https://phys.org/space-news/ en-us The latest science news on astronomy, astrobiology, and space exploration from Phys.org. Human stem cells from Adelaide University's Center for Cancer Biology have successfully traveled to the edge of space and back as part of a landmark mission for Australian cancer research. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-mission-success-australian-cancer-space.html Space Exploration Thu, 08 Oct 2026 07:20:23 EDT news710655542 The European Space Agency–led Solar Orbiter spacecraft has flown through an S-shaped kink known as a "switchback" in the solar wind's magnetic field. By fingerprinting the elusive particles within the switchback, Solar Orbiter has traced its origin back to the sun's surface and revealed more about solar magnetism—the unruly instigator of dangerous solar storms. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-solar-orbiter-tracks-mysterious-magnetic.html Astronomy Thu, 08 Oct 2026 05:00:10 EDT news710588161 American scientist Margaret Hamilton, who led development of the computer system used by NASA's Apollo lunar program, has died at 90, her former employer said Wednesday. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-margaret-hamilton-scientist-nasa-apollo.html Space Exploration Thu, 08 Oct 2026 04:37:04 EDT news710652952 A visualization of a dark moon eclipsing the sun is marked with handwritten notes in this April 6, 2026, screenshot from an Artemis II crew member's tablet. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-artemis-ii-crew-moon-photo.html Space Exploration Wed, 07 Oct 2026 19:20:13 EDT news710596262 An undergraduate astrophysics student at UC Berkeley has found three unusual galaxies—cataloged as Shapiro Dwarf Galaxies I, II and III. Each galaxy is far from other galaxies and has stopped making stars, a combination that is extremely rare. The discovery, published in The Astrophysical Journal, provides compelling observational evidence of a long-held astronomical theory. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-undergraduate-student-puzzle-isolated-galaxies.html Astronomy Wed, 07 Oct 2026 17:20:11 EDT news710603101 Astronomers have confirmed a powerful radio galaxy from nearly 12.5 billion years ago. The source, TXS 2354+015, was originally identified as a high-redshift candidate from its characteristic drop in optical light, and follow-up spectroscopy placed it at a redshift of 4.946. Their paper was posted to the arXiv preprint server on Sept. 23. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-radio-galaxy-billion-years-powerful.html Astronomy Wed, 07 Oct 2026 15:40:10 EDT news710589777 Scientists using the European Space Agency's Mars Express, in combination with a state-of-the-art meteorological model of the Red Planet, have found that there may be some exotic physics behind Mars' most curious cloud. The paper, "Homogeneous ice Nucleation from Water Vapour Suggested by Elongated Clouds on Mars," is published in Nature Geoscience. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-mars-oddest-cloud-odder-previously.html Planetary Sciences Wed, 07 Oct 2026 11:01:01 EDT news710520301 An international team of astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), of which the U.S. National Science Foundation National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a partner (NSF NRAO), has combined expertise from across the globe to open a new window on how the organic molecules that seed planets, and potentially life, form in space. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-alcohol-space-exotic-methanol-planet.html Astronomy Wed, 07 Oct 2026 10:40:18 EDT news710587401 Allen Schnibben's interest in space started when he was a child. "I picked up some books about the solar system when I was in elementary school. In middle school, I got a telescope and I started observing the night sky as a hobby," said Schnibben, a computer scientist at Sandia National Laboratories. "My entire life, I've had an interest in space." Now, Schnibben collects data on satellites at Sandia's SOHBRIT facility, a 12-foot-wide (3.7-meter-wide) observatory. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-scientist-tracks-satellites-automated-observatory.html Astronomy Tue, 06 Oct 2026 20:20:01 EDT news710521202 Transporting material from Earth to the moon is an expensive proposition: By some estimates, moving a single kilogram (2.2 pounds) can cost more than $1 million. Any plan to build a permanent human habitat up there will depend on bringing that sky-high cost down. