New discoveries in the field of interactions in stellar systems
Using the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), a spacecraft designed to search for exoplanets, astronomers discovered an unusual quadruple star system. During another dedicated observing campaign, XRISM revealed that hot plasma signals follow the orbital motion of an otherwise invisible companion star. And a new study by Japanese scientists has shown that our Sun and numerous similar “solar twins” may have migrated together from the core of the Milky Way galaxy.
Technologies for creating a fully-fledged habitat in microgravity conditions and on other planets: mycelium, 3D, carbon fiber
The Mycotecture project team at NASA’s Ames Research Center is developing technologies that will enable the “growing” of habitats on the Moon, Mars, and beyond using fungi and the subterranean filaments that make up their main component, known as mycelium. Scientists from the University of California, Berkeley, have successfully tested the next-generation SpaceCAL microgravity 3D printer. Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have unveiled ecovoxels—modular, reconfigurable building blocks that can be used for both construction on Earth and for creating living and working spaces in space. As part of the European Space Agency’s First! initiative, CompPair, in collaboration with Com&Sens and CSEM, has developed a new self-controlling and self-healing carbon fiber composite material.
New information about the instruments used to study the Sun in our solar system
The RF observatories, SOHO, Inouye, BioSentinel, Proba-3, Parker Solar Probe, SPHEREx, PUNCH, Carruthers, Helios, and SunRISE study solar radio flares, the solar atmosphere, the influence of solar radiation on various objects, and map the solar magnetic field from the outer corona to interplanetary space.
Modern questions about the solar system: its speed, boundaries, hidden objects in the outer part
The solar system may be moving through space three times faster than expected. The location of the outer edge of the solar system is also a subject of debate among astronomers. Here’s a simple guide to the sizes and locations of the planets in our solar system.
The most general and up-to-date information about the “former” ninth planet of the Solar System – Pluto
Pluto is the largest known dwarf planet in the Solar System. It was previously considered the ninth and farthest planet from the Sun. In 2006, its status was downgraded. This strange world is located in the Kuiper Belt—a region beyond Neptune filled with hundreds of thousands of rocky, icy bodies, each over 100 kilometers in diameter, as well as 1 trillion or more comets. Pluto ceased to be a planet in 2006 when it was reclassified as a dwarf planet, sparking controversy and debate in the scientific community and among the general public.
First proposed by physicist Freeman Dyson in 1960, the idea of alien spheres remains relevant in the 21st century
In the 1960s, physicist and polymath Freeman Dyson proposed the idea of creating these eponymous spheres. He proposed that a sufficiently advanced society would have an insatiable need for space and energy. If they were industrious enough, they could solve both problems by dismantling a planet and turning it into a massive spherical shell. This sphere would encircle the star, providing a surface area equal to billions of planets and absorbing vast amounts of solar energy. Dyson calculated that a shell made from a Jupiter-mass planet could completely envelop the Sun at approximately the same orbit as Earth. However, gravity within the hollow shell is neutralized, meaning there is nothing binding the shell to the star. They are free to move in independent directions, meaning the star containing the Dyson sphere would soon simply smash into the shell, destroying it.
Satellites in Earth orbit monitor soil moisture, water availability, river flow, and the global water cycle
The primary objective of the SMAP mission is to assess the moisture content of the surface soil layer and its state (frozen or thawed). Another pioneering reconnaissance mission of the European Space Agency, the HydroGNSS satellites, has become an important step in expanding global understanding of water availability and the impact of climate change on the global water cycle. The SWOT (Surface Water and Ocean Topography) satellite allows for the assessment of river discharge, defined as the volume of water flowing per second at a given point along the river.
The search for dark matter in our Milky Way galaxy is the most challenging task in modern physics
Stars have been observed crawling along the outskirts of the Milky Way more slowly than expected—a slow motion that scientists say can only be explained if our map of galaxies containing dark matter is incorrect. The specific velocities of stars at the edges of these galaxies have historically been irrefutable evidence of the presence of dark matter in galaxies. This is because astronomers can measure a galaxy’s “rotation curve,” which plots the orbital velocities of stars against their distance from the galactic center.
The Perseverance mission to Mars. What has been learned after nearly five years of exploration on another planet?
A key goal of the Perseverance mission to Mars is astrobiology, including the collection of samples that may contain traces of ancient microbial life. The rover is studying the planet’s past geology and climate to pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet and to become the first mission to collect and preserve Martian rocks and regolith. The Mars Sample Return Program, implemented by NASA in collaboration with ESA (the European Space Agency), aims to send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.
