Space
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Astronomy
In a first, JWST detected starlight from distant galaxies with quasars
Until JWST’s sharp infrared eyes came along, it wasn’t possible to see the galaxies hosting extremely bright supermassive black holes called quasars.
- Astronomy
A supermassive black hole orbiting a bigger one revealed itself with a flash
A supermassive black hole binary system has puzzled astronomers for decades. Now they’ve finally seen direct signals from the smaller of the two.
- Astronomy
Jupiter-sized planets are very rare around the least massive stars
A six-year search of 200 nearby low-mass red dwarf stars found no Jupiter-like planets, boosting the standard theory for how such planets form.
- Space
A cyclone has been spotted swirling over Uranus’ north pole for the first time
Voyager 2 hinted at a cyclone at Uranus’ south pole. Now Earth-based observations give the first direct evidence of a storm at the ice giant’s north pole.
- Planetary Science
JWST captured Enceladus’ plume spraying water nearly 10,000 kilometers into space
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope reveals the rate at which Saturn’s moon Enceladus spews water and where that water ends up.
- Neuroscience
Brain cavities that swell in space may need at least 3 years to recover
MRI scans of astronauts show that duration in space and time between flights affect how much the brain’s fluid-filled cavities expand during missions.
- Astronomy
The Parker Solar Probe may have spotted the origin of high-speed solar winds
Kinks in the magnetic fields near the surface of the sun appear to be the cause of fast-moving flows in the solar wind.
- Astronomy
A simulation of a dying star shows how it could create gravitational waves
Massive jets and an expanding cocoon of debris from a collapsing star could be a source of never-before-seen ripples in spacetime.
- Astronomy
Weird black holes may hold secrets of the early universe
Big black holes in little galaxies, rogue black holes and other behemoths could offer clues to cosmic evolution.
- Planetary Science
A quake on Mars showed its crust is thicker than Earth’s
Seismic data from NASA’s Insight lander reveal the crust is roughly 50 kilometers thick, with the northern crust being thinner than the south’s.
- Planetary Science
Jupiter’s lightning bolts contort the same way as Earth’s
Jovian lightning extends in jagged steps as it does on Earth, data from NASA’s Juno spacecraft suggest. The finding might aid the search for life.
- Planetary Science
Saturn’s rings may be no more than 400 million years old
An analysis of data from NASA’s defunct Cassini probe suggests Saturn's rings materialized more than 100 million years after trilobites appeared on Earth.
