The exploration of celestial bodies and cosmic phenomena beyond Earth. This field seeks to uncover the mysteries of the universe, including the nature of stars, planets, galaxies, and the laws governing space and time.
Astronauts are expected to travel around the Moon for the first time in more than 50 years during NASA’s Artemis II mission, scheduled for 2026. The crew will orbit the Moon aboard the Orion spacecraft, providing data on the effects of deep space travel on humans that will guide planning for future missions.
European Space Agency (ESA) released a new three-dimensional map of stellar nurseries within 4 000 light-years (1 225 parsecs) of the Sun, built from Gaia mission data and advanced simulations. The map, the most detailed of its kind, reveals how massive stars carve vast cavities in interstellar gas and provides fresh insight into the Milky Way’s recent star-forming history.
A study published in Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society this month confirmed asteroid 2025 PN7 as Earth’s smallest and most unstable quasi-moon. While this asteroid was detected just over a month ago, observations suggest it’s been with us for about 70 years and is expected to remain a quasi-satellite orbit for another 128 years.
Astronomers may have uncovered evidence of a hidden world – “Planet Y” – whose gravity could be warping the Kuiper Belt. If confirmed, it would represent a new addition to the solar system, distinct from the debated Planet Nine.
The James Webb Space Telescope detected an 8-light-year stellar jet in the Sharpless 2-284 nebula, located 15 000 light-years from Earth in the outer Milky Way, according to a study accepted in The Astrophysical Journal on September 10, 2025.
Liquid water flowed on the parent body of asteroid Ryugu more than 1 billion years after its formation, according to a study published on September 11, 2025, based on Hayabusa2 mission samples.
Magnetic activity cycles were detected in 138 Sun-like stars in a study led by Macquarie University, Australia, published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society on May 8, 2025.
A dark companion to the Sun may be hiding in the Oort Cloud. If confirmed, it would reshape our understanding of Solar System dynamics and mark one of the most significant discoveries in modern astronomy.
The traditional picture of galaxies places black holes in their centers, where abundant gas and stars fuel their growth. But this view is increasingly challenged. Astronomers now know that some black holes wander away from the nucleus, either because of gravitational recoil after mergers or interactions with other massive objects. These “off-nuclear” or “wandering” black…
Astronomers detected a highly unusual gamma-ray burst (GRB), designated GRB 250702B, that repeated multiple times over the course of nearly 24 hours. The initial detection came on July 2, from NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, which recorded three distinct bursts from the same source within several hours. Retrospective analysis of data from the Einstein Probe,…
