Phys.org Astronomy and Space

• Football-field-sized balloon takes flight over Antarctica in quest for dark matter answers

  A scientific experiment aimed at detecting dark matter in space launched from Antarctica on December 15, with significant contributions from University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.

• Space station research supports new FDA-approved cancer therapy

  NASA opens the International Space Station for scientists and researchers, inviting them to use the benefits of microgravity for private industry research, technology demonstrations, and more. Today, half of the crew's time aboard station is devoted to these aims, including medical research that addresses complex health challenges on Earth and prepares astronauts for future deep space missions.

• Could advanced civilizations communicate like fireflies

  Long before scientists discovered that other stars in the universe host their own planetary systems, humanity had contemplated the existence of life beyond Earth. As our technology matured and we began monitoring the night sky in multiple wavelengths (i.e., radio waves), this curiosity became a genuine scientific pursuit. By the 1960s, a scientific field dedicated to the search for advanced life (similar to ours) emerged: the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). Since then, multiple SETI surveys have been conducted to search for potential signs of technological activity (aka "technosignatures").

• Trump shifts priority to moon mission, not Mars

  US President Donald Trump on Thursday confirmed that he wants to send astronauts back to the moon as soon as possible, putting eventual Mars missions on the back burner.

• Life on lava: How microbes colonize new habitats

  Life has a way of bouncing back, even after catastrophic events like forest fires or volcanic eruptions. While nature's resilience to natural disasters has long been recognized, not much is known about how organisms colonize brand-new habitats for the first time. A new study led by a team of ecologists and planetary scientists from the University of Arizona provides glimpses into a poorly understood process.

• SPHEREx telescope completes first full-sky infrared map in 102 colors

  Launched in March, NASA's SPHEREx space telescope has completed its first infrared map of the entire sky in 102 colors.

• Hubble captures rare collision in nearby planetary system

  In an unprecedented celestial event, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (HST) captured the dramatic aftermath of colliding space rocks within a nearby planetary system.

• Webb uncovers Milky Way's turbulent youth through galactic twins

  How galaxies assemble their stars and grow over billions of years remains one of the central questions in astronomy. Recent results from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), including reports of surprisingly massive and evolved galaxies in the early universe, have only deepened the mystery. Understanding how our own home galaxy, the Milky Way, built itself over time provides a crucial piece of this broader cosmic puzzle.

• Comet 3I/ATLAS: Europa Clipper captures rare ultraviolet view

  The Southwest Research Institute-led Ultraviolet Spectrograph (UVS) aboard NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft has made valuable observations of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, which in July became the third officially recognized interstellar object to cross into our solar system. UVS had a unique view of the object during a period when Mars- and Earth-based observations were impractical or impossible.

• Using bent light to map complex planetary architectures

  With new technologies comes new discoveries. Or so Spider Man's Uncle Ben might have said if he was an astronomer. Or a scientist more generally—but in astronomy that saying is more true than many other disciplines, as many discoveries are entirely dependent on the technology—the telescope, imager, or processing algorithm—used to collect data on them.

• Catch the Ursid meteor shower as it peaks just before Christmas

  The last major meteor shower of the year, known as the Ursids, peaks soon, bringing glowing streaks to nighttime and early morning skies. Compared to other meteor showers, it's more subdued, but experts say it's still worth a glimpse.

• Gaia finds hints of planets in baby star systems

  Ever wondered how planetary systems like our own solar system form? Thanks to the European Space Agency's Gaia space telescope, we're getting a unique peek behind the cosmic curtain into these dusty environments.

• Interpretable neural networks help reveal the nature of dark matter

  A research team from the Xinjiang Astronomical Observatory (XAO) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed an interpretable artificial intelligence (AI) framework named Convolutional Kolmogorov–Arnold Network (CKAN), which sheds new light on the properties of dark matter at galaxy-cluster scales.

• New redback millisecond pulsar discovered with ASKAP

  Using the Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) telescope, astronomers have discovered a new millisecond pulsar (MSPs) at a distance of some 7,000 light years away. The newfound pulsar, which received designation PSR J1728−4608, belongs to the so-called "spider" class of MSPs. The finding was reported in a paper published Dec. 10 on the arXiv pre-print server.

• The shortest day of the year is descending on the Northern Hemisphere. Here's what to know

  Yes the darkest day of the year is here, but that means brighter days are ahead.

• The first alien civilization we encounter will be extremely loud

  For decades, science fiction writers have tried their best to prepare us for eventual contact with aliens. Their efforts are dominated by several recurrent tropes. There's the invasion by a warlike species, there's the highly-evolved species trying to communicate with our primitive species, there's the benevolent aliens come to save us from ourselves, and there's the mischievous anal-probers and medical experimenters.

• Billionaire Trump nominee confirmed to lead NASA amid Moon race

  The US Senate on Wednesday approved President Donald Trump's re-nomination of billionaire Jared Isaacman to head NASA, following months of backtracking and uncertainty over the space agency's future.