Treatment and prevention of diseases during long-term flights in microgravity conditions
Deep space exploration requires a paradigm shift in astronaut medical support toward Earth-independent medical operations. Currently, astronauts rely on real-time communications with ground-based medical facilities. However, as the distance from Earth increases, communication delays and disruptions increase. Crews engaged in deep space exploration will need to autonomously detect, diagnose, treat, and prevent diseases. One potential solution is to enhance the knowledge, skills, and capabilities of crews participating in long-duration exploration missions with a digital clinical decision support system (CDSS).
Solar activity cycles have stumped scientists around the world, and research continues
When the current solar cycle began in late 2019, experts from the Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC), which includes scientists from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), predicted that solar maximum would likely begin sometime in 2025 and would be comparable to the previous, weaker cycle. However, as the current cycle progressed, it quickly became clear that this was not the case, and that solar maximum would occur earlier and be much more intense than initially anticipated.
Candidates for Planet Nine in the depths of our solar system
The predicted position of Planet Nine is intended to explain the irregular orbits of some Kuiper Belt objects in the outer solar system. However, some researchers are unconvinced that these orbits are caused by an undiscovered planet, and the scientific community as a whole still awaits direct observational evidence of Planet Nine’s existence. If Planet Nine does exist, researchers predict it to be much larger than Earth and to orbit in an unusual orbit billions of miles from Neptune, the eighth and currently last planet in our solar system. Planet Nine’s proposed orbit is so far from the Sun that it would be difficult for Earth-based scientists to detect it, making it difficult to prove or disprove its existence.
Recent studies of Pluto’s moon Charon have revealed that it contains water ice, ammonia and organic compounds, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen peroxide
Charon is a medium-sized body, approximately 750 miles (1,207 kilometers) wide, located in the Kuiper Belt—a ring of icy debris, comets, and dwarf planets, also called trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs), at the edge of the solar system. Unlike many larger Kuiper Belt objects, Charon’s surface is not covered in volatile ices like methane, allowing scientists to gain valuable insight into the influence of sunlight on cratering these distant bodies. Furthermore, Charon is the only medium-sized TNO for which geological mapping is available. This was made possible thanks to data collected by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, which visited the Pluto system about a decade ago.
Unique properties of ionic liquids, superalcohols and cosmic radiation indicate the existence of life beyond Earth
Life may exist right under our noses in the Solar System—the moons of Jupiter and Saturn are of great interest. Europa and Enceladus may harbor vast subsurface oceans where at least microbial life could be possible. Thanks to new data obtained with the James Webb Space Telescope, scientists have discovered compelling evidence of extraterrestrial life on one exoplanet. But is water truly a necessary ingredient for life? A new study has determined that ionic liquids can form where liquid water cannot, thanks to their ability to remain liquid over a wide range of temperatures and pressures. These ionic liquids may ultimately support biomolecules such as proteins.
Water is an inevitable consequence of planet formation and is much more common in the galaxy than scientists previously thought
The findings suggest that water may not be a rare cosmic coincidence, but rather an inevitable consequence of planet formation, making it far more common in the galaxy than scientists previously thought. Water is life, at least as we know it. All life on Earth uses liquid water, and researchers studying the origins of life believe that the complex chemistry of life likely originated either in a warm pool on the Earth’s surface or near a deep-ocean hydrothermal vent. Therefore, planetary scientists are particularly interested in extraterrestrial locations where liquid water exists. Based on existing exoplanet data, super-Earths and sub-Neptunes are considered the most common classes of planets in our galaxy, and some of them are likely water worlds. However, these planets are large, and the interactions between the water in their oceans and the rocks in their interiors will determine how habitable they might be.
Before the New Year of 2026, the Curiosity rover has almost completed its exploration of Mount Sharp
Before Curiosity’s landing 13 years ago, the science team observed all the geological wonders scattered across the slopes of Mount Sharp and eagerly awaited the day when they would be able to use the rover to explore them. Since then, the rover has visited many of these targets—valleys, riverbeds, lake beds—and discovered several unexpected places.
The process of astronauts adapting to Earth’s gravity after a long stay in space
When astronauts return from extended stays in space, they are often removed from their capsules and placed on stretchers. Astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, stranded in March 2025, were no exception. The effects of long-term spaceflight on the human body are an area of active research. The current record for the longest continuous stay in space belongs to Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov, who spent 437 days—just over 14 months—aboard the now-defunct Mir space station in 1994 and 1995.
