Astronomy

NASA and Boeing are still working on the thruster issues that Starliner experienced on its first crewed flight last year, and the spacecraft's next mission will likely launch without astronauts.

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Space weather ‘reporter’ Vigil will be the world’s first space weather mission to be permanently positioned at Lagrange point 5, a unique vantage point that allows us to see solar activity days before it reaches Earth. ESA’s Vigil mission will be a dedicated operational space weather mission, sending data 24/7 from deep space. 

Vigil’s tools as a space weather reporter at its unique location in deep space will drastically improve forecasting abilities. From there, Vigil can see ‘around the corner’ of the Sun and observe activity on the surface of the Sun days before it rotates into view from Earth. It can also watch the Sun-Earth line side-on, giving an earlier and clearer picture of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) heading toward Earth. 

Radiation, plasma and particles flung towards Earth by the Sun can pose a very real risk to critical infrastructure our society relies on. This includes satellites for navigation, communications and banking services as well as power grids and radio communication on the ground. 

A report by Lloyd’s of London estimates that a severe space weather event, caused by such an outburst of solar activity, could cost the global economy 2.4 trillion dollars over five years.  

ESA’s response to this growing threat is Vigil, a cornerstone mission of the Agency’s Space Safety Programme, planned for launch in 2031. Vigil’s data will give us drastically improved early warnings and forecasts, which in turn help protect satellites, astronauts and critical infrastructure on the ground that we all depend on. 

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A comparison of cut marks on bones reveals that Neanderthal groups living fairly close to each other had their own distinct ways of butchering animals

A comparison of cut marks on bones reveals that Neanderthal groups living fairly close to each other had their own distinct ways of butchering animals

Stars are forming in Lynds Dark Nebula

The Milky Way is surrounded by about 60 satellite galaxies. The famous ones are the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. But according to a new simulation, the Milky Way could have 80 and even 100 satellite galaxies that we haven't detected so far. These galaxies will be hard to find. They've had most of their mass stripped by the gravity of the Milky Way's halo. But new telescopes like Vera Rubin should be able to spot them.

Sometimes in order to support an idea, you first have to discredit alternative, competing ideas that could take resources away from the one you care about. In the scientific community, one of the most devastating ways you can do that is by making the other methods appear to be too expensive to be feasible, or, better yep, prove they wouldn’t work at all due to some fundamental limitation. That is what a recent paper by Dr. Slava Turyshev, the world’s most prominent proponent of a Solar Gravitational Lens (SGL) telescope mission, does. He examines how effective alternative telescope technologies would be at creating a 10x10 pixel map of an exoplanet about 32 light years away. Unsurprisingly, there’s only one that is able to do so without giant leaps and bounds in technology development - the SGL telescope.

Scientists have recreated the universe's first moments by smashing atomic nuclei together at near-light speeds, generating temperatures 1,000 times hotter than the Sun's core and briefly forming the same "soup" of fundamental particles that existed microseconds after the Big Bang. In this groundbreaking research, heavy particles act like tiny cosmic detectives, moving through this primordial matter and revealing how the chaotic early universe transformed into the structured reality we see today. By understanding how these massive particles behave under the most extreme conditions imaginable, researchers are essentially reading the universe's origin story written in the language of fundamental physics.

Eight children have been born in the UK using genetic material from three people, which appears to have prevented them from developing serious genetic conditions

Eight children have been born in the UK using genetic material from three people, which appears to have prevented them from developing serious genetic conditions

Eight children who were at risk of serious genetic conditions have hit all of their developmental milestones after donor mitochondria was used during their IVF conception

Observations of a pulsar, consisting of a dead star spinning 600 times a second, and feasting on a stellar companion reveal the source powering its emissions.

NASA will not host the U.S. government's primary climate assessment reports on its website after all, despite a White House claim that they would be available via the space agency.

These are the best cameras for children interested in photography, shooting videos and content creation, as tested and rated by our experts.

The fan favorite author of 'The Martian' admits, 'I'm really happy with how the film is turning out.'

Lightning-ignited Grand Canyon wildfires burn tens of thousands of acres, as NOAA’s GOES satellites continue to monitor the fires.

The high winds that birth dust devils can also revitalize robots by cleaning their solar cells.

Household energy expenses will rise, as will greenhouse gas emissions, as a result of the Trump administration's One Big Beautiful Bill Act

We are all talking about so-called "dark empaths" – but how would we know one if we met one? David Robson looks at the research behind the social media hype