Our galaxy may reside in a billion-light-year-wide cosmic bubble that accelerates local expansion, potentially settling the long-running Hubble tension. Galaxy counts reveal a sparsely populated neighborhood, and “fossil” sound waves from the Big Bang bolster the void scenario, hinting that gravity has hollowed out this region. Confirming the bubble could refine the universe’s age and reshape our grasp of cosmic growth.

Gravitational-wave detectors have captured their biggest spectacle yet: two gargantuan, rapidly spinning black holes likely forged by earlier smash-ups fused into a 225-solar-mass titan, GW231123. The record-setting blast strains both the sensitivity of LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA and the boundaries of stellar-evolution theory, forcing scientists to rethink how such cosmic heavyweights arise.

Hubble’s crystal-clear look at NGC 1786—an ancient globular cluster tucked inside the Large Magellanic Cloud—pulls us 160,000 light-years from Earth and straight into a cosmic time machine. Packed with stars of several different ages, this glittering sphere helps astronomers test whether layered “generations” of suns are common across galaxies. By comparing NGC 1786 and other dwarf-galaxy clusters with those orbiting the Milky Way, researchers hope to retrace how both the LMC and our own galaxy pieced themselves together in the early universe.

Astronomers have uncovered a massive, hidden exoplanet nestled in the dusty disc of a young star—MP Mus—by combining cutting-edge data from the ALMA observatory and ESA’s Gaia mission. Initially thought to be planet-free, the star’s surrounding disc appeared deceptively empty. But new observations and a telltale stellar “wobble” pointed to a Jupiter-sized gas giant forming within the disc’s obscured gaps. This marks the first time a planet in such a disc has been detected using these tools, opening the door to finding more young worlds that have so far evaded detection.

A 2.35-billion-year-old Moon rock that fell to Earth in Africa is rewriting what we know about lunar volcanism. This rare meteorite, studied by UK scientists and unveiled at a major geochemistry conference, reveals that the Moon was volcanically active far longer than previously thought. With a unique chemical makeup and an age that bridges a billion-year gap in Moon rock samples, it suggests the Moon had internal heat sources that persisted for ages.

Imagine a star powered not by nuclear fusion, but by one of the universe’s greatest mysteries—dark matter. Scientists have proposed the existence of “dark dwarfs,” strange glowing objects potentially lurking at the center of our galaxy. These stars might form when brown dwarfs absorb enough dark matter to prevent cooling, transforming into long-lasting beacons of invisible energy. A specific form of lithium could give them away, and if detected, these eerie objects might reveal the true nature of dark matter itself.

New supercomputer simulations suggest the Milky Way could be surrounded by dozens more faint, undetected satellite galaxies—up to 100 more than we currently know. These elusive "orphan" galaxies have likely been stripped of their dark matter by the Milky Way’s gravity and hidden from view. If spotted by next-gen telescopes like the Rubin Observatory’s LSST, they could solidify our understanding of the Universe’s structure and deliver a stunning validation of the Lambda Cold Dark Matter model.

Mars may not have always been the dry and dusty world we imagine. A staggering network of ancient riverbeds, spanning over 15,000 kilometers, has been discovered in the planet’s Noachis Terra region, suggesting that flowing water, fueled by precipitation, was once widespread. Unlike previously studied valley networks, these “inverted channels” reveal a long history of persistent water activity, challenging the idea that Mars was merely cold and dry.

A newly discovered comet, 3I/ATLAS, may be the most ancient visitor ever detected, potentially older than our solar system itself. Unlike previous interstellar objects, this ice-rich comet seems to originate from the thick disk of the Milky Way, a region filled with ancient stars. First spotted in July 2025, it’s already showing signs of activity and could help scientists understand more about galactic chemistry and the origins of planetary systems.

NASA is gearing up for an exciting chapter in lunar exploration by sending a trio of high-tech instruments to the Moon. Two of the devices will be attached to a new lunar rover capable of carrying astronauts or operating remotely, while the third will gather data from orbit. These tools will hunt for ice, map minerals, and analyze what lies beneath the surface, offering a clearer picture of the Moon s makeup and potential resources.

In its closest-ever dive into the Sun’s atmosphere, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has returned stunning new images and data that bring scientists closer to solving one of the Sun’s biggest mysteries: how the solar wind is born. Captured from just 3.8 million miles away, the footage shows chaotic collisions of solar eruptions, twisting magnetic fields, and the origin zones of the solar wind—phenomena that shape space weather and can disrupt life on Earth. This unprecedented view from inside the corona is helping scientists understand and predict the Sun’s violent behavior like never before.

In a bold step toward sustainable space travel, scientists are engineering a radically small, protein-rich rice that can grow in space. The Moon-Rice project, led by the Italian Space Agency in collaboration with three universities, aims to create crops that thrive in microgravity while boosting astronaut nutrition and well-being.