Sunspots and Solar Flares: A Timeline of Occurrences and Research Results in 2025
The end of 2025 was marked by the appearance of a solar spot directly facing Earth, similar in parameters to the standard for assessing modern cosmic threats—the “Carrington event.” And in early November 2025, a series of powerful X-class solar flares triggered coronal mass ejections, resulting in extensive aurora borealis displays observed as far south as Mexico.
The IMAP mission defines the boundaries of the heliosphere and provides space weather measurements
NASA’s new Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Mission (IMAP) was launched on September 23, 2025. Its goal is to study the heliosphere—the giant shield created by the Sun. The mission will determine the boundaries of the heliosphere to help us better understand the protection it provides for life on Earth and how it changes with solar activity.
Planet Nine is a hypothetical extra planet lurking in the far reaches of our solar system
For nearly a decade, astronomers have been scouring the outer reaches of the solar system for signs of a hypothetical ninth planet, to no avail. However, experts say we may finally be on the cusp of discovering it. Deep in the outer reaches of the solar system—so far from the known planets that the sun would barely be distinguishable from the nearest star—a vast, icy world may be lurking in the shadows, waiting to be discovered. More evidence has emerged of a hypothetical extra planet lurking in the farthest reaches of our solar system, and these clues lie in icy bodies that cross the orbit of Neptune on long, winding orbits around the sun.
Science fiction and the official scientific opinion on alien life
Many scientists are searching for extraterrestrial life on planets with conditions similar to Earth. For example, a habitable planet would likely have water. For liquid water, the planet would need to be at the perfect distance from its sun to prevent the water from freezing and turning into gas.
Curiosity Rover in Altadena Square – A Challenging Route and Amazing Mars Landscapes
The dark blocks that occasionally appear in the rover’s path are called floating rocks, and the team is looking higher into the hills to determine their origin. As intriguing as these blocks and boulders are, they pose a serious challenge for the rover’s drivers. They managed to get the rover to its intended stopping point, which is a significant achievement in itself. The mixture of large rocks and sand is completely unfavorable for movement. The risk of the rover shifting at the wrong moment, and the robotic arm colliding with a rock that the instrument is currently exploring, would be too great.
Alien craft or natural object? The most mysterious comet, Atlas, is approaching Earth
Initial estimates placed the comet’s diameter at about 11 kilometers (7 miles). However, subsequent data from the Hubble Space Telescope indicated that 3I/ATLAS is likely closer to the maximum size of 5.6 kilometers (3.5 miles). In any case, it is likely the largest interstellar object ever observed.
Curiosity’s Journey Through Gediz Valley and Kings Canyon
The rover is searching for evidence that ancient Mars had the conditions necessary for microbial life, if such life existed at all, billions of years ago, when lakes and rivers existed on the Red Planet. The Gediz Valley channel, located at the foot of the 5-kilometer (3-mile) high Mount Sharp, may help tell the story: what this area looked like when Mars’s water disappeared.
New research into astronaut nutrition
Nutrition has been crucial in every era of exploration on Earth, from the days when scurvy plagued sailors to the last century, when polar explorers died from malnutrition or, in some cases, nutrient toxicity. New research sheds light on the risks of inadequate nutrition and food supply, leading to poor health and performance of astronauts during missions, as well as to poor health in the long term (nutrition and food-related risks).
Studies of the cardiovascular and muscular systems under altered gravity conditions
Even intense physical activity by astronauts cannot compensate for the muscle atrophy caused by microgravity. This atrophy occurs, in part, due to the mechanism regulating calcium absorption. Recent studies have shown that spaceflight alters calcium absorption by muscles. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying these changes are poorly understood.
Microbes as part of biodiversity in space flights
Astronauts arriving and returning from space stations carry trillions of microscopic organisms with them. For example, new species of space-adapted bacteria have been discovered on China’s Tiangong space station. Recently, 26 previously unknown species of bacteria were discovered in NASA’s cleanrooms—some of the most sterile environments ever created by humanity. Another study shows that, under stress, strains isolated from the ISS mutated and became genetically and functionally distinct from their terrestrial counterparts.
Dark matter and the cosmic web connect galaxies like city superhighways
Giant filaments crisscross the universe, connecting galaxy clusters like superhighways between cities. Their shape and structure contain vital information about the universe’s contents and history. However, their complex shape makes them extremely difficult to measure. Now, researchers have presented a new method for measuring the mass of these filaments, which could be used to unlock the secrets of dark matter and dark energy.
