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 habitable zone concept is useful for understanding which worlds might, possibly, maybe, be habitable. It highlights exoplanets at the right distances from their stars for liquid water to potentially exist on their surfaces. But that alone can't determine habitability. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-mission-evolution-exoplanet-atmospheres.html Astrobiology Tue, 11 Aug 2026 21:00:01 EDT news705685681 A researcher at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), a part of The University of Alabama System, has published a new study in The Astrophysical Journal suggesting that tiny charged dust grains near the sun may significantly influence how energy moves through the solar corona, the outer atmosphere of the sun. The discovery potentially rewrites how scientists understand why the corona is millions of degrees hotter than the surface of the sun itself. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-cosmic-play-key-role-mystery.html Astronomy Wed, 01 Jul 2026 18:40:05 EDT news702142262 A new Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) study based on data from NASA's New Horizons spacecraft has uncovered insights into why the solar wind gradually slows as it moves toward the edge of the solar system and the boundary with interstellar space. The study "The Gradual Slowing of the Solar Wind in the Outer Heliosphere" is published in The Astrophysical Journal. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-horizons-tracks-solar-slowdown-interstellar.html Astronomy Mon, 29 Jun 2026 19:20:31 EDT news701963730 Electrons around Jupiter have been caught in the process of being accelerated, revealing a potentially unified mechanism for particle acceleration. The findings, published in Nature, may help constrain how energetic particles are produced throughout the universe. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-jupiter-reveals-electrons-relativistic.html Astronomy Thu, 04 Jun 2026 12:00:07 EDT news699786541 On May 21, ground controllers powered down NASA's AWE (Atmospheric Waves Experiment) instrument, bringing the data collection phase of the mission to a successful and scheduled end, surpassing its planned two-year mission. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-nasa-awe-instrument-mission-earth.html Planetary Sciences Thu, 21 May 2026 19:20:04 EDT news698599201 It takes a moment for the eyes to adjust. A faint spark appears in the darkness; then another, brighter one. Soon, stars, planets and entire constellations emerge. Before long, a whole galaxy stretches across the sky, visible to the naked eye. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-threat-pollution-world-darkest-skies.html Astronomy Sun, 26 Apr 2026 11:40:01 EDT news696422376 Our planet rests inside a magnetic cocoon filled with plasma—but it's not always peaceful and quiet. Activity from the sun can send waves through this space, and some of those disturbances can even reach Earth, affecting our power grid. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-volunteers-rare-space-weather-events.html Planetary Sciences Fri, 17 Apr 2026 13:20:01 EDT news695645895 Research led by Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) has integrated three types of machine learning models to generate solar magnetic patches with physical properties and used those as a query to find matching patches in real observations. This elevates generative artificial intelligence (AI) from a means to produce artificial data to a novel tool for scientific data interrogation, supporting applicability beyond the heliophysics domain. The paper is published in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-virtual-sunspots-ai-rare-magnetic.html Astronomy Tue, 14 Apr 2026 18:10:01 EDT news695404022 Fast solar winds originating from the sun can have direct impacts on Earth—disrupting systems like GPS, aviation, electrical grids, and satellite and radio communications. A new paper by New Mexico State University astronomy graduate student Khagendra Katuwal examines the connection between coronal holes and solar wind streams, helping improve our understanding of how the sun's magnetic structure influences space weather. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-student-coronal-holes-space-weather.html Astronomy Wed, 08 Apr 2026 15:00:01 EDT news694870433 Every eleven years, the sun's magnetic field flips. Sunspots—dark, cooler regions on the sun's surface that mark intense magnetic activity and often trigger solar eruptions—appear at mid-latitudes and migrate toward the star's equator in a butterfly-shape pattern before fading as the cycle resets. While this spectacle on the star's surface has long been visible to astronomers, where this powerful cycle begins inside the star has remained hidden until now. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-physicists-sun-magnetic-kilometers-surface.html Astronomy Tue, 17 Mar 2026 16:00:09 EDT news692976901 Every winter, thousands of tourists travel to high-latitude regions like Scandinavia, Canada, and Alaska hoping to see the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights. Vincent Ledvina, an aurora guide and Ph.D. student in space physics at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, estimates he leads 1,000 people on aurora tours each year. Some ask Ledvina how the dazzling curtains of light are created, and he tells them that auroras occur when high-energy particles from space are funneled by Earth's magnetosphere into the polar atmosphere and collide with different molecules in the air. Ledvina says that more specific questions can be difficult to answer. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-cinema-mission-explore-auroras-earth.html Astronomy Tue, 24 Feb 2026 11:00:07 EST news691153142 New research by Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) and the National Science Foundation's National Center for Atmospheric Research (NSF-NCAR) has developed a new tool providing a first step toward the ability to forecast space weather weeks in advance, instead of just hours. This advance warning could allow agencies and industries to mitigate impacts to GPS, power grids, astronaut safety and more. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-ai-tool-solar-regions-advance.html Planetary Sciences Thu, 19 Feb 2026 15:17:41 EST news690736621 When the six tiny spacecraft of NASA's SunRISE (Sun Radio Interferometer Space Experiment) mission settle into their orbits high above Earth after launching later this year, they'll function as one giant radio dish to track the rumbles of radio bursts coming from deep within the sun's atmosphere, or corona. Those bursts are generated by solar energetic particle events that could, in extreme cases, irradiate unprotected astronauts and satellites; tracking the radio waves they generate with SunRISE will help scientists mitigate their effects. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-sunrise-smallsats-ace-closer.html Astronomy Tue, 20 Jan 2026 17:09:38 EST news688151341 Southwest Research Institute's novel Compact Dual Ion Composition Experiment (CoDICE) instrument aboard NASA's Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) spacecraft has successfully collected first-light data. IMAP launched in September to help researchers better understand the boundary of the heliosphere, the magnetic bubble that surrounds and protects our solar system. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-interstellar-probe-instrument.html Astronomy Tue, 16 Dec 2025 22:20:04 EST news685120580 Images captured by NASA's Parker Solar Probe as the spacecraft made its record-breaking closest approach to the sun in December 2024 have now revealed new details about how solar magnetic fields responsible for space weather escape from the sun—and how sometimes they don't. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-parker-solar-probe-spies.html Astronomy Thu, 11 Dec 2025 16:54:28 EST news684694441 Astronomers have produced the first continuous, two-dimensional maps of the outer edge of the sun's atmosphere, a shifting, frothy boundary that marks where solar winds escape the sun's magnetic grasp. By combining the maps and close-up measurements, scientists from the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA) showed that the boundary grows larger, rougher and spikier as the sun becomes more active. The findings could help scientists improve models showing how the sun affects Earth, and better predict atmospheric complexity for other stars. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-astronomers-sun-outer-boundary.html Astronomy Thu, 11 Dec 2025 12:57:04 EST news684680186 A NASA mission to study the heliosphere—the sun's magnetic bubble that shields our solar system—and develop a better understanding of space weather was launched from the agency's Kennedy Space Center along Florida's Atlantic coast on Wednesday morning. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-nasa-mission-sun-fueled-solar.html Astronomy Wed, 24 Sep 2025 16:09:39 EDT news677948976 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 The sun has become increasingly active since 2008, a new NASA study shows. Solar activity is known to fluctuate in cycles of 11 years, but there are longer-term variations that can last decades. Case in point: Since the 1980s, the amount of solar activity had been steadily decreasing all the way up to 2008, when solar activity was the weakest on record. At that point, scientists expected the sun to be entering a period of historically low activity. