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The black hole at the centre of a galaxy more than 50 million light years away is spewing out a jet of extremely hot plasma – though we have studied it for a century, we are only now seeing it in great detail

The black hole at the centre of a galaxy more than 50 million light years away is spewing out a jet of extremely hot plasma – though we have studied it for a century, we are only now seeing it in great detail

Scientists found new gecko species hidden in plain sight in pristine deserts of southern Africa, thanks to their loud, barking mating calls

The European Space Agency (ESA) and the Australian Space Agency (ASA) will pursue new ways of working together following discussions during the 76th International Astronautical Congress in Sydney, Australia.

A new article published in The Astrophysical Journal explores a new theory of how Type Ia supernovae, the powerful stellar explosions that astronomers use to measure distances across the universe, might be triggered. Traditionally, these supernovae occur when a white dwarf star explodes after interacting with a companion star. But this explanation has limitations, leaving open questions about how these events line up with the consistent patterns astronomers actually observe.

A study of Saturn's atmospheric structure using data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has revealed complex and mysterious features unseen before on any planet in our Solar System. The results were presented last week by Professor Tom Stallard of Northumbria University, at the EPSC-DPS2025 Joint Meeting in Helsinki.

Mars holds a special place in my heart being the second planet I saw through a telescope. It’s probably fair to say that it’s held a special place for many as we continue to explore the fascinating world that is the red planet. Scientists studying Mars have recently uncovered a seasonal phenomenon that could change our understanding of the potential for it to support life. Their discovery, a swirling polar vortex that forms of the Martian north pole every winter.

Tumbleweeds offer iconic visual depictions of desolate landscapes. Though typically associated with the American West, the most common type of tumbleweed actually originated in Europe, and is known scientifically as salsola targus, or more commonly as Russian thistle. So its only fitting that a team led by European scientists has some up with an idea based on the tumbleweed’s unique properties that could one day have groups of them exploring Mars.

Visual observations have, over the years had to battle light pollution, weather, aircraft and even satellite constellations. Radio observations have until recently, been reasonably well protected however in their attempt to preserve the “quiet skies” a team of radio astronomers have secured a significant victory. For the first time, they've joined forces with the International Special Committee on Radio Interference, a committee that sets global standards for preventing electronic interference.

Are we alone in the universe? It’s a question that has plagued us since the ancient Greeks posed it for the first time in the 5th century and since then we have tried all manner of ways to reach out to our alien cousins….if they exist. We have fixed golden plaques to space probes, beamed messages out from radio telescopes and in 2012 even sent 10,000 ‘X’ (formerly twitter) messages out to three star systems with the hashtag #ChasingUFOs! A new tool has been developed, rather mundane compared to these other examples, which is no bigger than a soft drink can and could detect signs of life on alien worlds with unprecedented precision.

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Curiosity Blog, Sols 4668-4674: Winding Our Way Along NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image of the ridge in front of it, which it was scheduled to drive down the weekend of Sept. 27-28, 2025. To either side of the ridge are two hollows, nicknamed “Laguna Escondida” (left) and “Laguna Socompa” (right). Curiosity used its Left Navigation Camera to capture the image on Sept. 26, 2025 — Sol 4671, or Martian day 4,671 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — at 12:54:44 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech

Written by Alex Innanen, Atmospheric Scientist at York University

Earth planning date: Friday, Sept. 26, 2025

We are continuing through the boxwork region, taking a twisty-turny path along the ridges (many of which are conveniently Curiosity-sized). One thing we’re keeping an eye out for is our next drill location in one of the hollows. Our most recent drive put us right in the middle of two such hollows, which we’ve named “Laguna Escondida,” and “Laguna Socompa.” As we’re keeping an eye out for a good spot to drill though, we’re still using our normal suite of instruments to continue our investigation of the boxwork structures. 

This week, we’ve had six contact science targets along the tops of the ridges, which have given MAHLI and APXS plenty to do. ChemCam and Mastcam have also been keeping busy, with several LIBS measurements from ChemCam and mosaics from both, of targets near and far. We’re not only interested in imaging the hollows to scope out our next drill site but also in continuing to investigate the structure of the ridges, and look further afield at the more distant boxwork structures and buttes around us.  

