Astronomy and space

Latest developments

The Endurance rocket ship launches from Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard

Ambipolar electric field helps shape Earth’s ionosphere

Dark-matter decay could have given ancient supermassive black holes a boost

Calculations suggest photons may have warmed gas clouds

What happens when a warp drive collapses?

It emits gravitational waves, say physicists

Latest news

NASA cancels delay-hit $450m VIPER lunar prospector

The mission will now be disassembled with components used for future Moon missions

David Charbonneau and Sara Seager bag the 2024 Kavli Prize in Astrophysics

Charbonneau and Seager share $1m prize for their work characterizing the atmospheres of exoplanets

European Space Agency releases first batch of spectacular science images from its Euclid mission

The five images reveal galaxies, globular clusters and nebulae in incredible detail

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Research headlines

The proposed nanoparticle warming method for Mars

To make Mars warmer, just add nanorods

Half-life measurement of samarium-146 could help reveal secrets of the early solar system

Liquid water could abound in Martian crust, seismic study suggests

Icy exoplanet found to be potentially habitable

Researchers discover that a temperate exoplanet may have an atmosphere, could be covered in ice, and may even have an ocean of liquid water

Sun-like stars seen orbiting hidden neutron stars

Astronomers are puzzled how wide orbits survived supernovae

Primordial black holes contain very little dark matter, say astronomers

Theories of the early universe may have to be revised following new analyses of data from the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment

Speedy stars point to intermediate-mass black hole in globular cluster

Hubble observation is best evidence yet for an elusive class of black holes

Scientists create space plasmas at CERN

Producing fast-moving "fireballs" in the lab could shed light on processes in extreme astrophysical emissions

Quantum-entangled photons are super-sensitive to Earth’s rotation

Sagnac interferometer experiment prepares the ground for testing the effects of gravity on quantum states

Explore more in astronomy and space

Annular eclipse photograph bags Royal Observatory Greenwich prize

The image captures the progression of Baily’s beads, which are only visible when the Moon either enters or exits an eclipse

BepiColombo takes its best images yet of Mercury’s peppered landscape

The spacecraft had a clear view of Mercury’s south pole for the first time during a recent flyby

Shrinivas Kulkarni: curiosity and new technologies inspire Shaw Prize in Astronomy winner

"No shortage of phenomena to explore," says expert on variable and transient objects

LUX-ZEPLIN ‘digs deeper’ for dark-matter WIMPs

Announcement makes us pine for the Black Hills

The Wow! signal: did a telescope in Ohio receive an extraterrestrial communication in 1977?

This podcast features an astrobiologist who has identified similar radio signals

Atomic clocks on the Moon could create ‘lunar positioning system’

Lunar time standard would avoid pitfalls of time dilation

Secondary mirror of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory

Vera C Rubin Observatory’s secondary mirror successfully installed

The Vera C Rubin Observatory will conduct a decade-long survey of the southern hemisphere sky when operational in 2025

Claudia de Rham: a life in gravity

Claudia de Rham on her new book The Beauty of Falling and her career in theoretical physics

How gravity falls down on falling down

Kate Gardner reviews The Beauty of Falling: a Life in Pursuit of Gravity by Claudia de Rham

An evening of landscape astrophotography

Colin White recounts a trip that took him from a Somerset hilltop to the heart of the Milky Way

Spacesuit backpack allows astronauts to drink their own urine

Researchers at Cornell University have created a prototype urine collection and filtration system

Schematic image of the experiment showing a transparent layer of gallium stacked atop a silvery layer of mercury around a spool-like device, with poloidal currents (represented by blue lines) looping around the material and magnetic field lines (yellow) running along the interface.

Liquid–metal interfaces show large thermoelectric effect

Discovery could help us better understand Jupiter’s magnetic field as well as improve liquid–metal batteries

LEGO creates ‘space bricks’ made from meteorite dust

LEGO has teamed up with the European Space Agency to create the bricks using material from a 4.5 billion-year-old meteorite

Starlink satellites photographed over Carson National Forest

Satellites burning up in the atmosphere may deplete Earth’s ozone layer

Pollution from decommissioned satellites re-entering the atmosphere poses a risk to the Earth’s protective ozone layer

Shrinivas Kulkarni: 2024 Shaw Prize in Astronomy winner talks about his fascination with variable and transient objects

This podcast is sponsored by The Shaw Prize Foundation

Diagram of a Brillouin sphere and the planet it contains

Classical models of gravitational field show flaws close to the Earth

New gravitational field model quantifies the "divergence problem" identified in 2022

The Kavli Prize in Astrophysics: meet the 2024 laureates David Charbonneau and Sara Seager

This podcast is sponsored by The Kavli Prize

Illustration of the Sun's magnetic fields overlaid on an image captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, showing solar features traced out in bright yellow against a black background

Sun’s magnetic field may have a surprisingly shallow origin

New mathematical model reveals the workings of the stellar dynamo, with important implications for predicting solar storms

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Related events

Condensed matter | Meeting Electronic Correlations and Beyond – in Memory of Peter Fulde 3—5 October 2024 | Dresden, Germany
Quantum | Workshop Quantum Meets Classical 7—11 October 2024 | Dresden, Germany
Astronomy and space | Exhibition ANE Global Meet and Expo on Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology 7—9 April 2025 | London, UK

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