How Dark Asteroids Die
A new study from Luleå University of Technology experimentally confirms that low‑albedo asteroids undergo instantaneous thermally‑driven erosion when they approach within about 0.1 AU of the Sun. Using the Space and High‑Irradiance Near‑Sun Simulator (SHINeS), researchers observed carbonaceous chondrite simulants heat, explode, and fragment in three distinct phases. The findings validate the 2016 theory that solar radiation, not tidal forces or slow sublimation, rapidly destroys dark near‑Sun asteroids. This mechanism also explains anomalous objects such as 322P/SOHO 1 and the mass‑loss behavior of Phaethon.
Unmasking the Sun’s Hidden Gamma Ray Factory
Researchers at NJIT have identified the precise solar‑corona region that generates gamma‑ray bursts during major flares, using data from NASA’s Fermi telescope and the Expanded Owens Valley Solar Array. The team linked the emission to bremsstrahlung from particles accelerated to...
Two New Exoplanets And The Need For New Habitable Zone Definitions
Researchers Scott and Dransfield propose a broader "temperate zone" for exoplanet habitability, defined by instellation fluxes between 0.1 and 5 times Earth’s. Their study introduces two new planets—Earth‑sized TOI‑6716 b and sub‑Neptune TOI‑7384 b—orbiting fully convective M dwarfs, both lying near the...
NASA Bids Farewell to Historic Test Stands That Built the Space Age
On January 10, 2026 NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center imploded two iconic test facilities—the Dynamic Test Stand and the Propulsion and Structural Test Facility (the T‑tower). Built in the 1950s‑60s, the stands verified Saturn V engines, Space Shuttle boosters, and later...
Peering Below Callisto’s Icy Crust with ALMA
A team of planetary scientists analyzed six ALMA thermal images from 2012 to establish Callisto’s surface temperature at roughly 133 K and refine regolith composition across its varied terrains. By comparing these data with NASA’s Galileo measurements, they created a baseline...
New Evidence That An Ancient Martian Ocean Covered Half The Planet
Scientists have identified scarp‑fronted deposits in southeast Coprates Chasma that function as ancient river deltas emptying into a standing body of water. High‑resolution images from CTX, HiRISE, and CaSSIS, combined with new DEMs, reveal a uniform high‑water mark across Valles Marineris. The...
X-Ray Spectra Could Help Reveal Dark Matter in Galaxy Clusters
A new XRISM study led by the University of Alabama in Huntsville team reports that high‑energy‑resolution X‑ray spectra can be used to search for decay signatures of dark matter in galaxy clusters. By combining three months of XRISM data, the...
How the Evidence for Alien Life on K2-18 B Evaporated
In 2023 JWST observations of the sub‑Neptune K2‑18 b appeared to reveal dimethyl sulfide, a gas linked to marine life on Earth, sparking excitement about a possible habitable ocean. A new pre‑print by Welbanks and colleagues re‑analyzes the mid‑infrared MIRI data...
Astronomers Discover a Bright Supernova Using Gravitational Lensing for the First Time
An international team of astronomers has announced the first spatially resolved, gravitationally lensed supernova, SN 2025wny, located 10 billion light‑years away. The supernova’s light was amplified by a factor of about 50 by two foreground galaxies, producing multiple images that ground‑based telescopes...
To Understand Exoplanet Habitability, We Need A Better Understanding Of Stellar Flaring
Researchers highlight that understanding stellar flares, especially from M‑dwarfs, is critical to assessing exoplanet habitability. Red dwarfs host the majority of known rocky planets in temperate zones, but their intense, frequent flares and coronal mass ejections can erode atmospheres and...
Ultramassive Black Holes and Their Galaxies: A Matter of Scale
A new study shows the classic M‑sigma relation fails for ultra‑massive black holes (UMBHs) exceeding 10 billion solar masses. By applying triaxial Schwarzschild modeling to eight brightest cluster galaxies, researchers obtained precise black‑hole masses that lie above the expected M‑sigma trend....
The Ambitious Plan to Spot Habitable Moons Around Giant Planets
Exomoons have remained undetected not because they are absent, but because existing techniques lack the necessary precision. A new study proposes a kilometric baseline interferometer capable of 1 µas resolution, enabling detection of Earth‑sized moons out to 200 parsecs. The design relies...
XRISM Provides the Sharpest Image to Date of a Rapidly Spinning Black Hole
The X‑Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) has produced the sharpest X‑ray spectrum ever of the Seyfert galaxy MCG‑6‑30‑15, revealing detailed iron emission from its central supermassive black hole. By combining XRISM’s Resolve instrument with XMM‑Newton and NuSTAR data, researchers...