On Monday, I was on shift as the science theme lead for the environmental science theme group (ENV). We’re coming up to the end of the cloudy season in just over a week. As a result, we’ve been making the most of the clouds while they’re still here with our suite of cloud movies — the shorter suprahorizon and zenith movies, which we use to look at clouds’ properties directly overhead and just over the horizon; a survey to see how the brightness of the sky and clouds change with direction, which consists of nine cloud movies all around the rover; and the cloud altitude observation, which uses shadows cast by clouds to, as its name suggests, infer the height of the clouds. Once the cloudy season is over the number of water-ice clouds we see above Gale crater decreases dramatically, so we shelve the two longer observations for another year and just use the zenith and suprahorizon movies to monitor cloud activity. 

The end of the cloudy season does bring about the start of the dusty season though, where more dust gets lifted into the atmosphere and the lovely view of the crater rim that we’ve been enjoying gets a bit hazier. We monitor this with our regular line-of-sight and tau observations. We also tend to see more dust-lifting activity, like dust devils, which we keep an eye on with 360-degree surveys and dedicated movies. With the ever-changing atmosphere, there’s always something for ENV to do. 

• Want to read more posts from the Curiosity team?

  
  
  Visit Mission Updates
  
  

• Want to learn more about Curiosity’s science instruments?

  
  
  Visit the Science Instruments page
  
  

NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity at the base of Mount Sharp NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

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Sep 29, 2025

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5 min read Curiosity Blog, Sols 4661-4667: Peaking Into the Hollows

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Mars

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun, and the seventh largest. It’s the only planet we know of inhabited…

All Mars Resources

Explore this collection of Mars images, videos, resources, PDFs, and toolkits. Discover valuable content designed to inform, educate, and inspire,…

Rover Basics

Each robotic explorer sent to the Red Planet has its own unique capabilities driven by science. Many attributes of a…

Mars Exploration: Science Goals

The key to understanding the past, present or future potential for life on Mars can be found in NASA’s four…

Curiosity Navigation

• Curiosity Home
• Science
• News and Features
• Multimedia
• Mars Missions
• Mars Home

3 min read

Curiosity Blog, Sols 4668-4674: Winding Our Way Along NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image of the ridge in front of it, which it was scheduled to drive down the weekend of Sept. 27-28, 2025. To either side of the ridge are two hollows, nicknamed “Laguna Escondida” (left) and “Laguna Socompa” (right). Curiosity used its Left Navigation Camera to capture the image on Sept. 26, 2025 — Sol 4671, or Martian day 4,671 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — at 12:54:44 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech

Written by Alex Innanen, Atmospheric Scientist at York University

Earth planning date: Friday, Sept. 26, 2025

We are continuing through the boxwork region, taking a twisty-turny path along the ridges (many of which are conveniently Curiosity-sized). One thing we’re keeping an eye out for is our next drill location in one of the hollows. Our most recent drive put us right in the middle of two such hollows, which we’ve named “Laguna Escondida,” and “Laguna Socompa.” As we’re keeping an eye out for a good spot to drill though, we’re still using our normal suite of instruments to continue our investigation of the boxwork structures. 

This week, we’ve had six contact science targets along the tops of the ridges, which have given MAHLI and APXS plenty to do. ChemCam and Mastcam have also been keeping busy, with several LIBS measurements from ChemCam and mosaics from both, of targets near and far. We’re not only interested in imaging the hollows to scope out our next drill site but also in continuing to investigate the structure of the ridges, and look further afield at the more distant boxwork structures and buttes around us.  

On Monday, I was on shift as the science theme lead for the environmental science theme group (ENV). We’re coming up to the end of the cloudy season in just over a week. As a result, we’ve been making the most of the clouds while they’re still here with our suite of cloud movies — the shorter suprahorizon and zenith movies, which we use to look at clouds’ properties directly overhead and just over the horizon; a survey to see how the brightness of the sky and clouds change with direction, which consists of nine cloud movies all around the rover; and the cloud altitude observation, which uses shadows cast by clouds to, as its name suggests, infer the height of the clouds. Once the cloudy season is over the number of water-ice clouds we see above Gale crater decreases dramatically, so we shelve the two longer observations for another year and just use the zenith and suprahorizon movies to monitor cloud activity. 

