compiled by Arlene & David Kaplan

James Webb: Telescope reveals new detail in famous supernova This is an image of a supernova – an exploded star – taken by the new super space telescope James Webb (JWST). SN1987A, as it’s known, is one of the most famous and studied objects in the southern hemisphere sky…more

Japan Joins the New Moon Race, and Launches an X-Ray Telescope, Too On Thursday morning in Japan, a bus-size telescope with X-Ray vision soared into space. It wasn’t alone. Along for the ride was a robotic moon lander about the size of a small food truck. The two missions — XRISM and SLIM — would soon part ways, one headed off to spy on some of the hottest spots in our universe, the other to help Japan’s space agency, JAXA, test technologies…more

F.A.A. Spells Out Needed Fixes for SpaceX’s Starship Rocket The next giant Starship rocket from Elon Musk’s SpaceX is standing on the launching pad in South Texas. But the Federal Aviation Administration said on Friday that the company must undertake “corrective actions” before it would issue a launch license for the second flight…more

Don’t Expect a ‘Theory of Everything’ to Explain It All What good are the laws of physics if we can’t solve the equations that describe them? That was the question that occurred to me on reading an article in The Guardian by Andrew Pontzen, a cosmologist at University College London who spends his days running computer simulations of black holes, stars, galaxies and the birth and growth of the universe…more

Tantalising sign of possible life on faraway world Nasa’s James Webb Space Telescope may have discovered tentative evidence of a sign of life on a faraway planet. It may have detected a molecule called dimethyl sulphide (DMS). On Earth, at least, this is only produced by life…more

Mummies From Outer Space? Mexico’s Congress Gets a Firsthand Look. Mexico’s Congress is usually meant to be a venue for solemn presentations on budgets and other serious legislation. But this week, lawmakers heard testimony from a self-proclaimed U.F.O. researcher who brought with him some unusual objects…more

NASA Introduces New U.F.O. Research Director Pledging a new, transparent, scientifically rigorous look at U.F.O.s, NASA on Thursday said it had appointed a director of research on the topic — and then kept the name of the director a secret for about seven hours….more

James Webb telescope finds potential signature of life on Jupiter’s icy moon Europa NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has revealed homemade carbon dioxide on Jupiter’s icy moon Europa, raising the possibility that the frigid waterworld could host life. Europa, which is a little bit smaller than Earth’s moon, is covered with a crust of water ice enveloping a saltwater ocean…more

NASA’s Webb Finds Carbon Source on Surface of Jupiter’s Moon Europa Jupiter’s moon Europa is one of a handful of worlds in our solar system that could potentially harbor conditions suitable for life. Previous research has shown that beneath its water-ice crust lies a salty ocean of liquid water with a rocky seafloor. However, planetary scientists had not confirmed if that ocean contained the chemicals needed for life, particularly carbon…more

Nothing’s the Matter With Antimatter, New Experiment Confirms Physicists know that for every fundamental particle in nature there is an antiparticle — an evil twin of identical mass but endowed with equal and opposite characteristics like charge and spin. When these twins meet, they obliterate each other, releasing a flash of energy on contact…more