https://phys.org/space-news/ en-us The latest science news on astronomy, astrobiology, and space exploration from Phys.org. An international research team has reported the first experimental investigation of a nuclear physics reaction essential for understanding how the element strontium is produced in stars—specifically in stellar environments where traditional explanations for its formation fall short. The study, published June 8 in Communications Physics, reports that the team used indirect experimental techniques to extract previously inaccessible information about how an isotope of a separate element—krypton—absorbs, or captures, neutrons. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-krypton-narrow-key-gap-stellar.html Astronomy Thu, 17 Sep 2026 18:40:06 EDT news708873901 Researchers at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory and Brookhaven National Laboratory have teamed up to get a fresh look at the complex makeup of meteorites and glimpse into our solar system's past. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-glimpse-solar-molecules-meteorite.html Astrobiology Thu, 17 Sep 2026 14:40:21 EDT news708860713 Carbonate minerals are among the best records of past liquid water on Mars: They form when water carrying dissolved carbon dioxide reacts with rock, and their composition reflects the chemistry of both. Yet Mars has surprisingly little carbonate on its surface compared with what climate models predict, given that the planet likely had a (at least transiently) thick, CO2-rich atmosphere more than 3 billion years ago. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-ancient-mars-reveal-carbonate.html Planetary Sciences Thu, 17 Sep 2026 13:00:17 EDT news708857762 Of all the discoveries from the James Webb Space Telescope, the multitude of Little Red Dots it has observed is among the most enigmatic. Now, simulations using the Japanese Supercomputer ATERUI III have explained the nature of the Little Red Dots without requiring any exotic assumptions. The simulations show that the Little Red Dots are black holes growing at a rate that would be impossible today because of conditions in the early universe. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-japanese-supercomputer-simulations-webb-red.html Astronomy Thu, 17 Sep 2026 12:00:03 EDT news708856352 An early-career Western Australian astrophysicist has helped uncover a universal rule behind one of the most powerful behaviors in the universe: when black holes launch jets. The discovery, published in the journal Nature Astronomy, shows black holes appear to fire off powerful jets at the same critical point in their feeding cycle—whether they are about 10 times the mass of the sun or millions of times heavier. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-black-holes-stellar-supermassive-size.html Astronomy Thu, 17 Sep 2026 11:30:01 EDT news708860241 Scientists have discovered a crater on the moon that's bigger than the Roman Colosseum and is the result of a powerful impact two years ago that initially went undetected. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-nasa-spacecraft-huge-crater-moon.html Space Exploration Thu, 17 Sep 2026 04:12:32 EDT news708837122 Seasonal changes redistribute enough water around Earth to shift the planet's center of mass back and forth by fractions of an inch relative to its geometric center. NASA scientists are on the case, tracking the oscillations because Earth's center of mass is a crucial reference point for satellite navigation and elevation measurements. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-monsoons-oceans-shift-earth-center.html Planetary Sciences Wed, 16 Sep 2026 16:30:01 EDT news708789181 Astronomers have confirmed a world less than a million years old as the youngest known planet, using data from archives. Called Elias 2-24 b, the baby planet is still whirling in its natal disk of dust and gas. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-newfound-baby-planet-youngest-world.html Planetary Sciences Wed, 16 Sep 2026 16:00:02 EDT news708781861 Research initiated as part of a bachelor's thesis in physics at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) has culminated in a new analytical description of the muon-based calibration of dual-mirror Cherenkov telescopes. The work solves a problem that had remained open for more than 30 years because of the geometric complexity of these optical systems: determining precisely how much Cherenkov light produced by a muon reaches the camera, taking into account the shadows cast by the secondary mirror and the camera itself. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-muon-enable-precise-calibration-telescopes.html Astronomy Wed, 16 Sep 2026 15:50:01 EDT news708788401 The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope hasn't yet reached its Sun–Earth L2 orbit, and it already has some good news. NASA has announced that the mission has enough fuel to potentially double its mission length. Though initially scheduled for five years of observations, followed by a five-year extended mission, the entire mission could now reach 22 years. