NEWS

SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY
Here is an RSS feed from Science Daily’s Space and Time section to keep you up to date on current events in the space community.
  • A train was delayed by a solar storm. But something didn't add up.

    Scientists have cracked a 178-year-old mystery surrounding a train delayed by a solar storm, revealing that the famous incident happened in 1848 rather than 1841. The discovery rewrites the early history of space weather and highlights a threat that still endangers modern power grids, satellites, and communication systems.
  • Astronauts’ hearts just passed a surprising test for Mars

    A new study tracking 13 astronauts suggests that the human heart may be surprisingly well equipped for a journey to Mars, especially with regular exercise during spaceflight. Researchers found that astronauts' hearts adapted to months of weightlessness and handled simulated Martian gravity without major problems, offering new hope for future missions to the Red Planet.
  • NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover just shattered the all-time off-world driving record

    NASA’s Perseverance rover has shattered a historic space exploration record, traveling farther across another world than any vehicle before it. Its advanced self-driving system helped it surpass Opportunity’s 28.06-mile record in just five and a half years, a feat that previously took nearly 15. Now, Perseverance is exploring some of the oldest rocks in the solar system, searching for clues about ancient Martian environments that may once have supported life.
  • Astronomers uncover new secrets of the Universe’s first five minutes

    Scientists have achieved a major breakthrough in understanding the Universe’s earliest moments, measuring the amount of helium formed in the first five minutes after the Big Bang with unprecedented precision. Using one of the world’s most powerful telescopes, an international team studied 15 remarkably pristine galaxies that act as cosmic time capsules, preserving clues from nearly 13.8 billion years ago.
  • NASA solves a strange mystery hidden inside asteroid Bennu’s boulders

    NASA scientists have finally uncovered why asteroid Bennu loses heat so quickly despite being covered in massive boulders. Samples returned to Earth reveal that its rocks are filled with hidden cracks, solving a mystery that has puzzled researchers for years.
  • NASA reveals 16 stunning galaxies hiding cosmic chaos

    NASA's stunning new gallery of 16 galaxies reveals colossal black hole jets, explosive star formation, and spectacular cosmic collisions through the combined power of Chandra, James Webb, Hubble, and other telescopes. These extraordinary images expose the hidden forces shaping galaxies across the universe and offer clues about the Milky Way's own past and future.
  • Astronomers discover a ghostly green star unlike any known before

    Astronomers have uncovered a surprising rainbow of dead stars, including the first known star that would appear genuinely green to human eyes. Researchers found that white dwarfs can glow in unexpected shades of pink, purple, yellow, and cyan because of unusual chemical interactions in their extremely dense atmospheres.
  • Two monster black holes could collide in just 100 years

    Astronomers have uncovered compelling evidence of two supermassive black holes spiraling toward a potentially spectacular collision at the center of galaxy Mrk 501. A previously unseen jet of particles revealed the likely presence of a second black hole, with observations suggesting the pair completes an orbit every 121 days. Depending on their masses, these cosmic giants could merge in as little as 100 years.
  • NASA’s SpaceX launch lights up the sky with a giant glowing jellyfish

    A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket created a dazzling, jellyfish-shaped glow across the eastern United States as sunlight illuminated its exhaust during an early morning launch. The mission delivered equipment and scientific experiments to the International Space Station, including research that could advance treatments for blindness, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and other diseases.
  • NASA’s Roman Space Telescope exceeds expectations by nearly 30%

    NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope has exceeded expectations after engineers made incredibly tiny adjustments to sharpen its view of the universe. By moving a mirror just one-sixteenth the width of a human hair, the team helped bring its powerful instruments into near-perfect alignment. Roman’s Wide Field Instrument now produces image quality nearly 30% better than predicted, promising exceptionally sharp cosmic surveys.
  • SpaceX just delivered some very strange cargo to the International Space Station

    SpaceX just delivered some surprisingly strange cargo to the International Space Station, including tiny brain models, 3D heart tissue, and technology for making artificial retinas in space. Scientists hope these experiments could unlock new ways to treat devastating brain diseases, restore eyesight, and test future medicines. The shipment also includes materials for creating unusual glass in near weightlessness and the station’s final upgraded solar arrays.
  • NASA’s Webb reveals the wild weather of a mysterious world 20 light-years away

    NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has revealed that a turbulent world 20 light-years away has a surprisingly orderly weather system, with three recurring atmospheric states driven by temperature changes and shifting clouds. The breakthrough gives scientists a powerful new tool for uncovering weather patterns on distant worlds and understanding the conditions that shape their atmospheres.
  • James Webb reveals a strange bulge in an alien planet's atmosphere

    Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have discovered that a distant alien planet's atmosphere is surprisingly lopsided. Located 1,300 light-years away, the scorching gas giant WASP-17b experiences powerful winds that redistribute heat, causing one side of its atmosphere to bulge outward. A groundbreaking new mapping technique revealed these hidden distortions, confirming predictions about how extreme temperatures and winds shape alien worlds.
  • Astronomers discover a strange universal rule behind black hole eruptions

    Scientists have discovered that black holes of vastly different sizes appear to launch powerful jets according to the same universal rule. The breakthrough could explain why some black holes suddenly erupt years after devouring a star and help astronomers predict when these spectacular outbursts will happen.
  • James Webb reveals a massive cosmic structure that challenges our understanding of the Universe

    NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has revealed an ancient galaxy cluster with an unexpectedly dense concentration of dark matter, challenging theories about how the universe developed. The discovery also uncovered a surprising connection between scattered starlight and invisible dark matter that could transform how astronomers study the early cosmos.
  • Scientists may have finally solved the mystery of the Moon’s two faces

    Scientists may have solved a long-standing mystery about why the Moon’s two sides are so different, using samples collected from its farside for the first time. Their findings suggest that uneven heating from Earth's gravitational pull drove enormous flows of ancient magma, creating the dramatically different lunar landscapes we see today.
  • A planet 320 light-years away confirms what scientists long suspected

    Astronomers have discovered that a scorching-hot planet 320 light-years away shares a striking chemical similarity with its host star, providing the first direct evidence for a fundamental assumption about planet formation. The breakthrough could help scientists predict what distant rocky planets are made of and identify worlds with conditions favorable for life.
  • Europe's new Sentinel-3C satellite just sent back spectacular images of Earth

    Europe's Sentinel-3C satellite has returned breathtaking images of Earth just two weeks after launch, revealing the snowy Alps, frozen Arctic islands, and brilliant turquoise Caribbean waters. Its first measurements also show promising results for tracking rising seas, melting ice sheets, and other changes reshaping our planet.
  • Scientists make stunning discovery that could help explain why life exists

    Scientists have discovered that the universe's fundamental physical constants may be finely balanced to make life possible. Even tiny changes to these constants could make liquids too thick or too thin for essential biological processes, potentially preventing life as we know it. Surprisingly, these life-friendly conditions existed billions of years before living cells appeared. The findings raise intriguing questions about why the laws of physics seem so well suited to life.
  • NASA astronauts splash down after 100 million miles in space

    NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 astronauts have returned to Earth after 237 days in space, traveling more than 100 million miles and completing over 3,792 orbits while conducting research to prepare for future missions to the Moon and Mars. The mission also made history with record-setting spacewalk achievements and experiments that could transform medicine both in space and on Earth.
  • NASA spots a giant patch of Moon-like rock on Earth

    An astronaut aboard the International Space Station photographed a remarkable formation in Madagascar that looks surprisingly similar to the Moon’s bright highlands. Made of anorthosite, a rock abundant on the lunar surface, the formation dates back at least 600 million years and bears the scars of ancient continental collisions.
  • October’s night sky is full of cosmic tricks and treats

    October’s skies are packed with celestial surprises, from Jupiter disappearing behind the Moon to two meteor showers lighting up the darkness. NASA highlights four must-see events, including shooting stars from Halley’s Comet and a glowing Hunter’s Moon just before Halloween.
  • Scientists build a nuclear clock that could make atomic clocks obsolete

    Scientists in Vienna have achieved a major breakthrough in timekeeping by creating the world’s first self-stabilizing nuclear clock, a technology that could eventually surpass even the most precise atomic clocks. Instead of relying on electrons in atoms, the clock uses the tiny nuclei of thorium atoms, which are far less sensitive to outside disturbances.
  • NASA is searching for hidden caves to build its first Moon base

    NASA is preparing for humanity’s first Moon base with three investigations that will hunt for underground shelters, uncover hidden ice, and track dangerous conditions on the lunar surface. The findings could reveal how astronauts can survive and thrive on the Moon while laying the groundwork for future journeys to Mars.
  • MIT astronomers catch a star in a feast that could last billions of years

    Astronomers have discovered a bizarre star system about 300 light-years from Earth where a small star is slowly devouring a nearby brown dwarf, an object too massive to be a planet but too small to be a true star. Unlike stars that rapidly swallow their companions, this one is gradually stealing material in a process that could continue for billions of years.