Science

NASA’s TESS and Hubble Capture Best Look Yet at Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS

A rare January alignment let TESS track 3I/ATLAS for days and Hubble image its backlit dust and jets, yielding the best profile yet of an alien comet.

#nasa, #hubble, #tess, #comet, #interstellar

James Webb Telescope Watches Baby Star Forge Crystals and Blow Them Toward Comet Zones

Webb tracked a young star’s outbursts as they turned dust into crystalline minerals and lofted them outward—explaining crystals found in icy comets.

#jwst, #astronomy, #protostars, #comets, #planetformation

NASA’s Artemis II Moon Mission Faces Crucial Wet Dress Rehearsal at Kennedy Space Center

NASA will fuel its SLS rocket in a high-stakes wet dress rehearsal that could set—or slip—the Artemis II crewed lunar flyby launch date.

#nasa, #artemis, #moonmission, #spacelaunchsystem, #orion

China team captures first direct images of the Migdal effect, opening a new path in dark-matter searches

Six rare events recorded in a Beijing-area lab provide the first direct observation of the Migdal effect, bolstering strategies to detect light dark matter.

#darkmatter, #particlephysics, #quantumphysics, #chinascience, #detectors

‘Cotton-candy’ planets around young star offer rare glimpse of how worlds shrink with age

Four ultra-puffy planets orbiting 20-million-year-old V1298 Tau reveal how newborn worlds lose atmospheres and contract into common super-Earths.

#exoplanets, #astronomy, #nasa, #planetformation, #jwst

Antarctic penguins are breeding earlier as the Peninsula rapidly warms, study finds

Time-lapse cameras show Adélie, chinstrap and gentoo penguins beginning breeding up to two weeks earlier per decade on the fast-warming Antarctic Peninsula.

#climatechange, #penguins, #antarctica, #ecology, #wildlife

Solar Orbiter Captures ‘Magnetic Avalanche’ Building a Major Solar Flare

ESA’s Solar Orbiter watched a big flare ignite through a cascade of tiny magnetic failures, supporting long-standing avalanche models and aiding space-weather forecasting.

#solarorbiter, #solarflare, #spaceweather, #esa, #astronomy

Webb Confirms ‘Normal’ Galaxy From Cosmic Dawn, 310 Million Years After the Big Bang

A Webb spectrum pins PAN-z14-1 at redshift 13.53, revealing a large, bright but weak-line galaxy that hints at early diversity.

#jameswebb, #astronomy, #galaxies, #cosmicdawn, #arxiv

New AI ‘Deep Research’ System Sets Record on Bioinformatics Benchmark, Hinting at Lab-Partner Role

A multi-agent AI dubbed Deep Research tops BixBench, a tough bioinformatics test, suggesting AI could soon assist scientists beyond chat-style Q&A.

#ai, #bioinformatics, #computationalbiology, #arxiv

Six fleeting tracks confirm Migdal effect, bolstering light dark-matter searches

A China-led team reports the first five-sigma observation of the Migdal effect in neutron scattering, validating a key assumption in light dark-matter hunts.

#physics, #darkmatter, #quantum, #china, #neutrons

Oceans Set New Heat Record in 2025, Study Finds, Even as Surface Temperatures Ease

A study finds ocean heat hit a record in 2025, adding vast energy to the upper 2,000 meters—fueling sea-level rise, storms and coral stress.

#climatechange, #oceanheat, #sealevelrise, #marineheatwaves, #lanina

Rare Severe Solar Storm Lights Up Skies Far South as NOAA Issues S4 Radiation, G4 Geomagnetic Alerts

A powerful solar flare and Earth-directed CME triggered rare S4 radiation and G4 geomagnetic storm levels, expanding auroras deep into the U.S.

#spaceweather, #aurora, #solarstorm, #noaa

Antarctic Peninsula Penguins Are Breeding Earlier as Region Warms Rapidly, Study Finds

Time-lapse cameras show gentoo, Adélie and chinstrap penguins advancing breeding by up to two weeks per decade, tracking fast warming on the Antarctic Peninsula.

#antarctica, #penguins, #climatechange, #wildlife, #krill

2025 Ranks Among Hottest Years on Record, Even as La Niña Offered Little Relief

New datasets show 2025 among the three warmest years globally and the fourth-warmest in the U.S., with oceans, ice and extremes reflecting sustained warming.

#climatechange, #globalwarming, #lanina, #extremeweather, #noaa

NASA Taps Seven U.S. Firms to Mature Tech for Habitable Worlds Telescope

NASA awarded seven U.S. companies three-year contracts to advance optics, coronagraphs and servicing tech for the proposed Habitable Worlds Observatory.

#nasa, #exoplanets, #space-telescope, #optics, #coronagraph