Astronomy and space

Latest developments

White-to-black heat map of the planet Jupiter superimposed against a photograph of the planet and against a dark, starry background. The planet's north pole is bright white, the equatorial regions tend towards black, and most of the middle latitudes are red except for a wide arc of yellow about 1/3 of the way from north pole to equator. The southernmost latitudes are not included in the heat map. A scale at right indicates that white areas are 700 degrees Celsius, yellow areas are 600, red areas are 500-300, and black areas are 200. A note adds that these temperatures are measured 1000 km above the planet's surface.

Solar wind burst caused a heatwave on Jupiter

Spectacular images of the cosmos released to celebrate Hubble’s 35 years in orbit

A series of spectacular images of the cosmos has been released to celebrate the Hubble Space Telescope's 35 years in space

Top-quark pairs at ATLAS could shed light on the early universe

Massive particles reveal properties of the quark–gluon plasma

Latest news

Euclid mission spots 26 million galaxies in first batch of survey data

The dataset includes a catalogue of 380,000 galaxies that have been detected by artificial intelligence or citizen-science efforts

‘Milestone’ as Square Kilometre Array Observatory releases its first low-frequency image of the cosmos

The new SKA-Low image was created using 1024 two-metre-high antennas

NASA launches $488m megaphone-shaped SPHEREx observatory to map the universe

Craft will plot the distribution of galaxies to better understand cosmic inflation

Sign up for newsletters to hear more

Physics World Jobs

Whether you’re still working out your career pathway or have a specific role in mind, we’re here to help. Bringing a diverse range of opportunities for jobseekers at all career stages, we’ll help you take the next step in your career and find your perfect job.

Research headlines

Photo of the Main Spectrometer at the KATRIN experiment during installation of its inner electrode system. The photo is taken inside the experiment and shows a tunnel-like interior with electronics panels covering every visible surface. At the centre is a metal platform with scaffolding and ladders. Three people in clean-room protective clothing are standing on the platform.

KATRIN sets tighter limit on neutrino mass

Photo of the set-up in the ISAC-II experimental hall at TRIUMF. The room resembles a high-ceilinged warehouse with metal supports and high windows in the background. In the foreground is an experimental apparatus supported by a yellow metal frame.

Helium nanobubble measurements shed light on origins of heavy elements in the universe

Photon collisions in dying stars could create neutrons for heavy elements

AI speeds up detection of neutron star mergers

New approach could aid “multimessenger” astronomy by quickly locating sources of gravitational waves emitted during these cosmic events

Sterile neutrinos are a no-show (again)

Hypothetical fourth neutrino flavour is absent from new data from Fermilab's NOvA experiment

Atomic anomaly explained without recourse to hypothetical ‘dark force’

Effect observed in 2020 arises from changes in nuclear structure, not new physics

The enigma of Trappist-1 b: a thick atmosphere or airless rock?

Thermal emission measurements from the exoplanet Trappist-1 b suggest two plausible yet contradictory scenarios

How would an asteroid strike affect life on Earth?

New simulations reveal that the climate, atmospheric chemistry and even global photosynthesis would be dramatically disrupted by an asteroid collision

Black hole’s shadow changes from one year to the next

New analyses advance understanding of complex dynamic processes governing black holes

Explore more in astronomy and space

DESI delivers a cosmological bombshell

“Phantom” dark energy existed long ago, observations suggest

James Webb Space Telescope spots spectacular auroras on Neptune

Measurements represent the first direct detection of auroras on the planet

Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost mission achieves perfect lunar landing

Firefly Aerospace claims to be the first commercial company to achieve a ‘fully successful soft-landing on the Moon'

US-led missions launched to investigate the Moon’s water

Athena will test water-extraction methods while Lunar Trailblazer will map water deposits

Artist’s impression of supersonic winds on WASP-127b. The image shows a Jupiter-like gas giant planet with clouds that are blue-grey at the poles, reddish at medium latitudes, and white and windblown near the equator

Astronomers create a ‘weather map’ for a gas giant exoplanet

Supersonic winds and water vapour feature in new study of WASP-127b

Ultrahigh-energy neutrino detection opens a new window on the universe

Particle could have been created by a blazar or a cosmic collision

Curled lock of the volcanic material Pele's hair

Threads of fire: uncovering volcanic secrets with Pele’s hair and tears

Hear from volcanologists about these stunning geological phenomena and the thrill of working in volcanic landscapes

Two images from a simulation showing protons at energies of 100 keV and 10 keV penetrating different layers of a solar cell. Both images mark out the six layers of the solar cell, with the organic layer as the third layer down. The proton penetration is shown white on the black background, and for the 100 keV image, it takes the appearance of a pine tree in a snow storm as the protons trace out a cascade of triangles through all of the solar cell's layers. The 10 keV protons image looks like a hairy-looking ball concentrated in the silver top layer with stray strands stretching into the organic layer

Organic photovoltaic solar cells could withstand harsh space environments

Study challenges long-standing belief that OPV devices systematically degrade when irradiated

European Space Agency’s Euclid mission spots spectacular Einstein ring

The ring is due to the gravitational effects of a galaxy located around 590 million light-years from Earth

Artist’s rendering showing a white dwarf orbiting a supermassive black hole

Supermassive black hole displays ‘unprecedented’ X-ray outbursts

Rapid X-ray oscillations detected near the innermost orbit of a supermassive black hole could indicate the presence of a nearby orbiter such as a white dwarf

Asteroid Bennu contains the stuff of life, sample analysis reveals

Rock and dust samples brought back to Earth from the asteroid Bennu contain organic matter and a variety of minerals crucial to the emergence of life

Eileen Collins in the pilot’s station of the NASA Space Shuttle Discovery

Spacewoman: trailblazing astronaut Eileen Collins makes for a compelling and thoughtful documentary subject

Andrew Glester reviews the film Spacewoman directed by Hannah Berryman

Artist’s impression of the Tetrahedron Constellation Gravitational Wave Observatory

Researchers in China propose novel gravitational-wave observatory

The Tetrahedron Constellation Gravitational Wave Observatory would consist of four satellites positioned in space

Kenzie Nimmo presenting this work at a recent conference. She's standing beneath a large screen that says "Using scintillation to identify the magnetospheric origin of FRB 20221022A", holding a microphone.

Fast radio burst came from a neutron star’s magnetosphere, say astronomers

Scintillation measurements show that FRB 20221022A originated from the highly magnetized region around a neutron star, challenging existing models of conditions there

Image of a simulation of a core-collapse supernova, which looks like a messy, uneven green object inside a bubble

Wrinkles in space–time could remember the secrets of exploding stars

Distortions known as gravitational memory are permanent and potentially detectable from Earth

Astrophysicists reveal huge variation in the shape of exocomet belts

A population of 74 planetesimal belts orbiting nearby stars has been studied by researchers

World’s darkest skies threatened by industrial megaproject in Chile, astronomers warn

AES Andes is aiming to develop a green hydrogen project in Chile’s Atacama Desert

Artist's impression of the Solar Parker Probe

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe survives its first close-up solar encounter

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe will perform 24 orbits around the Sun with the next close solar passes occurring on 22 March and 19 June

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
...
Next
Last

Related jobs

Related events

Materials | Conference The Ninth International Symposium on Dielectric Materials and Applications 7—9 May 2025 | Marrakech, Morocco
Instrumentation and measurement | Virtual event 17th International Course on “Time-Resolved Microscopy and Correlation Spectroscopy” 13—16 May 2025
Instrumentation and measurement | Exhibition 68th Annual SVC TechCon and Exhibition 17—22 May 2025 | Nashville, US

Reset your password

Registration complete