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.
The European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency signed a Memorandum of Cooperation on planetary defence and a dedicated Ramses mission agreement in Berlin, Germany, on May 7, 2026. Ramses is planned to rendezvous with asteroid (99942) Apophis before its safe close flyby of Earth on April 13, 2029.
Solar Cycle 25 remains in an active phase after reaching its peak sunspot number in late 2024, but major solar storms remain possible as the cycle declines, NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) research scientist Mark Miesch said in a video update posted on May 1, 2026. Solar activity is forecast to gradually decrease in the coming years, but the declining phase can still produce strong flares, CMEs, and geomagnetic storms.
JAXA’s Hayabusa2# spacecraft is scheduled to perform an ultra-close flyby of asteroid Torifune at high speed on July 5, 2026, with a planned closest approach of 1–10 km (0.6–6.2 miles) from the asteroid’s center at approximately 5.25 km/s. The encounter involves a small body about 450 m (1 480 feet) in diameter and will be conducted under limited pointing capability during a short observation window.
SOHO coronagraph imagery captured a distinct change in the ion tail of comet C/2025 R3 (PANSTARRS) during its April 2026 perihelion passage, with the tail brightening and aligning away from the Sun. The observation occurred as the comet approached within approximately 72 million km (45 million miles) of Earth.
A multinational analysis of more than 235 000 meteors has revealed a previously unconfirmed meteoroid stream in the southern Virginid region. The newly validated stream appears to originate from a rocky object on a Sun-skimming orbit, adding fresh evidence that thermally driven breakdown can supply dust and meteoroids to near-Earth space.
A measurable increase in large fireball events was recorded during the first quarter of 2026, and the strongest evidence for that shift comes from a new analysis by the American Meteor Society (AMS), which reviewed its fireball database back to 2011 and focused on Q1 patterns during the mature reporting era of 2021–2026. Their main…
All five canonical nucleobases used in DNA and RNA were identified in pristine samples returned from asteroid Ryugu by Japan’s Hayabusa2 mission, according to a study published in Nature Astronomy on March 16, 2026. The results support the view that key prebiotic compounds can form through non-biological processes in extraterrestrial environments and may have contributed to early Earth’s chemical inventory.
Extreme deuterium enrichment measured in both water and methane in the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS suggests formation in a very cold environment (≲30 K) and possibly early in the history of the Milky Way, according to two preprint studies based on James Webb Space Telescope observations conducted on December 22 and 23, 2025. The isotopic compositions differ sharply from those measured in known Solar System comets and point to formation in an environment chemically distinct from that of the Solar System.
Eight bright fireballs were reported over the U.S. between March 3 and 24, 2026, drawing renewed attention to a seasonal increase in fireball activity often seen around the March equinox. NASA has long said sporadic fireball rates can rise by about 10% to 30% during this period, a pattern recognized for more than four decades, even though its cause remains unresolved.
A 225 m (738 feet) impact crater that formed on the Moon in late spring 2024 has been identified in imagery from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, marking the largest crater found to have formed during the mission. According to crater production models, an impact large enough to create a crater of this size should occur only once every 139 years.