• Perseverance Mars rover ready to roll for miles in years ahead

  After nearly five years on Mars, NASA's Perseverance rover has traveled almost 25 miles (40 kilometers), and the mission team has been busy testing the rover's durability and gathering new science findings on the way to a new region nicknamed "Lac de Charmes," where it will be searching for rocks to sample in the coming year.

• An 'origami' airless wheel to explore lunar caves

  A joint research team from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and the Unmanned Exploration Laboratory (UEL) has developed a transformative wheel capable of navigating the moon's most extreme terrains, including steep lunar pits and lava tubes.

• Why most exoplanets are magma worlds

  In astronomy, there is a concept called "degeneracy." It has nothing to do with delinquent people, but instead is used to describe data that could be interpreted multiple ways. In some cases, that interpretation is translated into exciting new possibilities. But many times, when that happens, other, more mundane explanations are ignored for the publicity that the more interesting possibilities provide.

• Europe's Ariane 6 rocket puts EU navigation satellites in orbit

  Europe's new Ariane 6 rocket successfully placed two satellites into orbit to join the EU's rival to the GPS navigation system on Wednesday after the mission blasted off from French Guiana.

• Saturn's rings extend further above and below the ring plane, forming a 'halo'

  The Cassini probe took its final orbits, referred to as the Grand Finale Orbits (GFOs), in 2017, before launching itself into Saturn's atmosphere. During these GFOs, the probe collected samples of dust above and below Saturn's rings for analysis with its Cosmic Dust Analyzer (CDA). Now, researchers have published a new study in The Planetary Science Journal, revealing that this data indicates Saturn's famous rings extend much further above and below the ring plane than the thin rings we see through a telescope.

• Saturn's biggest moon might not have an ocean after all

  Careful reanalysis of data from more than a decade ago indicates that Saturn's biggest moon, Titan, does not have a vast ocean beneath its icy surface, as suggested previously. Instead, a journey below the frozen exterior likely involves more ice giving way to slushy tunnels and pockets of meltwater near the rocky core.

• Decaying dark matter: Unidentified X-ray emission lines in galaxy cluster spectra may point the way

  Scientists search for "decaying" dark matter (DDM) because it offers unique signatures like specific X-ray or gamma-ray lines or neutrino signals not seen in normal matter, potentially revealing dark matter's particle nature, mass and interactions, information that could illuminate the universe's structure. DDM is a theoretical model where dark matter particles aren't perfectly stable, but slowly decay over vast cosmic timescales into lighter dark matter particles and/or massless particles, leaving behind gravitational or electromagnetic signals.

• GoMars model simulates 50-year Martian dust cycle

  Mars is a dusty planet dominated by vast, dry deserts, with no easily accessible sources of liquid water. Much like on Earth, dust is lifted from Mars's surface by wind and rotating air columns, transported through the atmosphere, and deposited back onto the planet's surface via sedimentation. The Martian dust cycle is governed by multiple factors, including interactions between the planetary surface and atmosphere, seasonal variations, and the formation of massive dust storms that can span the globe.

• Novel Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe instrument delivers first-light data

  Southwest Research Institute's novel Compact Dual Ion Composition Experiment (CoDICE) instrument aboard NASA's Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) spacecraft has successfully collected first-light data. IMAP launched in September to help researchers better understand the boundary of the heliosphere, the magnetic bubble that surrounds and protects our solar system.

• Exploring the origins of the universe: 145 low-noise amplifiers complete ALMA telescopes

  The Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) in the Chilean Andes is one of the most powerful radio telescope facilities in the world. Researchers use it to study dark and distant regions of the universe in order to better understand how stars, planets, galaxies and life itself are formed.

• Image: Hatch thermal cover protects space station vestibule

  Clockwise from left, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Kimiya Yui and NASA astronauts Jonny Kim, Zena Cardman, and Mike Fincke pose for a playful portrait through a circular opening in a hatch thermal cover aboard the International Space Station on Sept. 18, 2025.

• NASA JPL tests future lunar craft with shake-up

  The same historic facilities that some 50 years ago prepared NASA's twin Voyager probes for their ongoing interstellar odyssey are helping to ready a towering commercial spacecraft for a journey to the moon. Launches involve brutal shaking and astonishingly loud noises, and testing in these facilities mimics those conditions to help ensure mission hardware can survive the ordeal.

• One of NASA's key cameras orbiting Mars takes 100,000th image

  After nearly 20 years on the Red Planet, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has snapped its 100,000th image of the surface with its HiRISE camera. Short for High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, HiRISE is the instrument the mission relies on for high-resolution images of features ranging from impact craters, sand dunes, and ice deposits to potential landing sites. Those images, in turn, help improve our understanding of Mars and prepare for NASA's future human missions there.