For decades, Uranus and Neptune have been grouped together in astronomy textbooks as “ice giants,” a category used to distinguish them from the gas giants Jupiter and Saturn. The label was based on the idea that, beneath their thick atmospheres of hydrogen and helium, these distant worlds are dominated by “ices” such as water, ammonia,…
NASA’s Near-Earth Object (NEO) tracking system has identified a bus-sized asteroid, designated as 2026-FL3, which is scheduled to make a close approach to our planet next Tuesday. Traveling at a staggering speed of approximately 32,000 kilometers per hour, the space rock is estimated to be roughly 12 to 15 meters in diameter. While the term…
In a breakthrough that has excited the global astronomy community, scientists have detected a wobbling high-latitude jet emission from the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, marking the first time such a phenomenon has been observed in a comet originating outside our solar system. The discovery, detailed in a recent preprint study, reveals that 3I/ATLAS is releasing powerful…
NASA has confirmed that it has lost contact with its Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) orbiter, a spacecraft that has been studying the Martian atmosphere since 2014. The communication breakdown occurred earlier this week when the orbiter passed behind Mars, and engineers have since been working to re-establish a stable link. MAVEN has been…
Artificial intelligence systems, and large language models (LLMs) in particular, have become almost ubiquitous. The implications are many. Among them: serious concerns about massive amounts of energy usage. The initial training of GPT-3 required as much energy as powering 120 houses for a year. That’s before adding the energy required for the chatbot to respond…
US space agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is training a dog-shaped robot for missions on Mars. The robo dog is named LASSIE-M, which stands for ‘Legged Autonomous Surface Science In Analogue Environments for Mars’. Researchers from NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston ventured to New Mexico’s White Sands National Park in August to…
The annual assessment of the Antarctic ozone hole has revealed encouraging progress, with scientists reporting that the 2025 ozone hole was the fifth smallest since 1992. The findings, released jointly by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and NASA, confirm that international efforts to phase out ozone-depleting substances are yielding long-term results. According to…
NASA’s Perseverance rover has made a landmark discovery on Mars, identifying what appears to be its first meteorite since landing in Jezero Crater more than four years ago. The find, announced by scientists this week, marks the first suspected meteorite detection by Perseverance in nearly five years of exploration. The unusual boulder, nicknamed Phippsaksla, was…
In a dramatic celestial event, Comet ATLAS (C/2025 K1) has broken apart into at least three brighter fragments, stunning astronomers and skywatchers worldwide. The breakup, observed in mid-November, has made the comet even more visible, with its unusual golden hue distinguishing it from most other comets. Discovered on May 24, 2025, Comet ATLAS had been…
Ever wondered how cities across the world on planet Earth appear from the International Space Station at night? A new set of eye-catching photographs released by the International Space Station (ISS) has drawn the skygazers’ attention to the shining outlines of Earth’s largest metropolises at night. The images, taken from the ISS during a recent…
