compiled by Arlene & David Kaplan

How NASA’s Roman Space Telescope Will Uncover Lonesome Black Holes NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will provide an unprecedented window into the infrared universe when it launches in the mid-2020s. One of the mission’s planned surveys will use a quirk of gravity…more

SpaceX Wins NASA $2.9 Billion Contract to Build Moon Lander Elon Musk’s company bested Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and others in the contest to carry American astronauts to the lunar surface. Musk’s private space company is developing a giant rocket called Starship to one day take people to Mars. But first, it will drop off NASA astronauts at the moon…more

Nasa’s rover makes breathable oxygen on Mars An instrument on Nasa’s Perseverance rover on Mars has made oxygen from the planet’s carbon dioxide atmosphere. It’s the second successful technology demonstration on the mission, which flew a mini-helicopter on Monday…more

Muons: Scientists have ‘strong evidence’ for new force of nature Scientists say they have found “strong evidence” for the existence of a new force of nature. They have found that sub-atomic particles, called muons, are not behaving in the way predicted by the current theory of sub-atomic physics. There are four fundamental forces of nature…more

Ariel: A space telescope to study distant worlds The Ariel space telescope, which will study the atmospheres of distant worlds, has the green light to proceed. This video illustrates what the observatory, to launch in 2029, will look like. It also shows how the mission will do its science. Ariel plans to observe…more

Why are people counting stars this week? Experts want to get an accurate picture of light pollution levels, by asking members of the public to count how many stars they can see. Light pollution can be harmful to birds, insects and other creatures….more

What Do You Call a Bunch of Black Holes: A Crush? A Scream? There are pods of whales and gaggles of geese. Now astronomers are wondering which plural term would best suit the most enigmatic entity in the cosmos. What do you call a black hole? Anything you want, the old joke goes, as long as you don’t call it late for dinner. Black holes, after all, are nothing but hungry…more

Hubble Captures Giant Star on the Edge of Destruction In celebration of the 31st anniversary of the launching of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers aimed the renowned observatory at a brilliant “celebrity star,” one of the brightest stars seen in our galaxy, surrounded by a glowing halo of gas and dust….more

An Artist Sketches the Giant Gender Gap on the Moon The moon’s surface is pockmarked with craters, the relics of violent impacts over cosmic time. A few of the largest are visible to the naked eye, and a backyard telescope reveals hundreds more. But turn astronomical observatories or even a space probe on our nearest celestial neighbor, and suddenly millions appear…more