Oh, would it not be absurd if there was no objective state?
What if the unobserved always waits, insubstantial,
till our eyes give it shape?

— Peter Hammill

Astronomy

Solar drone with wingspan wider than jumbo jet could fly for months

A pioneering solar-powered drone aircraft operated by Skydweller Aero will be used for maritime surveillance
Categories: Astronomy

Negative social ties, like frenemies, could be ageing you

Having someone in your life who hassles you or causes problems could be adding 2.5 months to your biological age
Categories: Astronomy

Neanderthals were probably maggot-munchers, not hyper-carnivores

It has been claimed Neanderthals ate a huge amount of meat based on isotope ratios in their bones – but the explanation could instead be a diet rich in maggots
Categories: Astronomy

We are undergoing unprecedented loss of freshwater across the planet

Rising temperatures are causing water to evaporate and driving humans to extract more groundwater, which is moving freshwater from the land to the seas and creating a "continental drying" trend
Categories: Astronomy

Astronaut makes 'space kimchi fried rice' in orbit as crew starts packing for trip home | On the ISS this week July 21-25, 2025

Space.com - 7 hours 46 min ago
The four members of SpaceX's Crew-10 mission on the Expedition 73 crew began packing for home, while also calling down to Earth to share their ongoing work aboard the ISS.
Categories: Astronomy

Not so fantastic: the less than glorious history of the Fantastic Four on the big screen

Space.com - 8 hours 16 min ago
Unlike other superhero superstars, the Fanastic Four have traditionally struggled with the transition to the big screen.
Categories: Astronomy

Meet the SpaceX Crew-11 astronauts launching to the ISS on July 31

Space.com - 8 hours 39 min ago
Crew-11 will launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 31 atop a Falcon 9 rocket, if all goes to plan.
Categories: Astronomy

Blue Origin to fly AI-powered space surveillance sensor on 1st flight of Blue Ring spacecraft

Space.com - 10 hours 29 min ago
Blue Origin has announced the payload for the first-ever flight of its Blue Ring spacecraft —Scout Space's Owl space domain awareness sensor.
Categories: Astronomy

The Surprising Math and Physics behind the 2026 Trionda World Cup Soccer Ball

Scientific American.com - 10 hours 46 min ago

Here’s how the new tetrahedron-based design for the “Trionda” soccer ball may affect next year’s big game

Categories: Astronomy

Heat Dome Temperatures May Break Records in Eastern U.S.

Scientific American.com - 11 hours 16 min ago

Tens of millions of people are already under heat alerts, and the worst is yet to come

Categories: Astronomy

Betelgeuse's Companion Has Been Found — Or Has It?

Sky & Telescope Magazine - 12 hours 8 min ago

A new image from the Gemini Observatory might show a stellar companion to Betelgeuse, but the discovery is tentative.

The post Betelgeuse's Companion Has Been Found — Or Has It? appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

Categories: Astronomy

Major carbon sink may have vanished for a second year in a row

Record heat in 2024 caused ecosystems on land to emit nearly as much carbon dioxide as they took out of the atmosphere
Categories: Astronomy

Senegal becomes 56th country to sign Artemis Accords for peaceful space exploration

Space.com - 12 hours 46 min ago
Senegal has officially joined the Artemis Accords, becoming the 56th nation — and the fourth African country — to commit to a shared vision for peaceful and transparent space exploration.
Categories: Astronomy

Week in images: 21-25 July 2025

ESO Top News - 13 hours 36 min ago

Week in images: 21-25 July 2025

Discover our week through the lens

Categories: Astronomy

NASA or the Space Force: Who should protect Earth from dangerous asteroids?

Space.com - 13 hours 46 min ago
NASA currently leads the nation's planetary defense efforts, but some are calling for the Space Force to take control.
Categories: Astronomy

When Moon Dust Becomes a Weapon!

Universe Today - 14 hours 23 min ago

Every time a spacecraft touches down on the moon, it creates a spectacular but dangerous light show of dust and debris that could threaten future lunar bases. Now, after decades of mystery, scientists have finally figured out why these dust clouds form such distinctive patterns and the answer could be crucial for humanity's return to the Moon.

Categories: Astronomy

A New Supernova Study Suggests Dark Energy Might be Weakening

Universe Today - 14 hours 23 min ago

Scientists have created the largest catalogue of exploding stars ever assembled, and it's telling us something surprising about the mysterious force driving our universe apart. After analyzing over 2,000 stellar explosions spanning billions of years, researchers have found hints that dark energy, the force making up 70% of our universe, may not be the constant we once thought. Instead, it appears to be changing over time, potentially even weakening!

Categories: Astronomy

ExoMars Tests Its Parachute By Dropping From The Stratosphere

Universe Today - 14 hours 23 min ago

Recreating the environment that most spacecraft experience on their missions is difficult on Earth. Many times it involves large vacuum chambers or wind tunnels that are specially designed for certain kinds of tests. But sometimes, engineers get to just do larger scale versions of the things they got to do in high school. That is the case for a recent test of ExoMars’s parachute system. A team of ESA engineers and their contractors performed a scaled up egg-drop test common in physics classes across the world. Except this one involved a stratospheric balloon the size of a football field and a helicopter.

Categories: Astronomy

Astronomers Find Five Rocky Planets Around a Small Red Dwarf, Including a Super-Earth in the Habitable Zone

Universe Today - 14 hours 23 min ago

NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) detected three rocky planets around the M-dwarf L 98-59 in 2019. While two are expected to be hot, rocky worlds, the third could be covered by a global ocean. A fourth planet was discovered in 2021, and now, additional study has revealed a fifth planet, a super-Earth in the star's habitable zone.

Categories: Astronomy

NASA’s Artemis Albatross

Universe Today - 14 hours 23 min ago

While all the technology of the Apollo program still exists in the form of blueprints and designs, all the human expertise that went into crafting those rockets and spaceships is now either retired or passed away.

Categories: Astronomy