https://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. The dazzling lights of the aurora are created when high-energy particles from space collide with Earth's atmosphere. While scientists have long understood this process, one big mystery remained: What powers the electric fields that accelerate these particles in the first place? https://phys.org/news/2026-01-alfvn-power-source-earth-auroral.html Planetary Sciences Wed, 28 Jan 2026 11:48:54 EST news688823281 Sweeping winds of vaporized metals have been found in a massive cloud that dimmed the light of a star for nearly nine months. This discovery, made with the Gemini South telescope in Chile, one half of the International Gemini Observatory, offers a rare glimpse into the chaotic and dynamic processes still shaping planetary systems long after their formation. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-massive-cloud-metallic-orbiting-mystery.html Astronomy Wed, 21 Jan 2026 17:17:20 EST news688238221 Astronomers have, for the first time, captured a detailed snapshot of planetary systems in an era long shrouded in mystery. The ALMA survey to Resolve exoKuiper belt Substructures (ARKS), using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), has produced the sharpest images ever of 24 debris disks, the dusty belts left after planets finish forming. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-alma-reveals-teenage-years-worlds.html Astronomy Tue, 20 Jan 2026 02:00:01 EST news688046158 At half the size of Earth and one-tenth its mass, Mars is a featherweight as far as planets go. Yet new research reveals the extent to which Mars is quietly tugging on Earth's orbit and shaping the cycles that drive long-term climate patterns here, including ice ages. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-tiny-mars-big-impact-earth.html Planetary Sciences Mon, 12 Jan 2026 15:31:21 EST news687454195 Forty light-years away, seven Earth-sized planets orbit around a dim red dwarf star in one of the most tightly packed planetary systems ever discovered. The TRAPPIST-1 system has captivated astronomers since 2017, with three of its planets orbiting in the habitable zone where liquid water might exist. But there's been a lingering question whether any of these worlds could hold onto moons. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-trappist-worlds-host-moons.html Astronomy Fri, 02 Jan 2026 09:06:22 EST news686567162 Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have imaged the largest protoplanetary disk ever observed circling a young star. For the first time in visible light, Hubble has revealed the disk is unexpectedly chaotic and turbulent, with wisps of material stretching much farther above and below the disk than astronomers have seen in any similar system. Strangely, more extended filaments are only visible on one side of the disk. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-chaotic-dracula-chivito-hubble-reveals.html Astronomy Tue, 23 Dec 2025 09:30:01 EST news685629586 In an unprecedented celestial event, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (HST) captured the dramatic aftermath of colliding space rocks within a nearby planetary system. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-hubble-captures-rare-collision-nearby.html Astronomy Thu, 18 Dec 2025 14:00:07 EST news685179782 Ever wondered how planetary systems like our own solar system form? Thanks to the European Space Agency's Gaia space telescope, we're getting a unique peek behind the cosmic curtain into these dusty environments. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-gaia-hints-planets-baby-star.html Astronomy Thu, 18 Dec 2025 10:38:45 EST news685276624 Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) scientists believe they may have resolved a 39-year-old mystery about the radiation belts around Uranus. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-solar-storms-mystery-uranus-belts.html Planetary Sciences Wed, 03 Dec 2025 11:10:01 EST news683982389 Seventy light-years from Earth, a star called Kappa Tucanae A harbors one of astronomy's most perplexing mysteries: dust so hot it glows at more than 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit, existing impossibly close to its host star, where it should have been vaporized or swiftly blown away. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-newly-star-laboratory-cosmic-mystery.html Astronomy Tue, 02 Dec 2025 09:58:24 EST news683891881 When astronomers search for planets that could host liquid water on their surface, they start by looking at a star's habitable zone. Water is a key ingredient for life, and on a planet too close to its star, water on its surface may "boil"; too far, and it could freeze. This zone marks the region in between. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-habitable-zone-exoplanet-atmospheres-clue.html Astrobiology Wed, 19 Nov 2025 12:08:05 EST news682776482 Astronomers using W. M. Keck Observatory on Maunakea, Hawaiʻi Island have taken the closest-ever look at the dusty regions where planets form, offering new insight into the earliest stages of planetary birth. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-astronomers-reveal-tasty-insights-exoplanet.html Planetary Sciences Wed, 05 Nov 2025 16:50:03 EST news681583801 Climate change is ravaging the health of people around the world and policy failures are leading to "millions" of avoidable deaths each year, an international team of experts said Wednesday. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-climate-inaction-linked-millions-deaths.html Environment Wed, 29 Oct 2025 20:00:01 EDT news680954343 New research from Rice University suggests that the giant planet Jupiter reshaped the early solar system in dramatic ways, carving out rings and gaps that ultimately explain one of the longest-standing puzzles in planetary science: why many primitive meteorites formed millions of years after the first solid bodies. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-planetary-scientists-link-jupiter-birth.html Planetary Sciences Wed, 22 Oct 2025 16:30:01 EDT news680369225 The ice giants remain some of the most interesting places to explore in the solar system. Uranus in particular has drawn a lot of interest lately, especially after the 2022 Decadal Survey from the National Academies named it as the highest priority destination. But as of now, we still don't have a fully fleshed out and planned mission ready to go for the multiple launch windows in the 2030s. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-starship-uranus.html Space Exploration Mon, 20 Oct 2025 11:27:04 EDT news680178422 The discovery of ancient water in a planet-forming disk reveals that some of the water found in comets—and maybe even Earth—is older than the disk's star itself, offering breakthrough insights into the history of water in our solar system. