Space and astrophysical plasma as a physical system refers to ionized gases permeating cosmic environments such as the interstellar and intergalactic medium, stellar winds, accretion disks, and magnetospheres. These plasmas are typically low-collisionality, often magnetized, and governed by collective electromagnetic interactions described by magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), kinetic theory, or hybrid models. Key properties include Debye shielding, anisotropic pressure, and nonthermal particle distributions, with dynamics dominated by magnetic reconnection, turbulence, waves, and instabilities. Space and astrophysical plasmas are central to energy and momentum transport, cosmic ray acceleration, and radiation processes across a vast range of spatial and temporal scales.
In December 2023, scientists looking at Mars data stumbled across something completely unexpected—observations of an atmospheric effect never before seen in the Red Planet's atmosphere. Using instruments aboard NASA's MAVEN ...
Planetary Sciences
May 18, 2026
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Astronomers led by the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA) have made the first direct detection of turbulence distorting light in the interstellar medium. The findings will help scientists achieve clearer ...
Astronomy
May 13, 2026
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For the first time, scientists have measured the instantaneous mind-blowing power of jets blasting from a black hole.
Astronomy
May 9, 2026
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NASA's Psyche spacecraft will get a boost from Mars on Friday, May 15, passing just 2,800 miles (4,500 kilometers) from the planet's surface at some 12,333 mph (19,848 kph). The spacecraft will harness the planet's gravitational ...
Planetary Sciences
May 9, 2026
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You're on the fourth human mission to Mars, and you're told the Odyssey spacecraft designed to take you there will be the smoothest ride you'll ever take. It features a newly christened electric propulsion engine which was ...
Space Exploration
May 1, 2026
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The concept of spacetime, first described in Einstein's theory of general relativity, has since been widely studied by many physicists worldwide. Spacetime is described mathematically as a four-dimensional (4D) continuum ...
The Fe Kα line, or iron Kα line, is often used in astronomical research to understand the physical composition of astronomical objects. This line is produced when a K-shell electron of an iron ion in the photosphere—the gas ...
Astronomy
Apr 27, 2026
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The Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO) has detected PeV (1015 eV) gamma-ray emission from a pulsar wind nebula powered by PSR J1849-0001 in the constellation Aquila, marking the discovery of a new PeVatron ...
Astronomy
Apr 24, 2026
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At more than one million degrees, the sun's atmosphere—the corona—is incredibly hot; but not everywhere. Time and again, huge structures of significantly cooler solar plasma—about 10,000 degrees—appear within the corona. ...
Astronomy
Apr 22, 2026
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The sun continuously blasts charged, magnetic field-carrying particles, or plasma, in all directions. This solar wind interacts with the magnetic fields and atmospheres of several of our solar system's planets and other bodies, ...
Planetary Sciences
Apr 20, 2026
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