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-years-nancy-grace-roman-space.html Space Exploration Wed, 16 Sep 2026 13:40:02 EDT news708770581 A 178-year-old mystery surrounding one of the earliest recorded examples of space weather affecting technology has been solved by an international team led by Lancaster University. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-minute-delay-solar-storm-disrupted.html Planetary Sciences Wed, 16 Sep 2026 09:00:07 EDT news708682561 Dwarf galaxies—with a mass equal to about a billion suns, but often considerably less—are the most abundant in the universe. However, because of their low luminosity, they are very difficult to detect. They have mostly been discovered in the vicinity of the Milky Way, in what is called the Local Group, but also, and in large quantities, at greater distances, where current instrumentation cannot distinguish individual stars. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-ghost-galaxies-emerge-hosts-dwarf.html Astronomy Wed, 16 Sep 2026 08:40:06 EDT news708766202 Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have measured the most powerful gas outflow ever recorded from a "dead" galaxy outside our cosmic neighborhood and found that even outflows this extreme may not be enough to permanently shut down star formation. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-webb-extreme-gas-outflows-distant.html Astronomy Wed, 16 Sep 2026 08:10:06 EDT news707998042 Astronomers have confirmed that one of the fastest-changing stars ever observed has entered a new stage of its evolution, offering a rare opportunity to watch a star's life unfold on human timescales. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-born-star-rare-chance-stellar.html Astronomy Wed, 16 Sep 2026 05:00:09 EDT news708680821 SpaceX announced Tuesday that it was planning to send its flagship rocket, Starship, into orbit, a key step in its project to one day reach the moon or Mars. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-spacex-orbital-flight-starship-rocket.html Space Exploration Wed, 16 Sep 2026 04:17:52 EDT news708751044 The United States has confirmed for the first time that it has deployed weapons in space, a remarkable revelation after previous warnings about countries such as Russia possibly weaponizing a global frontier long agreed in treaties to be used for only peaceful purposes. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-acknowledges-deployed-weapons-space.html Space Exploration Wed, 16 Sep 2026 04:08:20 EDT news708750450 Scientists from Trinity College Dublin have developed a way to unravel changing weather patterns on distant worlds. Using this approach, they discovered that the weather on a well-studied brown dwarf, SIMP 0136, previously linked to northern lights-like phenomena, is largely shaped by just two dominant processes: changes in temperature and the vertical structure of its clouds. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-world-years-reveals-jupiter-weather.html Space Exploration Wed, 16 Sep 2026 03:00:01 EDT news708599341 This starry view of the nearby star-forming region IC 348 is one of the largest images released to date from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope. Using Webb, astronomers searched IC 348 for brown dwarfs, which are less massive than the smallest stars. The researchers discovered brown dwarfs just twice the mass of Jupiter, bringing the study of these curious objects into a new mass range and revealing new insights about the star-formation process. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-webb-reveals-dynamic-panorama-star.html Astronomy Tue, 15 Sep 2026 17:20:01 EDT news708697684 The sun is the reason life exists on our small, blue planet. It provides solar radiation that warms the planet and ignites intricate biochemical processes like photosynthesis, producing oxygen for life to breathe. However, while the sun is known for giving life, it can also take it away with solar flares, geomagnetic storms and solar radiation storms, collectively referred to as space weather. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-cubesat-instrument-solar-storm-10x.html Astronomy Tue, 15 Sep 2026 13:20:13 EDT news708696369 Launched on Oct. 20, 2018, the joint ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission has traveled for almost eight years, using a carefully planned but eventful sequence of planetary flybys and solar-electric propulsion to gradually approach its destination, Mercury. The mission is now entering the final stage of its journey to the smallest and innermost planet of our solar system. