the Moon's horizon. (Firefly Aerospace)A private U.S. lander has captured striking high-definition images of a lunar sunset, offering NASA a new opportunity to investigate the mysterious haze first observed on the Moon in the 1960s.Texas-based Firefly Aerospace, which released the images on Tuesday, recently became the...
Since its first synthesis in a post-WWII American lab in 1949, berkelium has stood out on the periodic table, defying quantum mechanics by adopting an extra positive charge that its relatives typically avoid.Now, scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory—berkelium's birthplace—have successfully bonded this elusive element with carbon, creating a rare organometallic complex. This breakthrough...