The composition and structure of dark matter: theories and mysteries
According to the research team, their results also allow them to more accurately determine what proportion of the energy and matter in the Universe is dark energy. They reached their conclusions after analyzing observations of galaxy clusters made by the eROSITA X-ray telescope, which scans the entire sky above Earth in search of detectable galaxy clusters. eROSITA is mounted on Spektr-RG, a Russian-German space telescope launched into Earth orbit in 2019.
Two Theories About the Relationship Between Dark Matter and Black Holes
Tiny black holes that formed seconds after the birth of the universe may be around longer than expected, leading researchers to believe that primordial black holes could be the source of dark matter, the most mysterious substance in the universe.
Dark matter in galaxies may be weakened or absent altogether
The standard view of cosmic evolution may be challenged by the discovery of a huge galaxy that appears to lack dark matter. Dark matter, which makes up about 85% of the matter in the universe, is missing from NGC 1277, a galaxy in the Perseus galaxy cluster. The galaxy, located 240 million light-years from Earth, is the first Milky Way-sized cluster of stars, planets, dust, and gas to be found to lack dark matter.
Evolution of dark matter and the rotation of the Universe
The standard model of cosmology – our leading theory of cosmic evolution – suggests that dark energy is constant throughout the universe and over time, making it a fundamental property of space. If it were constant, the mysterious dark energy, which makes up as much as 70 percent of the universe, would push away all stars and galaxies. However, the most comprehensive survey of the universe’s cosmic history suggests that dark energy, also known as the hypothetical “antigravity” force, may evolve over time rather than remain constant, pointing to a less lonely future for the universe’s inhabitants.
The concept of “Einstein ring” and its connection with dark matte
An Einstein ring is an extremely rare type of gravitationally lensed object, first predicted by Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity. Gravitational lensing occurs when the immense gravity of a massive foreground object, such as a galaxy cluster or a black hole, bends spacetime around it; light emitted by more distant objects, such as galaxies or supernovae, passing through this curved spacetime also appears curved from our perspective on Earth.
Basic principles of the design and operation of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is the largest and most powerful space telescope in existence. NASA’s infrared space observatory was launched on December 25, 2021, from ESA’s Kourou Spaceport in French Guiana at 7:20 a.m. ET (12:20 p.m. GMT; 9:20 a.m. local time in Kourou) aboard an Arianespace Ariane 5 launch vehicle. The $10 billion James Webb Telescope will explore the cosmos to uncover the history of the universe, from the Big Bang to the formation of exoplanets and beyond.
Interaction of stars, galaxies and dark matter
The extreme conditions found in neutron stars make them ideal laboratories for studying physics in conditions found nowhere else in the universe. Scientists also suspect that some dead stars made of the densest material in the known universe, called neutron stars, may act as traps for dark matter particles, which collide at high speeds and annihilate each other. New research suggests that brown dwarfs, also known as failed stars, may act as gravitational traps for dark matter, forcing this exotic material to interact with each other.
Jupiter’s Moon Europa: Water, Ice, Salt, and Sulfur. Latest Research
Europa is one of the most interesting moons in the solar system, it is one of the Galilean moons of Jupiter, along with Io, Ganymede, and Callisto. Astronomer Galileo Galilei is credited with discovering these moons, some of the largest in the solar system. Europa is the smallest of the four, but one of the most interesting. Europa’s surface is covered in ice, but scientists believe that there is an ocean underneath. The icy surface also makes it one of the most reflective moons in the solar system.
How Juno Explores Jupiter and Its Moons
New data from the agency’s Jupiter orbiter shed light on the fierce winds and cyclones of the gas giant’s northern reaches, as well as volcanic activity on its fiery moon. NASA’s Juno mission has obtained new data by peering beneath Jupiter’s cloudy atmosphere and onto the surface of its fiery moon Io. The data not only helped develop a new model to better understand the fast-moving jet stream that sweeps across Jupiter’s cyclone-strewn north pole, but also revealed for the first time the temperature profile beneath Io’s surface, providing insight into the moon’s interior and volcanic activity.
What has been learned about Jupiter in recent years? Latest information and photos from probes
Jupiter is the largest planet in the Solar System and the fifth planet from the Sun. This gas giant has beautiful banded clouds, thin dust rings, the famous Great Red Spot, and dozens of moons. Jupiter is also the oldest planet in the Solar System, having formed 4.6 billion years ago. Its distance from the Sun is an average of 484 million miles (779 million km). Jupiter is 86,900 miles (139,900 km) wide, or 11 times wider than Earth. A year on Jupiter lasts 11.86 Earth years. Jupiter has the shortest day in the Solar System, lasting only 10 hours. Jupiter is the fourth brightest object in the Earth’s sky after the Sun, the Moon, and Venus. There are enough planets the size of Earth to fit inside Jupiter.