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-nasa-analysis-sun-ramping.html Astronomy Mon, 15 Sep 2025 16:22:04 EDT news677172122 Radio astronomy took another step forward recently, with the completion of Phase III of the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) in Western Australia. We've reported before on how the MWA has investigated everything from SETI signals to the light from the earliest stars. With this upgrade, the MWA will continue to operate with much needed improvements while radio astronomy awaits the completion of the successor it helped enable—the Square Kilometer Array (SKA). https://phys.org/news/2025-09-murchison-widefield-array-size.html Astronomy Mon, 08 Sep 2025 10:56:03 EDT news676547761 NASA has launched Surya, its new heliophysics artificial intelligence foundation model to empower solar scientists with tools to enhance research and space weather forecasting. Southwest Research Institute's Dr. Andrés Muñoz-Jaramillo led a team of scientists from several institutions and universities who played a crucial role in tailoring the scientific data and validating a powerful application to predict solar activity such as coronal mass ejections and other space weather events. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-nasa-heliophysics-ai-foundation-scientists.html Planetary Sciences Tue, 26 Aug 2025 10:14:05 EDT news675422042 During a solar eclipse, astronomers who study heliophysics are able to study the sun's corona—its outer atmosphere—in ways they are unable to do at any other time. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-spacecraft-fly-precisely-line-imitate.html Astronomy Mon, 04 Aug 2025 15:05:03 EDT news673538701 NASA's Athena Economical Payload Integration Cost mission, or Athena EPIC, is a test launch for an innovative, scalable space vehicle design to support future missions. The small satellite platform is engineered to share resources among the payloads onboard by managing routine functions so the individual payloads don't have to. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-nasa-scalable-satellite-tech-sensors.html Space Exploration Mon, 21 Jul 2025 11:50:03 EDT news672316784 An unexpectedly strong solar storm rocked our planet on April 23, 2023, sparking auroras as far south as southern Texas in the U.S. and taking the world by surprise. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-nasa-missions-severity-solar-storms.html Planetary Sciences Tue, 01 Jul 2025 17:07:04 EDT news670608421 Antennas installed at 18 U.S. high schools detected bursts of radio activity that can precede solar disturbances capable of disrupting satellites and power grids on Earth. The observations helped researchers understand solar radio activity and enabled high school students to engage in scientific research, according to a University of Michigan-led study published in Earth and Space Science. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-high-schoolers-solar-storms-accessible.html Education Wed, 25 Jun 2025 13:09:05 EDT news670075742 Southwest Research Institute has delivered the novel Compact Dual Ion Composition Experiment (CoDICE) instrument for final integration into NASA's Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) spacecraft. Scheduled to launch in late 2025, IMAP will help researchers better understand the boundary of the heliosphere, the magnetic bubble that surrounds and protects our solar system. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-instrument-space-reveal-ionic-heliosphere.html Astronomy Tue, 24 Jun 2025 14:56:18 EDT news669995774 President Donald Trump has proposed the single largest year-over-year cut to NASA's budget in his 2026 budget proposal, essentially terminating many of the space agency's most promising missions. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-nasa-decimate-american-science-expert.html Space Exploration Wed, 11 Jun 2025 09:38:04 EDT news668853481 Local weather alerts are familiar warnings for potentially dangerous conditions, but an alert that puts all of Earth on warning is rare. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-space-storm-capture-advances-coronal.html Astronomy Tue, 10 Jun 2025 04:20:19 EDT news668748011 A trio of heliophysicists and satellite trackers at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and the Goddard Planetary Heliophysics Institute at the University of Maryland has found evidence showing that Starlink satellites reenter Earth's atmosphere faster during heightened solar activity. For their paper posted on the arXiv preprint server, Denny Oliveira, Eftyhia Zesta and Katherine Garcia-Sage analyzed Starlink satellite data over the years 2020 and 2024, during a rising phase of the solar cycle. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-starlink-satellites-fall-earth-faster.html Space Exploration Mon, 09 Jun 2025 13:40:01 EDT news668694716 In the world of black holes, there are generally three size categories: stellar-mass black holes (about five to 50 times the mass of the sun), supermassive black holes (millions to billions of times the mass of the sun), and intermediate-mass black holes with masses somewhere in between. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-astronomers-evidence-intermediate-mass-black.html Astronomy Fri, 30 May 2025 11:59:04 EDT news667825141