China's Chang’e-6 mission has delivered the first-ever samples from the Moon’s far side, shedding light on one of planetary science’s greatest mysteries: why the near and far sides are so different. The South Pole–Aitken Basin, a colossal crater created 4.25 billion years ago, has now revealed clues about ancient volcanic activity, fluctuating magnetic fields, and unexpectedly dry, depleted lunar mantle regions. These insights could reshape our understanding of the Moon’s, and even Earth’s, geological evolution.

Astronomers have spotted centimeter-sized “pebbles” swirling around two infant stars 450 light-years away, revealing the raw ingredients of planets already stretching to Neptune-like orbits. Using the UK’s e-MERLIN radio array, the PEBBLeS project found these rocky seeds in unprecedented detail, bridging the elusive gap between dusty discs and fully-formed worlds. The discovery hints that systems even larger than our own could be commonplace and sets the stage for the upcoming Square Kilometre Array to map hundreds more planetary nurseries.

Astronomers using the Green Bank Telescope spotted surprisingly cold, dense hydrogen clouds embedded inside the Milky Way’s vast, super-hot Fermi bubbles—structures thought to be created by a recent, violent outburst from the galaxy’s core. Because such chilled gas should evaporate quickly in million-degree surroundings, its survival hints that the bubbles are only about a million years old. Ultraviolet data from Hubble backs the discovery, and the clouds’ million-mph speeds reinforce the bubbles’ youth. The find forces scientists to rethink how energy and matter flow through galaxies.

Scientists from UCL and the University of Cambridge have revealed that "space ice"—long thought to be completely disordered—is actually sprinkled with tiny crystals, changing our fundamental understanding of ice in the cosmos. These micro-crystals, just nanometers wide, were identified through simulations and lab experiments, revealing that even the most common ice in space retains a surprising structure. This has major implications not just for astrophysics, but also for theories about the origin of life and advanced materials technology.

Scientists are on the trail of a mysterious five-particle structure that could challenge one of the biggest theories in physics: string theory. This rare particle—never seen before and predicted not to exist within string theory—might leave behind vanishing tracks in the Large Hadron Collider, like ghostly footprints that suddenly disappear. Spotting it wouldn’t just shake up physics theory—it might also reveal clues to dark matter, the invisible stuff that makes up most of the universe.

Astronomers studying the remnant SNR 0509-67.5 have finally caught a white dwarf in the act of a rare “double-detonation” supernova, where an initial helium blast on the star’s surface triggers a second, core-shattering explosion.

Citizen scientists using the Kilonova Seekers platform spotted a stellar flash 2,500 times brighter than before, allowing astronomers to identify the exploding cataclysmic variable GOTO0650 within hours. Swift community follow-up captured X-ray, UV, and amateur telescope data, revealing the star’s rare “period-bouncer” stage.

UF engineers, backed by DARPA and NASA, are perfecting laser-forming techniques that let metal sheets fold themselves into giant solar arrays, antennas, and even space-station parts right in orbit—sidestepping rocket size limits and paving the way for sustainable off-Earth construction.

Japan’s Himawari weather satellites, designed to watch Earth, have quietly delivered a decade of infrared snapshots of Venus. By stitching 437 images together, scientists tracked daily thermal tides and shifting planetary waves in the planet’s cloud tops, even flagging calibration quirks in past spacecraft data.

In a stellar nursery 460 light-years away, astronomers sharpened old ALMA data and spotted crisp rings and spirals swirling around 27 infant stars—evidence that planets start taking shape just a few hundred thousand years after their suns ignite, far earlier than anyone expected.

Using the James Webb Space Telescope, scientists spotted thin and thick disks in galaxies as far back as 10 billion years ago—something never seen before. These observations reveal that galaxies first formed thick, chaotic disks, and only later developed the calm, thin disks seen in modern spirals like the Milky Way.

A newly discovered radio halo, 10 billion light-years away, reveals that galaxy clusters in the early universe were already steeped in high-energy particles. The finding hints at ancient black hole activity or cosmic particle collisions fueling this energy.

A surprising discovery from a tiny grain of asteroid Ryugu has rocked scientists' understanding of how our Solar System evolved. Researchers found djerfisherite—a mineral typically born in scorching, chemically reduced conditions and never before seen in Ryugu-like meteorites—inside a sample returned by Japan’s Hayabusa2 mission. Its presence suggests either Ryugu once experienced unexpectedly high temperatures or that exotic materials from other parts of the solar system somehow made their way into its formation. Like discovering a palm tree fossil in Arctic ice, this rare find challenges everything we thought we knew about primitive asteroids and the early mixing of planetary ingredients.