Astronomy

Data from more than 18,000 people suggests that where excess fat is stored in the body influences its effects on brain structure, activity and health

Week in images: 15-19 September 2025

Discover our week through the lens

It’s a crowded galaxy, the latest exoplanet tally shows

Gauging the mass of a black hole is tricky, but astronomers have devised multiple methods to measure the heft of these galactic gluttons

For the first time, researchers have mathematically proven that a quantum computer can solve a particular task faster than an ordinary computer, in a way that can never be beaten

For the first time, researchers have mathematically proven that a quantum computer can solve a particular task faster than an ordinary computer, in a way that can never be beaten

Linguist Adam Aleksic explains how viral slang and algorithm-driven speech aren’t destroying language––they’re accelerating its natural evolution.

Hidden beneath the biggest ice mass on Earth, hundreds of subglacial lakes form a crucial part of Antarctica’s icy structure, affecting the movement and stability of glaciers, and consequentially influencing global sea level rise.

Thanks to a decade of data from the European Space Agency’s CryoSat satellite, researchers have identified 85 previously unknown lakes several kilometres under the frozen surface surrounding the South Pole. This increases the number of known active subglacial lakes below Antarctica by more than half to 231.

On these dark evenings the Perseus Double Cluster and the Andromeda Galaxy, M31, await in the northeast. They're only two fist-widths apart.

The post This Week's Sky at a Glance, September 19 – 28 appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

Image: This Copernicus Sentinel-2 image captures a cloud-free view over the island of Komodo in southeastern Indonesia.

The steerable 60 foot diameter dish antenna of the

Sometimes, it seems as if the Universe is literally smiling down upon us. If skies are clear this coming Friday September 19th, be sure to wake up early to catch a bizarre celestial scene as Venus, Regulus and the slim crescent Moon huddle together in the eastern dawn. This triple play is a complicated one, evolving one of the best conjunctions for 2025.

Gaia Proves Our Skies Are Filled with Chains of Starry Gatherings Gaia Proves Our Skies Are Filled with Chains of Starry Gatherings https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Gaia/Gaia_proves_our_skies_are_filled_with_chains_of_starry_gatherings

There are plenty of theories about what dark matter is and how it might be gravitationally affecting the universe. However, proving those theories out is hard since it hardly ever interacts with anything, especially on “small” scales like galaxies. So when a research team claims to have found evidence for dark matter in our own galaxy, it's worth taking a look at how. A new paper from Dr. Surkanya Chakrabati and her lab at the University of Alabama at Huntsville (UAH) does just that. They found evidence for a dark matter “sub-halo” in the galactic neighborhood, by looking at signals from binary pulsars.

A powerful magnitude 7.8 aftershock off Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula that arose from July’s magnitude 8.8 earthquake is raising concerns about possible tsunami impacts, although risk appears to be waning

Hormone replacement therapy used within five years of the onset of menopause is associated with a lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease, while starting it later in life is associated with an increased risk

Hormone replacement therapy used within five years of the onset of menopause is associated with a lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease, while starting it later in life is associated with an increased risk