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-laser-altimeter-bela-ready-explore.html Planetary Sciences Tue, 15 Sep 2026 11:00:01 EDT news708687483 Astronomers have found that a nearby galaxy's black hole is blasting out a far more powerful and hidden gas outflow than previously realized. Studying NGC 1068, a well-known galaxy with an actively feeding black hole at its center, researchers combined new infrared observations with existing data to map how the black hole's energy is reshaping the surrounding gas. The results are reported in a paper published Aug. 6 in Astronomy & Astrophysics. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-famous-galaxy-black-hole-violent.html Astronomy Tue, 15 Sep 2026 07:20:01 EDT news707994714 Most of our experience with the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) has focused on capturing radio signals that alien species have sent out, whether intentionally or unintentionally. That creates a huge "synchronicity" problem—what if there aren't any alien civilizations broadcasting radio signals now, but there were a billion years ago? The Milky Way is around 13 billion years old—hoping that we exist at the same time as an alien civilization that happens to be actively messaging is a huge leap of faith. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-clues-ancient-alien-civilizations-moon.html Astrobiology Tue, 15 Sep 2026 06:20:01 EDT news708611555 When JWST's first science results started rolling in, it was a triumph for scientific vision and persistence. For years, the fate of the powerful space telescope was uncertain. It went way over budget, and for 25 years, troubling conversations accompanied its ongoing development. Several times, it seemed like it would be canceled, and in 2011, Congress came close to ending the program. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-dense-galaxies-early-universe.html Astronomy Mon, 14 Sep 2026 21:40:01 EDT news708611502 Choosing an orbit for a satellite always comes with trade-offs. Very low Earth orbit (VLEO), between 100–450 km (62–280 miles), has distinct advantages. Remote-sensing cameras can take better pictures, communications and radar require less power, and atmospheric drag automatically cleans up dead satellites. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-plasma-fuels-thin-air.html Space Exploration Mon, 14 Sep 2026 20:40:01 EDT news708611542 A new study of nine nearby galaxies has shown that actively growing supermassive black holes may contribute to, rather than prevent, star formation in their host galaxies. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-black-holes-reveal-star-nearby.html Astronomy Mon, 14 Sep 2026 16:20:10 EDT news708613982 Before there was Earth, there was chemistry. In the unimaginable cold, dark clouds where stars and planets are born, carbon molecules assemble into more complex forms—starting a chemical journey that could eventually deliver some of life's basic ingredients to young planets. There's only one problem: These molecules need heat to form. At least that's what scientists have long believed. But new research from FIU chemist Alexander Mebel reveals such chemistry can actually happen at temperatures nearing absolute zero, which is -460°F (-273°C). https://phys.org/news/2026-09-series-reactions-reveals-complex-carbon.html Astrobiology Mon, 14 Sep 2026 14:00:10 EDT news708607262 In May 2024, Earth experienced its most intense geomagnetic storm since the Halloween storms of 2003. This "superstorm" filled night skies in many parts of the world with colorful aurorae, and it disrupted some infrastructure, such as GPS signals used by agricultural equipment. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-solar-superstorm-earth-belt.html Planetary Sciences Mon, 14 Sep 2026 12:00:12 EDT news708601125 Every second, particles zip through your body at nearly the speed of light. They rain down from a storm high in the sky, where cosmic rays, a powerful type of interstellar matter, constantly strike atoms in Earth's atmosphere. The impacts break them apart into a shower of particles that rain to the ground. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-physicists-birth-cosmic-rainstorms-cern.html Astronomy Mon, 14 Sep 2026 11:00:04 EDT news708599702 Astronomers have identified a peculiar radio transient in the Milky Way that has remained active for more than two decades, defying the behavior expected of known classes of galactic radio sources. The paper posted to the arXiv preprint server on Aug. 21 discusses the rare event that may have caused this bizarre radio emission. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-bizarre-galactic-radio-source-decades.html Astronomy Mon, 14 Sep 2026 08:00:05 EDT news707992863 The discovery of water in dark craters at the moon's poles has sparked a "moon rush" to establish bases there, followed by villages, cities and heavy industry. How sustainable is this rush? https://phys.org/news/2026-09-cities-moon-isnt-scientists.html Space Exploration Mon, 14 Sep 2026 00:00:02 EDT news708349073