• Ten grams from Phobos may reveal how Mars got its moons

    ByReet Kaur

    A sample weighing at least 10 g from Mars’ moon Phobos could contain enough individual grains for scientists to separate native moon material from contamination and test two competing ideas for how the Martian moons formed, according to the scientific framework developed for Japan’s Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission. The mission design links the chemistry, mineralogy and isotopic composition of those grains to a long-standing question: whether Phobos is a captured primitive body from elsewhere in the Solar System or material assembled after a giant impact on early Mars.

  • Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS lost meters of its surface, giving scientists a depth scale for its chemistry

    ByReet Kaur

    New calculations based on reported production rates indicate that interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS lost the equivalent of about 1.71–5.24 m (5.6–17.2 feet) of its radius from gas alone during its passage through the Solar System, while models that include dust produce erosion depths above 10 m (33 feet). The result gives researchers a way to relate the chemistry escaping from the comet to possible depths inside its nucleus, an important constraint when trying to determine how much of its observed material still reflects its history before entering the Solar System.

  • 3D simulations reveal how a nuclear burst could break apart a threatening asteroid

    ByReet Kaur

    Three-dimensional simulations developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory show how X-rays from a nuclear standoff burst can drive extensive damage and opposing material motion through a modeled asteroid. Two of three scenarios approached the regime associated with robust disruption, but the calculations ended before researchers could determine whether the resulting fragment field would meet the criteria for a successful disruption.

  • Decade-long California test shows which next-day earthquake forecasts hold up

    ByReet Kaur

    A decade-long prospective experiment in California found that selected short-term earthquake forecasting models remained statistically consistent with the number, locations and magnitudes of earthquakes recorded after their forecasts were issued. The test subjected 27 models to future observations rather than earthquakes already known during model development, providing an unusually long real-world assessment of whether operational-type forecasts retain statistical reliability outside retrospective testing.

  • Yellowstone lake sediments reveal 15 000 years of hydrothermal and wildfire change

    ByReet Kaur

    Hydrothermal input to five lakes in Yellowstone’s Lower Geyser Basin was greatest during wetter periods and lowest during dry intervals with reduced snowpack, according to a 15 000-year environmental reconstruction. The lake sediments also record increased wildfire activity during warmer, drier periods, according to a study summarized by the U.S. Geological Survey’s Yellowstone Volcano Observatory on September 21, 2026.

  • Newly discovered crater reveals how impacts reshape the Moon

    ByReet Kaur

    A newly discovered 222 m (728 feet) crater on the Moon is giving scientists a rare look at how a single impact can modify the lunar surface far beyond the crater itself. The crater, formed between April 11 and May 22, 2024, when an asteroid or comet fragment struck the Moon, is associated with changes in surface reflectance extending more than 100 km (62 miles) from the impact site and a broad thermal anomaly linked to disturbed regolith.

  • GNSS measurements reveal a subtle change in Earth’s global figure

    ByReet Kaur

    Global GNSS measurements show that Earth’s solid surface changed systematically between 1997 and 2015, with vertical motion at high and low latitudes producing a measurable shift in its global geometry. Polar uplift increased from about 0.5 mm/yr (0.02 inches/yr) in the late 1990s to nearly 1 mm/yr (0.04 inches/yr) in 2011–2015, according to research published on September 9, 2026.

  • Gulf Stream rapidly intensified after 2014, 31-year satellite record shows

    ByReet Kaur

    A 31-year satellite altimetry record shows that the Gulf Stream east of about 75°W underwent rapid surface intensification beginning around 2014, shifted northward and became less meandering after a prolonged weaker period. The strengthened state persisted through December 2023, while the study linked the transition to changes in subtropical North Atlantic wind forcing and a spin-up of the subtropical gyre.

  • Inouye Solar Telescope reveals ubiquitous Kelvin–Helmholtz vortices across solar photosphere

    ByReet Kaur

    The U.S. National Science Foundation’s Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope has provided the first experimental confirmation of magnetized Kelvin–Helmholtz instabilities in the solar photosphere, resolving vortex structures at about 19 km (12 miles) in observations near NOAA active region 14060 on April 14, 2025. The Nature study, published August 5, 2026, analyzed 47 vortices with a characteristic wavelength of 65 km (40 miles), sizes of 25–170 km (16–106 miles) and apparent horizontal speeds of 0.67–3.0 km/s (0.42–1.86 miles/s).

  • Faintest exoplanet imaged from Earth hid in Beta Pictoris data for 11 years

    ByReet Kaur

    Two independent teams announced the discovery of Beta Pictoris d on July 15, 2026, a gas giant orbiting the 23-million-year-old Beta Pictoris system about 63 light-years from Earth. The planet is the faintest exoplanet ever directly imaged from Earth after correcting for distance; a VLT team traced it through observations spanning 11 years, while a JWST team independently identified it through the molecular signature of its atmosphere.