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-simulated-moon-soil-recyclable-thermoplastics.html Space Exploration Tue, 06 Oct 2026 18:40:01 EDT news710509742 A newly released panorama captured by NASA's Curiosity rover offers the most detailed view yet of distant, wind-carved Martian cliffs, highlighting features the mission's scientists have long been waiting to see up close. The scene was snapped at 8:30 a.m. local Mars time, showing striking blue hues in the foreground as bright morning light illuminates crags known as yardangs on the horizon. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-nasa-curiosity-rover-stunning-martian.html Planetary Sciences Tue, 06 Oct 2026 16:00:07 EDT news710515681 The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has unveiled numerous stars formerly hidden by clouds of dust in a stellar nursery known as NGC 7129—a cauldron of cosmic creation, 3,300 light-years from Earth. Webb captured infrared light, which pierces through the dense matter that scatters or absorbs other types of light. This region, rife with stellar objects in different stages of their lives, offers an opportunity to explore how stars shape their surroundings. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-webb-captures-commotion-nebula-stellar.html Astronomy Tue, 06 Oct 2026 13:40:01 EDT news710501821 Astronomers have observed the longest-lasting central engine activity ever recorded from a gamma-ray burst. The burst occurred at a redshift of 0.8577, and the activity lasted about 27 days in the burst's own rest frame—around 20 days longer than the previous record. The paper, posted to the arXiv preprint server on Sept. 18, explores different mechanisms that could be powering this puzzling burst. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-gamma-ray-stayed-month-previous.html Astronomy Tue, 06 Oct 2026 13:20:14 EDT news710505906 In early 2024, laboratory-grown neurospheres (i.e. clusters of neural stem cells) were sent to the International Space Station (ISS) to be exposed to microgravity. The return trip was delayed several times due to bad weather in the landing zone. As a result, the cells were outside controlled culture conditions for longer than anticipated—beyond the limit of what they were expected to survive. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-stem-cells-survive-unexpectedly-rough.html Space Exploration Tue, 06 Oct 2026 12:40:10 EDT news710500141 Evidence for hypernovae, theorized to be the most powerful explosions in the universe, has been disputed in two papers by University College London (UCL) researchers. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-unusual-stars-owe-hypernovae.html Astronomy Tue, 06 Oct 2026 12:20:17 EDT news710499782 The only known supernova remnant of its kind in the Milky Way has an unexpectedly intricate structure: chains of gas knots resembling pearls on a string, each wide enough to fit the solar system multiple times. Using the Gemini North telescope, an international team co-led by Ilaria Caiazzo, assistant professor at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA), captured the most detailed view yet of Pa 30, revealing striking new features of the remnant associated with a historical supernova witnessed nearly 850 years ago. The findings are published in The Astrophysical Journal. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-images-unique-supernova-remnant-reveal.html Astronomy Tue, 06 Oct 2026 12:00:18 EDT news710494434 Earth seems like a troubled place right now, but at least our cosmic surroundings appear peaceful. This is not universally true, as explosions, collisions and other dangers lurk in other places and times. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-life-cosmos-universe-supercomputer-yields.html Astronomy Tue, 06 Oct 2026 10:40:29 EDT news710498341 Global positioning systems are a key feature in everyday life for much of the world's population. Whether it's ensuring a ship delivers its goods safely or helping you avoid a road closure on your commute home, GPS can help. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-gps-constellations-drifting-moon.html Space Exploration Tue, 06 Oct 2026 10:40:08 EDT news710499481 Galactic black holes are cosmic mitochondria, powerhouses of the universe. Most of the energy these supermassive black holes produce comes from the material surrounding them: superheated plasma in their accretion disks interacting with tremendous magnetic fields. But there is a more direct way to extract energy from a black hole. It's known as the Penrose process, and a new study asks whether we could discover a signature of this process. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-neutrons-rotating-black-holes-galactic.html Astronomy Mon, 05 Oct 2026 21:20:01 EDT news710432101 The universe may be trapped in its own comfort zone, and a researcher in the College of Engineering and Computer Science has helped explain why it cannot seem to leave. A new study suggests the universe could be locked into its current state by the same kinds of quantum effects that scientists study when trying to preserve fragile information inside a quantum computer. