Astronomy

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Watch the media information session in which ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher and ESA Council Chair Renato Krpoun (CH) update journalists on the key decisions from the ESA Council meeting, held at ESA Headquarters in Paris on 19 and 20 March 2025.

The 3D cosmic map building DESI has provided more clues that dark energy is weakening over time, suggesting our best model of cosmic evolution could be wrong.

ESA's Strategy 2040

Read the Five Goals

Astronomers have discovered oxygen and heavy elements in the earliest galaxy ever seen, suggesting some galaxies as early as 300 million years after the Big Bang matured early.

From China to Brazil to Germany, huge numbers of people are addicted to shopping, driven in part by companies that use gaming strategies

Elon Musk and Donald Trump have announced ambitious plans to send a mission to Mars in 2026 and 2028. It’s not going to happen

Three studies show that a mouse will try to rouse an unconscious companion

A green energy plant expected to be built in Chile could increase night-time sky brightness at one of the world's most valuable astronomical sites by up to 35%

Spring officially begins today (March 20) with the vernal equinox, bringing longer days and warmer temperatures to the Northern Hemisphere.

Weather Girl, a play in London's Soho Theatre about a weather forecaster who finally snaps as the climate apocalypse looms, is frantic and funny

Weather Girl, a play in London's Soho Theatre about a weather forecaster who finally snaps as the climate apocalypse looms, is frantic and funny

Moon Pi and Mountain Shadow

Having a tattoo has been linked to a higher risk of conditions like lymphoma and skin cancer, but the situation isn't clear-cut

Having a tattoo has been linked to a higher risk of conditions like lymphoma and skin cancer, but the situation isn't clear-cut

As civilisations become more and more advanced, their power needs also increase. It’s likely that an advanced civilisation might need so much power that they enclose their host star in solar energy collecting satellites. These Dyson Swarms will trap heat so any planets within the sphere are likely to experience a temperature increase. A new paper explores this and concludes that a complete Dyson swarm outside the orbit of the Earth would raise our temperature by 140 K!

Health secretary RFK, Jr. has repeatedly suggested that farmers should let bird flu spread through flocks. Experts explain why that’s a dangerous idea

We know that regular supernovae pose no existential threat to life on Earth in the near-term. But there are other varieties of supernova that are a little bit harder to predict, and little bit harder to spot.

Dark Energy is a mystery so daunting that it stretches and strains our most robust theories. The Universe is expanding, driven by the unknown force that we've named Dark Energy. Dark Energy is also accelerating the rate of expansion. If scientists could figure out why, it would open up a whole new avenue of understanding.

Our current best theories of the universe suggest that dark energy is making it expand faster and faster, but new observations from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument suggest this mysterious force is actually growing weaker

Our current best theories of the universe suggest that dark energy is making it expand faster and faster, but new observations from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument suggest this mysterious force is actually growing weaker