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-heavy-planet-disk.html Astrobiology Wed, 15 Oct 2025 12:40:03 EDT news679750305 Food systems make up roughly 30% of total greenhouse gas emissions globally. But transforming them could cut these emissions by more than half, according to a report released Oct. 3 from a commission of global experts from more than 35 countries across six continents. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-sustainable-food-emissions.html Environment Sun, 12 Oct 2025 12:50:01 EDT news678973383 One of the most notable properties of the giant planets in our solar system—Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune—are the extreme winds observed around their equators. While some of these planets have eastward equatorial winds, others have a westward jet stream. For the first time, an international team of scientists led by Leiden Observatory and SRON, can explain the winds on all the giant planets using one model. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-extreme-jet-streams-giant-planets.html Planetary Sciences Fri, 10 Oct 2025 14:00:05 EDT news678970862 On October 6 1995, at a scientific meeting in Florence, Italy, two Swiss astronomers made an announcement that would transform our understanding of the universe beyond our solar system. Michel Mayor and his Ph.D. student Didier Queloz, working at the University of Geneva, announced they had detected a planet orbiting a star other than the sun. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-planet.html Planetary Sciences Mon, 06 Oct 2025 11:39:08 EDT news678969541 Our solar system is a smashing success. A new study suggests that from its earliest period—even before the last of its nebular gas had been consumed—Earth's solar system and its planets looked more like a bin of well-used LEGO blocks than slowly-evolving spheres of untouched elements and minerals. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-patchwork-planets-piecing-early-solar.html Planetary Sciences Wed, 01 Oct 2025 14:00:14 EDT news678467161 Caltech researchers have developed a new simulation of the hydrological cycle on Jupiter, modeling how water vapor condenses into clouds and falls as rain throughout the giant planet's swirled, turbulent atmosphere. The research shows that Jupiter's water is not uniformly distributed, giving missions like NASA's Juno orbiter important guidance about where to look for water on the planet. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-simulation-reveals-uneven-jupiter-turbulent.html Planetary Sciences Mon, 29 Sep 2025 16:56:03 EDT news678383761 University of Warwick astronomers have uncovered the chemical fingerprint of a frozen, water-rich planetary fragment being consumed by a white dwarf star outside our solar system. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-icy-planetesimal-high-nitrogen-content.html Astrobiology Sat, 27 Sep 2025 08:30:01 EDT news677752155 In our nearby stellar neighborhood, a burned-out star is snacking on a fragment of a Pluto-like object. With its unique ultraviolet capability, only NASA's Hubble Space Telescope could identify that this meal is taking place. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-hubble-white-dwarf-piece-pluto.html Astronomy Thu, 18 Sep 2025 12:06:03 EDT news677415961 Florida Tech astrophysicist Howard Chen is offering new insights to help aid NASA's search for life beyond Earth. His latest theoretical work investigates the TRAPPIST-1 planetary system, one of the most widely studied exoplanetary systems in the galaxy. It has captured scientists' attention for its potential to host water, and thus possibly life, on its planets. Now, he's offering an explanation for why telescopes have yet to find definitive signs of either. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-simulations-exoplanet-formation-extraterrestrial-life.html Astrobiology Thu, 18 Sep 2025 09:00:01 EDT news677404444 The period known as "cosmic noon," which took place roughly 2 to 3 billion years after the Big Bang, was characterized by the rapid formation of new stars and planetary systems. Naturally, objects dated to this period are coveted by scientists hoping to learn more about the processes that led to the formation of planets and the emergence of life itself. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-spacecraft-explore-3iatlas-cosmic-noon.html Planetary Sciences Tue, 16 Sep 2025 09:46:05 EDT news677234762 Astronomers have discovered what they think may be another moon orbiting a distant dwarf planet called Quaoar. This small, icy, egg-shaped planet in the far reaches of our solar system, beyond Neptune, is already known to have two rings and a moon, but this discovery was unexpected and accidental. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-discovery-moon-orbiting-mysterious-distant.html Astronomy Thu, 11 Sep 2025 10:20:05 EDT news676804630 Astronomers have gained insights into star formation by capturing the first spatially resolved detection of protostellar outflows and jets in the Milky Way's outer region. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-protostellar-jet-milky-outer-region.html Astronomy Fri, 05 Sep 2025 10:18:04 EDT news676286281 Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) has completed a mission study detailing how a proposed spacecraft could fly by an interstellar comet, providing remarkable insights into the properties of bodies originating beyond our solar system. The SwRI project developed the mission design, scientific objectives, payload and key requirements based on previous interstellar object (ISO) detections. Using the recent discovery of 3I/ATLAS, the team validated the mission concept, determining that 3I/ATLAS could have been intercepted and observed by the proposed spacecraft. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-mission-encounter-explore-future-interstellar.html Space Exploration Wed, 03 Sep 2025 10:36:04 EDT news676114562 For astrobiologists, the search for life beyond our solar system could be likened to where one would look in a vast desert—essentially, where there's water. And it turns out that one of the most common types of exoplanet observed in planetary systems beyond ours has a size and mass that indicate a water-rich interior. They are categorized as "sub-Neptunes" because their size and mass are between that of Earth and Neptune. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-aims-demystify-steam-worlds-solar.html Astrobiology Mon, 25 Aug 2025 14:19:04 EDT news675350341 Asteroid Bennu—the target of NASA's OSIRIS-REx sample return mission, led by the University of Arizona—is a mixture of materials from throughout, and even beyond, our solar system. Over the past few billion years, its unique and varied contents have been transformed by interactions with water and the harsh space environment. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-asteroid-bennu-capsule-materials-witness.html Astronomy Fri, 22 Aug 2025 10:38:04 EDT news675077881