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-quantum-interactions-early-universe-fields.html Astronomy Mon, 05 Oct 2026 18:20:09 EDT news710425308 Like Earth, most planetary bodies circle their star in stable, detached orbits. These companionable systems can suddenly change when a planet comes too close to its star. In such a close encounter, a star can pull the planet in and swallow it whole. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-astronomers-star-slowly-snacking-brown.html Astronomy Mon, 05 Oct 2026 16:40:16 EDT news710425861 Deep space travel comes with a huge potential downside—radiation exposure that can kill an astronaut either quickly or slowly over time if not managed correctly. But what exactly does that mean, and is there any way to handle it other than sticking more and more protective layers between the squishy biological systems inside a spacecraft and the radiative void of deep space? https://phys.org/news/2026-10-space-biological-cascade-cancer.html Astronomy Mon, 05 Oct 2026 12:40:20 EDT news710407742 Primordial black holes (PBHs) don't exist as far as we know. But if they did, these hypothetical objects would have formed in the early universe rather than from dying stars, and they may even make up dark matter. That's not the end of the weirdness. Their formation could have been even stranger if it occurred in a universe with a dark dimension, which is another theoretical construct. It posits that our space includes a hidden extra spatial dimension. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-tiny-ancient-black-holes-dimensional.html Astronomy Mon, 05 Oct 2026 12:40:16 EDT news710412892 Heat shields are one of the most important parts of any spacecraft that intends to enter an atmosphere. And the material they are made of is critical. Improving them has been a challenge, though, as researchers typically only get "before" and "after" pictures of a heat shield's job of helping a spacecraft land safely back on Earth. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-rays-ai-reveal-spacecraft-shields.html Astronomy Mon, 05 Oct 2026 12:20:09 EDT news710407561 Astronomers have discovered the first example of a second-generation planet orbiting a white dwarf, a world that appears to have formed from the remains of the dead star it now orbits. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-phoenix-planet-astronomers-world-reborn.html Astronomy Mon, 05 Oct 2026 11:00:15 EDT news710162342 The truth is out there—but identifying signs of life in space involves an intense search for biosignatures within our solar system and beyond. However, developing sensitive yet compact technologies capable of detection has proven to be an out-of-this-world challenge. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-electrical-technique-life-space.html Astrobiology Mon, 05 Oct 2026 05:00:06 EDT news710162162 Dark matter could be a type of matter in the universe that does not emit, absorb or reflect detectable light and appears to interact very weakly with regular matter. Although physicists have observed gravitational effects attributed to dark matter, they have not yet been able to determine what it is made of. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-gamma-ray-limits-dark-annihilation.html Astronomy Sun, 04 Oct 2026 15:20:01 EDT news709978528 An international team of astronomers, including researchers from the Department of Physics and the Hong Kong Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics (HKIAA) at The University of Hong Kong (HKU), has discovered a previously hidden phase of high-energy activity following the merger of compact stars. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-hidden-ray-phase-revealed-neutron.html Astronomy Sun, 04 Oct 2026 13:00:02 EDT news710002099 Saturn's icy moon Enceladus hides a global ocean beneath its frozen surface. From fractures near its south pole, material from this ocean is ejected into space as a plume of water vapor and ice particles. These particles offer scientists a rare opportunity to investigate an extraterrestrial ocean without drilling through kilometers of ice. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-enceladus-ocean-spray-chemically-diverse.html Astrobiology Sun, 04 Oct 2026 12:00:01 EDT news709890049 A nearby star system with two suns could potentially support an Earth-sized planet in a region where liquid water could exist, according to a new paper examining the dynamics of the system. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-qa-earth-planet-suns.html Planetary Sciences Sat, 03 Oct 2026 13:00:01 EDT news709951576