Feed aggregator

All the sun’s planets are oddballs. But some are more so than others

The company says Mythos is too dangerous to release publicly. Cybersecurity experts agree the model's capabilities matter, but not all of them are buying the most alarming claims

An observation made by NASA’s SPHEREx mission reveals vast frozen complexes in the Cygnus X star-forming region of the Milky Way galaxy. The chemical signature of water ice is shown as bright blue structures, while polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are in orange.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/IPAC/Hora et al.

An observation made by NASA’s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer) shows the chemical signatures of water ice (shown in bright blue) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (orange) in Cygnus X, one of the most active and turbulent regions of star birth in our Milky Way galaxy. The image was released on April 15, 2026, along with a study detailing the observation.

One of SPHEREx’s main goals is to map the chemical signatures of various types of interstellar ice. This ice includes molecules like water, carbon dioxide, and carbon monoxide, which are vital to the chemistry that allows life to develop. Researchers believe these ice reservoirs, attached to the surfaces of tiny dust grains, are where most of the universe’s water is formed and stored. The water in Earth’s oceans — and the ices in comets and on other planets and moons in our galaxy — originates from these regions.

SPHEREx launched March 11, 2025, and has the unique ability to see the sky in 102 colors, each representing a different wavelength of infrared light that offers distinctive information about galaxies, stars, planet-forming regions, and other cosmic features.

Read more about what SPHEREx found.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/IPAC/Hora et al.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/IPAC/Hora et al.

An observation made by NASA’s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer) shows the chemical signatures of water ice (shown in bright blue) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (orange) in Cygnus X, one of the most active and turbulent regions of star birth in our Milky Way galaxy. The image was released on April 15, 2026, along with a study detailing the observation.

One of SPHEREx’s main goals is to map the chemical signatures of various types of interstellar ice. This ice includes molecules like water, carbon dioxide, and carbon monoxide, which are vital to the chemistry that allows life to develop. Researchers believe these ice reservoirs, attached to the surfaces of tiny dust grains, are where most of the universe’s water is formed and stored. The water in Earth’s oceans — and the ices in comets and on other planets and moons in our galaxy — originates from these regions.

SPHEREx launched March 11, 2025, and has the unique ability to see the sky in 102 colors, each representing a different wavelength of infrared light that offers distinctive information about galaxies, stars, planet-forming regions, and other cosmic features.

Read more about what SPHEREx found.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/IPAC/Hora et al.

Week in images: 13-17 April 2026

Discover our week through the lens

Author Rachel Zoffness breaks down why we have chronic pain and how science shows that it’s all in our head

Living long-term on the Moon means surviving the devastating toll that deep space takes on a human body. Astronauts in low gravity environments suffer muscle and bone loss, vision-altering fluid shifts, and heavy radiation exposure - all of which are incredibly hazardous to our biology. So, to help future lunar explorers survive, a new crew just arrived at the International Space Station (ISS). That might not sound surprising, except this crew is composed of worms.

As AI songs get harder to tell apart from human-made music, an older technology offers a revealing preview of the fight over artistry, labor and pay

Observations by the Mars Express orbiter reveal rapid changes on the Red Planet’s surface from windblown volcanic ash

Mars is well known as a static, frozen desert. We tend to think of the only thing changing on the surface of the Red Planet is due to the occasional dust storm. But if you look closely - and are willing to wait decades - you’ll see the planet is very much alive - at least in the environmental sense. The European Space Agency just released some spectacular new images from the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on its Mars Express Orbiter, one of which shows a surprisingly “fast” geological change happening in Utopia Planitia. A dark, ominous-looking blanket of volcanic ash is actively creeping across the bright red sands - and it's moving (relatively) fast.

How a few unique traits helped modern-style birds—the last living dinosaurs—survive the asteroid apocalypse that took out T. rex and other mighty beasts

The waxing Moon this week visits Venus, the Pleiades, and the Jupiter-Pollux-Castor triangle, then occults Regulus in a bright sky.

The post This Week's Sky at a Glance, April 17 – 26 appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

Changing your opinion can be difficult, and it’s sometimes even seen as a flaw. But research shows being open-minded has a host of benefits. Columnist David Robson finds there are a few simple ways to encourage yourself to withstand the discomfort that gets in the way of mental flexibility

Changing your opinion can be difficult, and it’s sometimes even seen as a flaw. But research shows being open-minded has a host of benefits. Columnist David Robson finds there are a few simple ways to encourage yourself to withstand the discomfort that gets in the way of mental flexibility

Cyclic cosmology, or the big bounce, is the idea that the universe will eventually crunch back together and then go through another big bang. Columnist Leah Crane finds that, appropriately, it’s coming back

Cyclic cosmology, or the big bounce, is the idea that the universe will eventually crunch back together and then go through another big bang. Columnist Leah Crane finds that, appropriately, it’s coming back

Image: This image from the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission captures the coast of Gabon in striking colours.

Earth Observatory

1. Science
2. Earth Observatory
3. Spring Rains Saturate Michigan

• Earth
• Earth Observatory
• Image of the Day
• EO Explorer
• Topics
• More Content
• About

Earth Observatory

1. Science
2. Earth Observatory
3. Spring Rains Saturate Michigan

• Earth
• Earth Observatory
• Image of the Day
• EO Explorer
• Topics
• More Content
• About