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Hera Probe Sees Asteroid Pair Separately for First Time31 Oct 2026
Planetary defense is a growing concern among the scientific community, as efforts have been made to design and implement missions meant to deflect incoming threats to the Earth well in advance. In 2022, NASA intentionally collided the Double Asteroid Redirection test (DART) planetary defense spacecraft into the smaller asteroid of the binary asteroid, Didymos and Dimorphos, with the latter being…
What Could Split a Black Hole in Two?30 Oct 2026
We all know that black holes can collide. It has happened since black holes began to form, early in cosmic time. The result is always a clash that gives off gravitational waves and a giant bang. Since black holes have such strong gravity, it's almost impossible to imagine a way that any force could break one apart. Yet, that's the task that a group of scientists in Europe set for themselves.
Queen's University Belfast Students Find Neptune's Elusive Trojan Asteroids30 Oct 2026
Astronomers at Queen’s University Belfast have led an international team studying new solar system bodies near Neptune, helping to unravel the mysteries of our solar system’s evolution.
This Ancient Meteorite Hints at Mars' Warm, Wet Past30 Oct 2026
Ancient Martian meteorites are like time-capsules from the planet's past. They're delivered to us by impacts that launch them into space, where some of them find their way to Earth. One recently discovered meteorite found in the Sahara desert adds weight to the idea that Mars was once warm and wet, and possibly habitable.
This Gamma-Ray Burst Wasn't Dim, It Was Just Misunderstood30 Oct 2026
In March 2026, NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope detected a GRB with an unusual light signature. Its initial gamma radiation was dim, and the afterglow exhibited unusual, delayed peaks. As it turns out, we were seeing it from a side angle, and the GRB actually packed one billion years of the Sun’s energy output into a thin beam.
Earth’s “Impenetrable” Space Radiation Shield Was Just Breached From Within30 Oct 2026
Remember the big solar storm back in May 2024? The one that caused auroras as far south as Florida and Mexico? Scientists are still parsing out the impacts that storm had on the local environment, and a new paper published in Geophysical Research Letters by Yoshizumi Miyoshi of Nagoya University and his co-authors shows it might have allowed some nearby electrons to accelerate to relativistic…
How You Squeeze Planetary Minerals Changes Everything30 Oct 2026
Studying the interiors of planets is essential for understanding planetary formation, evolution, and their ability to potentially host life as we know it. To accomplish this, researchers use a combination of Earth as an analog, computer models, meteorites, and data collected from other planetary bodies for studying their interior compositions. As a result, scientists have determined that the…
It's a Ghost! No, It's a Stellar Crèche!29 Oct 2026
Astronomers using the Chandra X-ray Observatory (CXO), the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) zeroed in on a wispy-looking region of the Carina Nebula and found a ghostly looking cloud seemingly floating in isolation among the other clouds of gas and dust. Just in time for Hallowe'en, although, it turns out that little cloud isn't the soul of departed stars. Instead, it's a region of the nebula…
Examining the Cat's Head Nebula with the Hubble and JWST29 Oct 2026
Star formation is a complicated process. It involves metallicity, gas temperature and density, dust grains, and stellar feedback from existing stars. Sometimes, studying all these factors and how they work means studying some of Nature's most beautiful structures, like the Cat's Head nebula in the Carina Nebula.
A Brief-ish History of METI. Part II: From Interplanetary to Interstellar29 Oct 2026
The latter half of the 20th century saw a major expansion of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), accompanied by corresponding advances in Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence (METI). A key development was the first interstellar SETI and METI experiments: Project Ozma and the Arecibo Message.
No Comets Required? How the Growing Earth May Have Created Its Own Water29 Oct 2026
Earth may not have needed comets and asteroids to deliver its water after it formed and cooled. Instead, water creation could have been part of the planet's formation process. New research explains how, and even shows that water creation could be a part of every rocky planet's formation.
Colliding Dwarf Planets Created a 'Cat's Tail' 1,000 Astronomical Units Long29 Oct 2026
The Beta Pictoris system is only about 63 light years away. At only about 23 million years old, it's a sort of analogue for our Solar System when it was much younger. Observations show an elongated dust feature named the 'Cat's Tail' that has puzzled researchers. New research says it's the result of two colliding dwarf planets, something that was sure to have happened in our Solar System when it…
Astronomers Solve the Mystery of the Sun’s Spinning Plasma Jets29 Oct 2026
The torrent of corona related discoveries keeps coming. Lately we’ve covered a variety of potential solutions to the “coronal heating problem” - why the Sun’s corona is so much hotter than its surface. Now, a paper led by a team of researchers from the University of Newcastle, Indian Institute for Astrophysics, and University of Sheffield, offers another answer - that we’ve been viewing the…
Moon Habitats May Use Layered Mylar to Block Extreme Heat29 Oct 2026
Living on the Moon, with either trained astronauts or regular civilians, could become a regular occurrence in the near future. However, it’s easier said than done, as scientists and engineers continue developing new and advanced ways for protecting humans in the harsh lunar environment, which contrasts the mild and habitable temperatures of the Earth. The most important aspect is focusing on…
Virgin Galactic Flies Next-Gen Space Plane to New Home With New Name28 Oct 2026
Virgin Galactic is back in the spaceflight spotlight with the unveiling of a shiny new object: an updated Delta-class suborbital space plane with an exotic name.
NASA's New UV Space Telescope Will Launch in 203128 Oct 2026
NASA has committed to launching a new, more powerful UV space telescope. Named UVEX, the UltraViolet EXplorer, it will launch in 2031. It's about 100 times more powerful than its predecessor, GALEX, whose mission ended in 2013. UVEX will perform a survey in UV that will complement infrared surveys by other telescopes.
Betelgeuse Is Disturbed By Its Companion Star28 Oct 2026
Betelgeuse has a close-orbiting companion that disturbs the red supergiant into an egg-like shape. New observations show how the two stars interact and how this could help explain the varying brightness of Betelgeuse.
Ancient Comets Carried Organic Compounds, But They Didn't Survive Crashing Into Earth28 Oct 2026
Perhaps the biggest mystery we face is life on Earth started. One hypothesis says that comets, which are known to carry important chemicals in abiogenesis, delivered these compounds to Earth, leading to the appearance of life. But new research concludes that that is highly unlikely.
The Rubin Observatory Finds Its First Dwarf Planet Candidate28 Oct 2026
The Vera Rubin Observatory found a distant Solar System object before its decade-long Legacy Survey of Space and Time even got started. The object is a dwarf planet candidate named 2026 ED138, and if confirmed, it will be one of the largest dwarf planets beyond Neptune. It may be up to 1500 km in diameter.
The Leap Second is History. Long Live the 'Leap Hour'28 Oct 2026
Time and time-keeping is a hot topic once again, as many of us ‘fall back’ to Standard Time this coming weekend. Another time-related dilemma was also addressed this month, when a key conference did away with the leap second and the alignment of Universal Time (UT1) with Universal Coordinated Time (UTC). Somewhere off in the distant future, we’ll need to add minutes to the clock to come back…