It is clear to everyone that astronomy at all events compels the soul to look upwards, and draws it from the things of this world to the other.

— Plato

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NASA quietly ends financial support for planetary science groups

Scientific American.com - Wed, 01/21/2026 - 10:00am

The U.S. space agency will quit funding several independent science advisory groups this year

Categories: Astronomy

Deer may see hidden glowing signs in forests

Scientific American.com - Wed, 01/21/2026 - 10:00am

Deer antler rubs and hoof scrapes change how parts of the forest reflect short-wavelength light, perhaps leaving a glowing signal

Categories: Astronomy

ALMA Observes The Missing Link In Exoplanet Formation

Universe Today - Wed, 01/21/2026 - 9:39am

Back in 2014, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) captured an image of a young protoplanetary disk around a young star named HL Tauri. The image showed gaps and rings in the disk, substructures indicating that young planets forming there. This meant that planet formation began around young stars a lot sooner than thought. ALMA is continuing its investigation of protoplanetary disks in its ARKS survey (ALMA survey to Resolve exoKuiper belt Substructures).

Categories: Astronomy

Alex Garland’s The Bone Temple is brutal, brilliant - and mind-blowing

New Scientist Space - Cosmology - Wed, 01/21/2026 - 8:30am
This follow-up to the influential 28 Days Later continues to take the zombie movie franchise in a surprising and thought-provoking direction
Categories: Astronomy

Alex Garland’s The Bone Temple is brutal, brilliant - and mind-blowing

New Scientist Space - Space Headlines - Wed, 01/21/2026 - 8:30am
This follow-up to the influential 28 Days Later continues to take the zombie movie franchise in a surprising and thought-provoking direction
Categories: Astronomy

The New Composite That Heals Itself 1,000 Times

Universe Today - Wed, 01/21/2026 - 7:55am

Material science plays an absolutely critical role in space exploration. So when a new type of self-healing composite is announced, it’s worth a look–especially when the press release specifically calls out its ability to repair microtears associated with micrometeoroid impacts on satellites. It sounds like just such a composite material was recently invented at North Carolina State University - and it’s even already been spun out into a start-up company.

Categories: Astronomy

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ESO Top News - Wed, 01/21/2026 - 7:54am

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Categories: Astronomy

Watch three solar prominences erupt in epic video

Scientific American.com - Wed, 01/21/2026 - 7:00am

A European spacecraft caught rare footage of three successive prominences popping off the sun

Categories: Astronomy

Can science explain consciousness?

Scientific American.com - Wed, 01/21/2026 - 6:00am

A dive into how scientists are trying to understand what consciousness is and where it comes from

Categories: Astronomy

Octopuses prompt rethink of why animals evolve big brains

New Scientist Space - Cosmology - Wed, 01/21/2026 - 5:00am
A popular idea suggests a link between big brains and a rich social life, but octopuses don't fit the pattern, which suggests something else is going on
Categories: Astronomy

Octopuses prompt rethink of why animals evolve big brains

New Scientist Space - Space Headlines - Wed, 01/21/2026 - 5:00am
A popular idea suggests a link between big brains and a rich social life, but octopuses don't fit the pattern, which suggests something else is going on
Categories: Astronomy

California wildfire smoke linked to increased autism diagnoses, new study finds

Scientific American.com - Wed, 01/21/2026 - 5:00am

Children born to mothers who were exposed to smoke in southern California showed increased rates of autism, although the reason why is unclear

Categories: Astronomy

ESA at the European Space Conference 2026

ESO Top News - Wed, 01/21/2026 - 5:00am

The 18th European Space Conference (ESC) will take place on 27 and 28 January 2026 at the Square Convention Centre in Brussels, Belgium.

Categories: Astronomy

Magnetic avalanches power solar flares, finds Solar Orbiter

ESO Top News - Wed, 01/21/2026 - 3:00am

Just as avalanches on snowy mountains start with the movement of a small quantity of snow, the ESA-led Solar Orbiter spacecraft has discovered that a solar flare is triggered by initially weak disturbances that quickly become more violent. This rapidly evolving process creates a ‘sky’ of raining plasma blobs that continue to fall even after the flare subsides.

Categories: Astronomy

Legs made for a Mars landing 

ESO Top News - Wed, 01/21/2026 - 2:50am

To land on the right foot on the Red Planet, European engineers have been dropping a skeleton of the four-legged ExoMars descent module at various speeds and heights on simulated martian surfaces.

Categories: Astronomy

Plato and the Lunar Alps

APOD - Wed, 01/21/2026 - 12:00am

The dark-floored, 95 kilometer wide crater Plato and sunlit peaks of the


Categories: Astronomy, NASA

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APOD - Wed, 01/21/2026 - 12:00am

The Whirlpool Galaxy is a classic spiral galaxy.


Categories: Astronomy, NASA