Space Exploration News – Latest Headlines

The James Webb telescope produces an unparalleled view of the ghostly light in galaxy clusters

Thanks to its efficiency at infrared wavelengths and the sharpness of the images of the JWST, researchers have been able to explore the intracluster light from SMACS-J0723.3-7327 with an unprecedented level of detail.

December 3, 2022 Read more

Mysteriously bright flash is a black hole jet pointing straight toward Earth, astronomers say

The observations could illuminate how supermassive black holes feed and grow.

December 1, 2022 Read more

A black hole has been seen ripping apart a star

Astronomers have been able to piece together data showing that a supermassive black hole has been snacking on a nearby star.

November 30, 2022 Read more

Astronomers observe intra-group light - the elusive glow between distant galaxies

Pioneering a new technique, researchers have peered into the extremely faint light that exists between galaxies to describe the history and state of orphan stars.

November 24, 2022 Read more

Astronomers observe innermost structure of quasar jet

An international team of scientists has observed the narrowing of a quasar jet for the first time by using a network of radio telescopes across the world. The results suggest that the narrowing of the jet is independent of the activity level of the galaxy which launched it.

November 22, 2022 Read more

Webb reveals an exoplanet atmosphere as never seen before

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope just scored another first: a molecular and chemical profile of a distant world's skies.

November 22, 2022 Read more

New collaboration to probe physical reality's quantum 'glue'

An ambitious new collaboration promises to expand our understanding of what some physicists have called the 'glue' that holds the universe together - the strong nuclear force.

November 18, 2022 Read more

Black holes in eccentric orbit

Astronomers reconstructed the origin of an unusual gravitational wave signal that may result from the merger of two massive black holes that captured each other in their gravitational field and then collided while spinning around each other in a rapid, eccentric motion.

November 18, 2022 Read more

Space exploration goes underground

Is there life in Martian caves? It's a good question, but it's not the right question - yet. An international collaboration of scientists has dozens of questions we need asked and answered. Once we figure out how to study caves on the Moon, Mars and other planetary bodies, then we can return to that question.

November 16, 2022 Read more

Rolling dice to gain insights into planets and stars

Using a simulation method based on random numbers scientists were able to describe the properties of warm dense hydrogen as accurately as never before.

November 15, 2022 Read more

Black holes don't always power gamma-ray bursts, new research shows

Space scientists may need to rethink how gamma-ray bursts are formed after new research shows new-born supramassive stars, not black holes, are sometimes responsible for these huge extragalactic bursts of energy.

November 11, 2022 Read more

A supernova in distant space allows us to understand the origin of the elements in the universe

The study of the explosions of red super-giant stars tallies with the current understanding of how the heavier atomic elements were created inside stars and during supernova explosions.

November 10, 2022 Read more

Ultrathin solar cells promise improved satellite performance

Radiation damage to photovoltaics in orbit can be reduced by making the cells thinner.

November 8, 2022 Read more

Can cosmic inflation be ruled out?

Astrophysicists say that cosmic inflation - a point in the Universe's infancy when space-time expanded exponentially, and what physicists really refer to when they talk about the 'Big Bang' - can in principle be ruled out in an assumption-free way.

November 5, 2022 Read more

Oldest planetary debris in our galaxy found from new study

Astronomers have identified the oldest star in our galaxy that is accreting debris from orbiting planetesimals, making it one of the oldest rocky and icy planetary systems discovered in the Milky Way.

November 5, 2022 Read more

Astronomers discover closest black hole to Earth

Gemini North telescope on Hawai'i reveals first dormant, stellar-mass black hole in our cosmic backyard.

November 4, 2022 Read more

Mars's crust more complex, evolved than previously thought

Early crust on Mars may be more complex than previously thought - and it may even be similar to our own planet's original crust.

November 4, 2022 Read more

Polarized X-rays reveal shape, orientation of extremely hot matter around black hole

Researchers' recent observations of a stellar-mass black hole called Cygnus X-1 reveal new details about the configuration of extremely hot matter in the region immediately surrounding the black hole.

November 3, 2022 Read more