In a recent study, researchers at the international MEGATRON project used some of the most detailed simulations of the early Universe to investigate how the first stars and galaxies formed.

The core of the Milky Way is a dense, active, messy region, dominated by a supermassive black hole called Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) hiding at the heart of the galaxy. But Sgr A* is only a supporting actor in this stunning new image from the Chandra X-ray Observatory.

Supermassive black holes generate tremendous amounts of energy through their accretion disks and jets. But they can also generate energy through the magnetic Penrose process. A new study looks at how we might observe this process through multimessenger astronomy.

Deep space travel comes with a huge potential downside - radiation exposure that can kill an astronaut either quickly or slowly over time if not managed correctly. But what exactly does that mean, and is there any way to handle it other than sticking more and more protective layers between the squishy biological systems inside a spacecraft and the radiative void of deep space? A new paper from researchers at Oklahoma State University and the University of Texas Health Science Center hopes to answer both questions, and while the causes of radiation they point out are complex, they also offer some potential solutions as well.

Heat shields are undeniably one of the most important parts of any spacecraft that intends to enter an atmosphere. And the material they are made out of is absolutely critical. Improving them has been a bit of a challenge though, as typically researchers only get “before” and “after” pictures of when the heat shield completes its job of helping a spacecraft land safely back on Earth. That changed recently, though, with a collaboration between NASA and the Advanced Light Source (ALS) located at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, which allowed researchers to watch a heat shield fall apart in real time.

Using data from the Japan-led XRISM observatory, astronomers have directly observed a giant star’s stellar wind captured by its compact companion (triggering X-ray flares) for the first time.

Asteroid sample return missions have brought well preserved samples of the early solar system (that hadn’t been roasted in a fireball) back to Earth for the first time. But those samples, like the OSIRIS-REx sample from asteroid (101955) Bennu, sometimes provide more questions than answers. A new paper, published in Science Advances from researchers at ETH Zurich and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, highlights one of those questions - why Bennu appears to have been born in both the inner and outer solar system - and a possible answer to it.

NASA announced Wednesday a mission to explore the history and evolution of the universe, PRIMA (PRobe far-Infrared Mission for Astrophysics), is advancing to the next phase of development. This space telescope is the first in a new class of NASA astrophysics missions, called Probe Explorers, within the agency’s longstanding Explorers Program.

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope completed its 200,000th orbit around Earth on Sept. 19th and marked this milestone with observations that could help refine astronomers' measurements of cosmic expansion (aka. the Hubble Constant).

Getting a human body to Mars will take a toll on it. NASA and other space agencies have been concerned for years that the 6-9 month travel time to get to the Red Planet could have such a deleterious impact on human anatomy that any crewed mission would fail before it even began. But a new study, co-led by Dr. Benjamin Levine of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and published in the journal Circulation, eases some of that concern by claiming that, given a sufficient exercise regimen in low gravity, astronauts should be able to operate on Mars upon arrival without any major cardiac issues.

The planet Mars is known for its massive dust storms, dust devils, and two large polar ice caps, with its north polar cap being one of the Red Planet’s most striking features. Comprised of water ice, the north polar cap not only holds potential for being a source of water for future human missions, but it also helps researchers’ piece together past climates on Mars. But an ongoing debate within the scientific community is the ice-dust relationship at the north polar cap, specifically how much dust comprises the north polar cap compared to the much larger amount of water ice.

The formation and evolution of planets is the driving force behind both where and how we might find life beyond Earth. This complex and lengthy process first begins with a massive ball of gas and dust that swirls until it flattens into a disk, followed by rocks ranging in size from pebbles to kilometer-scale objects clumping together in a process known as accretion, as they too swirl around within the larger disk and form rocky planets closer to the star and the farther out planets collect the gas, ice, and dust that the star couldn’t evaporate. Until now, researchers have been limited to visualizing the swirling gas and dust forming planets through computer models.

Exoplanets continue to challenge our understanding of planetary formation, evolution, and whether they might be able to support life as we know it. Scientists often use planets in our solar system as analogs for exoplanets, studying exoplanets with extremely short orbital periods forces scientists to constantly rethink our understanding of what planets can withstand during their lifetimes. One such type of exoplanet that has entered the foray in recent years are “lava world” exoplanets, and especially lava exoplanets that orbit dangerously close to their stars. But while it has been long known that lava worlds on with higher temperatures have atmospheres, “colder” lava worlds have been found to lack atmospheres.

It’s a busy skywatching month ahead. The first full week of October sees two top-notch skywatching events, with Saturn reaching opposition, and the Moon occulting Jupiter for North America on October 6th. This month’s occultation of Jupiter by the Moon is one of the best-placed and top skywatching events for 2026, while Saturn puts on a fine show near opposition.

Planetary scientists from Freie Universität Berlin have published two new studies that indicate that a spacecraft could identify evidence of life much more easily than previously thought.

Since their first discovery in 1995, hot Jupiter exoplanets (hot Jupiters, for short) quickly challenged our understanding of exoplanet formation and evolution, including exoplanetary system architecture. This is because, as their name implies, they orbit at extremely close distances to their host stars, ranging from a few days to a few hours. Some of their orbits are even oval-shaped, called eccentric in the scientific community, meaning their orbit is oval-shaped. But could such an orbit cause a hot Jupiter to completely vanish from view, preventing astronomers from studying it?

The Universe has been making fewer stars lately and astronomers want to know why. The obvious answer is: there hasn't been enough starbirth material. But, is that true? Is some other process at play? An international team led by researcher Hong Guo of the Chinese Academy of Sciences decided to dig into the reasons why it looks like starbirth is falling off.

A new way to accurately measure the distance between quasar pairs is showing promise through University of Alberta research.

The standard model of cosmology predicts that the Universe is homogeneous. A new study tests this using the polarization of the cosmic microwave background and finds this isn't quite true. This study supports an earlier study which also found a small polarization bias.

There’s an active debate in the astrobiology community of where to use our best telescopes to look for our best chance of seeing alien life. That debate has been going on for decades, and will continue for some time to come, but now there’s another option up for consideration. A new paper in the International Journal of Astrobiology by Dr. Christopher Doughty of Northern Arizona University talks about how the total amount of carbon a planet is able to bring into the service of biology is a good indication of how evolved life on it might be.