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.
A new study published recently in Geophysical Research Letters finds that Apollo 17’s sample 76535, a 4.25 billion-year-old troctolite, may have been lifted to the surface during the formation of the Serenitatis Basin on the Moon’s nearside.
A team of Auburn University physicists using NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory has detected water’s ultraviolet fingerprint in interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS. The discovery, published on September 30, 2025, in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, marks the first confirmed ultraviolet detection of water from a comet that originated beyond our solar system.
Researchers from Brown University reported that Apollo 17 samples sealed since 1972 contain exotic sulfur isotopes, revealing a lunar mantle signature unlike any found on Earth.
Astronomers using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile confirmed an extraordinary accretion event in a free-floating planet known as Cha J11070768-7626326, or Cha 1107-7626. Located about 620 light-years (190 parsecs) away in the constellation Chamaeleon, this world is growing faster than any planet ever observed.
The European Space Agency’s (ESA) ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) and Mars Express spacecraft recorded images of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS on October 3, 2025, from about 30 million km (18.6 million miles) away, marking the closest observation of the object from any spacecraft so far.
A reanalysis of NASA’s 1978 Pioneer Venus mission data, published on September 26, 2025, reveals that the planet’s clouds contain about 60% water bound in hydrated minerals, challenging decades of assumptions that they are made mostly of sulfuric acid.
A study published in the Astrophysical Journal on October 1, 2025, shows that sudden plasma rain in the Sun’s atmosphere is caused by shifting elemental abundances, solving a decades-old puzzle.
NASA scientists are preparing mission scenarios to prevent asteroid 2024 YR4, a 60 m (197 feet) object, from striking the Moon on December 22, 2032, where it carries about a 4 percent impact probability.
A study published recently in Cosmic Research examined thermosphere density and global electron content during 130 Starlink satellite launches from 2019–2023, revealing how space weather disturbances directly affect launch outcomes.
A study published in Geophysical Research Letters finds that ancient rivers on Mars show hydrodynamic patterns consistent with flowing into a northern ocean, reshaping views of the planet’s water history.
