The interstellar space rock shows off the illuminating effects of its brush with the sun. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. After months of unprecedented observations, astronomers are bidding goodbye to the beloved comet 3I/ATLAS . First spotted in July 2025, the frigid, dusty space rock is only the third known interstellar object to pass through the solar system, offering researchers the rare opportunity to examine a visitor from deep space. Among other discoveries, scientists have since confirmed that the interstellar comet is the fastest ever recorded as well as covered in ice volcanoes --and definitely not extraterrestrial tourists .

Astronomers Are Closing In on the Kuiper Belt's Secrets As next-generation telescopes map this outer frontier, astronomers are bracing for discoveries that could reveal hidden planets, strange structures, and clues to the solar system's chaotic youth. Out beyond the orbit of Neptune lies an expansive ring of ancient relics, dynamical enigmas, and possibly a hidden planet--or two. The Kuiper Belt, a region of frozen debris about 30 to 50 times farther from the sun than the Earth is--and perhaps farther, though nobody knows--has been shrouded in mystery since it first came into view in the 1990s. Over the past 30 years, astronomers have cataloged about 4,000 Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs), including a smattering of dwarf worlds, icy comets, and leftover planet parts. But that number is expected to increase tenfold in the coming years as observations from more advanced telescopes pour in.

Elon Musk - the boss of SpaceX as well as Tesla and X - is the world's richest person Elon Musk's SpaceX has applied to launch one million satellites into Earth's orbit to power artificial intelligence (AI). The application claims "orbital data centres" are the most cost and energy-efficient way to meet the growing demand for AI computing power. Traditionally, such centres are large warehouses full of powerful computers which process and store data. Musk's aerospace firm claims processing needs due to the expanding use of AI are already outpacing "terrestrial capabilities". It would increase the number of SpaceX satellites in orbit drastically.

The Chandra X-Ray Observatory has gathered over 1.3 million detections in 27 years. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory is considered one of the agency's greatest achievements, but it's not necessarily as recognizable as siblings like the James Webb and Hubble Space Telescopes . However, since 1999, the powerful spacecraft has peered deep into the cosmos to provide astronomers with never-before-seen glimpses of the Milky Way galaxy . As the observatory nears its 27th anniversary, NASA is highlighting its Chandra Source Catalog (CSC), an absolutely massive archive of visualization data collected over the years.

Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday.

Aomawa Shields '97 was equally enticed by the prospect of studying stars and the dream of becoming one herself. Today, she draws from her exploration of acting and astronomy to search for life on other planets. Few people, if any, contemplate stars--celestial or cinematic--the way Aomawa Shields does. An astronomer and astrobiologist, Shields explores the potential habitability of planets beyond our solar system. But she is also a classically trained actor--and that's helped shape her professional trajectory in unexpected ways. Today, Shields is an associate professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of California, Irvine, where she oversees a research team that uses computer models to explore conditions on exoplanets, or planets that revolve around stars other than the sun.

The failed star factory is nicknamed'Cloud-9.' This image shows the location of Cloud-9, which is 2000 light-years from Earth. The diffuse magenta is radio data from the ground-based Very Large Array (VLA) showing the presence of the cloud. The dashed circle marks the peak of radio emission, which is where researchers focused their search for stars. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday.

Nicknamed Dracula's Chivito, the disk is 1,000 light-years away from Earth. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. Scientists are leaving space fans with one more treat before the year comes to a close. Using the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers captured a stunning image of the largest protoplanetary disk ever observed, which just happens to be shaped like a giant celestial sandwich. The massive formation of dust and gas, which astronomers call Dracula's Chivito, resides about 1,000 light-years from Earth and spans roughly 400 billion miles.

In 1996 Nasa and the White House made the explosive announcement that the rock contained traces of Martian bugs. The meteorite, catalogued as Allen Hills (ALH) 84001, crashed onto the frozen wastes of Antarctica 13,000 years ago and was recovered in 1984. Photographs were released showing elongated segmented objects that appeared strikingly lifelike.

Astronomers initially thought the dramatic burst of light was a new exoplanet. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. What astronomers initially suspected to be a new exoplanet is actually a never-before-seen, head-on cosmic crash. As detailed in a study published today in the journal, researchers describe the aftermath of two separate collisions between two small, rocky cosmic objects called planetesimals . However, their findings were only made possible by some eagle eye imaging courtesy of the Hubble Space Telescope .