Jupiter’s Moon Io. Timeline of Exploration
Io, Jupiter’s fifth moon, is the most volcanically active body in the solar system. Io’s surface is dotted with hundreds of volcanoes, some of which spew sulfur plumes hundreds of kilometers into the air.
Jupiter Mission: Present and Distant Past
Since the first flyby of Jupiter in December 1973, when NASA’s Pioneer 10 spacecraft flew past the gas giant, Jupiter has been the subject of numerous flybys and close encounters by pioneering Earth probes. Pioneer 11 made its closest approach a year after Pioneer 10 in December 1974, and Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 flew past Jupiter in 1979.
A quick overview of all of Jupiter’s moons
Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, boasts 95 moons, making it the second most populated planet by moon count (Saturn has the most). A huge gas giant, Jupiter is orbited by numerous moons; the four largest of these are known as the Galilean moons, discovered by Galileo Galilei using a telescope in 1610. The four moons – Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto – are arranged in order of their distance from Jupiter. These moons proved that not all celestial bodies orbit the Earth, an important discovery because astronomers had previously believed that the Earth was the center of the universe.
The Juno spacecraft has discovered salts, organic compounds and water vapor on the surface and in the atmosphere of Ganymede, Jupiter’s largest moon
NASA’s Juno spacecraft has discovered salts and organic compounds on the surface of Ganymede, Jupiter’s largest moon. The discovery was made during a June 2021 flyby, during which Juno studied Ganymede with its Jovian InfraRed Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) instrument, an instrument designed to study the chemistry and interactions in the atmospheres of Jupiter and its moons. Ganymede, one of these moons, is the largest moon in the solar system — at 5,268 kilometers (3,200 miles) wide, larger than the planet Mercury — and has a vast ocean beneath its icy crust.
Jupiter’s Great Red Spot: What is Known About It Today
The Great Red Spot is an anticyclone, a long-term area of high pressure on Jupiter that creates persistent storms. Located in Jupiter’s southern hemisphere, this storm is the largest in our solar system and appears as a giant red spot on Jupiter’s surface. It has been around for 150 years, and may have been around longer, according to NASA.
Jupiter May Have Helped Form Earth’s Moon
The so-called “great instability” event that wreaked havoc among the planets and sent the gas giants hurtling through space until they settled into their familiar orbits appears to have occurred between 60 and 100 million years after the birth of the solar system, according to a thorough scientific investigation that has linked the meteorite to an asteroid once ejected by these destructive planets.
Basic principles of the Europa Clipper spacecraft, which studies the astrobiological potential of habitable worlds
Europa Clipper is NASA’s first spacecraft designed to explore an ocean world beyond Earth. Its goal is to find out if the ice-covered moon Europa is habitable. With its antennas and solar panels fully deployed, Europa Clipper is the largest spacecraft ever designed by NASA for a planetary mission. Europa Clipper’s flyby of Mars prepares it for its second gravity assist, a close encounter with Earth in December 2026.
Roscosmos and China National Space Administration Sign Memorandum on Building Power Station on the Moon
Roscosmos and the China National Space Administration have signed a memorandum on the construction of a power station for the International Scientific Station on the Moon. “Roscosmos and the China National Space Administration have signed a memorandum of cooperation on the creation of a lunar power station,” Roscosmos said in a statement. It is noted that the memorandum is included in the list of documents signed following the meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chairman of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping on May 8, 2025.
Scientists Discover Giant Hidden Gas Cloud Eos Just 300 Light Years From Earth
Eos is located at the edge of the Local Bubble, an irregularly shaped region of hot, rarefied gas within the Orion Arm that envelops the solar system. Scientists estimate that the cloud is enormous in size when projected onto the sky — about 40 moons — and has a mass about 3,400 times that of the Sun. Models suggest that Eos will evaporate in about 6 million years.
Planet-Forming Molecules Discovered in Most Extreme Environments
An international team of astronomers has used the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope to make the first observation of water and other molecules in the inner disk regions that form rocky planets, in one of the most extreme environments in our galaxy.
The Moon’s gravity caused periods of rapid development of life on Earth
Researchers have found that Earth’s days once became longer by more than two hours because the moon shifted thousands of miles in its orbit over two periods. The extra hours of sunlight, in turn, may have led to oxygenation, which marked a period of rapid development of life on Earth, the researchers say.