The end of the cloudy season does bring about the start of the dusty season though, where more dust gets lifted into the atmosphere and the lovely view of the crater rim that we’ve been enjoying gets a bit hazier. We monitor this with our regular line-of-sight and tau observations. We also tend to see more dust-lifting activity, like dust devils, which we keep an eye on with 360-degree surveys and dedicated movies. With the ever-changing atmosphere, there’s always something for ENV to do. 

• Want to read more posts from the Curiosity team?

  
  
  Visit Mission Updates
  
  

• Want to learn more about Curiosity’s science instruments?

  
  
  Visit the Science Instruments page
  
  

NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity at the base of Mount Sharp NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Share

• 
  
  
• 
  
  
• 
  
  
• 
  
  

Details

Last Updated

Sep 29, 2025

Related Terms

• Blogs

Explore More

5 min read Curiosity Blog, Sols 4661-4667: Peaking Into the Hollows

Article


6 days ago

1 min read The Ancient Mars Variety Show

Article


1 week ago

3 min read Curiosity Blog, Sols 4655-4660: Boxworks With a View

Article


2 weeks ago

Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA

Mars

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun, and the seventh largest. It’s the only planet we know of inhabited…

All Mars Resources

Explore this collection of Mars images, videos, resources, PDFs, and toolkits. Discover valuable content designed to inform, educate, and inspire,…

Rover Basics

Each robotic explorer sent to the Red Planet has its own unique capabilities driven by science. Many attributes of a…

Mars Exploration: Science Goals

The key to understanding the past, present or future potential for life on Mars can be found in NASA’s four…

Mysterious flashes of light seen in swamps and bogs could be caused by burning methane or other gases, ignited by sparks that fly between bubbles in water

Mysterious flashes of light seen in swamps and bogs could be caused by burning methane or other gases, ignited by sparks that fly between bubbles in water

The JWST examined the most vigorous star-forming region in the entire galaxy. It's called Sagittarius B2, and while astronomers have studied it in detail, no other telescope reveals its details the way the JWST can.

Imagine an engine with no moving parts that runs on continuous explosions. I’m actually sure I one saw a hilarious video of such a device some years ago but alas, am unable to find it and share. Still, the image of the poor occupants being constantly pressed into their seats and accelerated in a series of explosions is likely to be quite a long way from the reality of the new Rotation Detonation Engine. The team of researchers Lehigh University are behind the idea and have just received $2 million to solve the biggest challenge standing in its way, finding materials to build the thing out of that are tough enough to survive the punishment.

Interference from human activity has always been a sticking point in astronomical observations. Radio astronomy is notoriously sensitive to unintentional interference - hence why there are “radio silent” zones near telescopes where cell phones are banned. But gravitational wave astronomy is affected to an even worse degree than radio astronomy, according to a new paper by Reed Essick of the University of Toronto, and it’s not clear there’s much we can do about it.

What can exoplanets orbiting M-dwarf stars teach scientists about planetary formation and evolution? This is what a recent study submitted to the American Astronomical Society journals hopes to address as a team of researchers investigated the possibility of exo-Titans, exoplanets with atmospheres comprised of nitrogen and methane like Saturn’s moon Titan, orbiting M-dwarf stars, which are smaller and cooler than our Sun. this study has the potential to help scientists better understand the formation and evolution of exoplanets orbiting M-dwarf stars and whether they could possess life as we know it.

When astronauts head out into space they are protected from deadly radiation by their spacecraft and on space walks, their space suit. Back on Earth, we too are protected but by an invisible bubble that’s known as the heliosphere. The heliosphere has been subjected to numerous studies over the years but NASA’s newest mission is set to give us the most detailed of it map ever created.

A phenomenon called microlightning may explain ghostly blue marsh lights