Astronomy

What new methods can be developed in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI)? This is what a recent white paper submitted to the 2025 NASA Decadal Astrobiology Research and Exploration Strategy (DARES) Request for Information (RFI) hopes to address as a pair of researchers from the Breakthrough Listen project and Michigan State University discussed how high-energy astronomy could be used for identifying radio signals from an extraterrestrial technological civilization, also called technosignatures. This study has the potential to help SETI and other organizations develop novel techniques for finding intelligent life beyond Earth.

One of the most iconic cosmic scenes in the Universe lies nearly 3.8 billion light-years away from us in the direction of the constellation Carina. This is where two massive clusters of galaxies have collided. The resulting combined galaxies and other material is now called the Bullet Cluster, after one of the two members that interacted over several billion years. It's one of the hottest-known galaxy clusters, thanks to clouds of gas that were heated by shockwaves during the event. Astronomers have observed this scene with several different telescopes in multiple wavelengths of light, including X-ray and infrared. Those observations and others show that the dark matter makes up the majority of the cluster's mass. Its gravitational effect distorts light from more distant objects and makes it an ideal gravitational lens.

Earlier this year, asteroid 2024 YR4 was discovered and found to have a trajectory through the Earth/Moon system in 2032. The world's telescopes focused on the potential threat and downgraded the chance to negligible for the Earth...but it still has a non-zero chance of hitting the Moon. As the asteroid became too dim to continue observing, its Moon impact chance stood at 4%. When will we update this number? Not until it does another close flyby in 2028.

Astronomers have made a breakthrough by using 25 year old Hubble images to investigate a potential "rogue planet" drifting through space without a host star. When a brief gravitational microlensing event occurred in 2023, researchers discovered Hubble had photographed the same location in 1997, creating an unprecedented quarter century baseline. Finding no stellar companion in the archival data strengthened evidence for a rogue planet with mass between Earth and Saturn, demonstrating the scientific value of space telescope archives for studying these elusive worlds wandering the Galaxy alone.

Some of the most powerful supercomputers in the world are designed to simulate complex astrophysical processes, like what's happening inside a giant star as it's going supernova. But researchers have developed a new machine learning algorithm that was able to accurately simulate galaxy evolution with fewer computer resources and dramatically more quickly than a supercomputer, which could take years to fully process.

Astronomers once wondered if the Universe might one day collapse in on itself in a Big Crunch, but the discovery of dark energy suggested that the expansion of the Universe would accelerate, removing that possibility. New data from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument suggests that dark energy might be changing in strength over time, maybe even going negative. If that result holds, are we due for a Big Crunch? And how long would it take?

A cancer-killing virus could soon be approved for use after shrinking tumours in a third of people with late-stage melanoma

President Donald Trump says he withdrew the nomination of Jared Isaacman for NASA administrator after learning of his donations to Democratic political candidates.

Interest in the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin skyrocketed during the covid-19 pandemic, but evidence for many of its supposed health claims are lacking

The “One Big Beautiful Bill” just signed by President Trump will slash support for clean energy, leaving the US far short of its Paris Agreement pledge

Astronomers use algorithms to analyze the numerous images coming from space, but how accurate are they?

Lockheed Martin has unveiled a new proposal to take over NASA's beleaguered Mars Sample Return mission for less than half the current cost while achieving key science goals.

Ancient humans in Africa changed their behaviour in a major way 70,000 years ago, which could explain how their descendants managed to people the rest of the world

Here are the best Amazon Prime Day model rocket deals as we round up the biggest discounts ahead of the sales event, which launches on July 8.

"We know that some microbes on Earth can tolerate the range of pH found on Enceladus."

Putting aerosols in the stratosphere to reflect sunlight could prevent the shutdown of key ocean currents, but only if it is done soon, a computer model suggests

Radar signals from "leaky" civilian and military aviation systems could act as a beacon to alien life, revealing intelligent life on Earth while helping us pinpoint them.

Ordering takeaway food, writing emails, reworking presentations: AI assistants are promoted as a way of outsourcing mundane tasks to free up your time for more interesting pursuits. So, what are they actually good for – and what are the risks?

Find out what time the full moon rises on July 10, 2025, how to see the Buck Moon from your location, and why it looks bigger near the horizon.