compiled by Arlene & David Kaplan

Astronomers Have Discovered a New Hidden Galaxy Near Andromeda—And It’s Unlike Anything Seen Before A previously unknown dwarf galaxy has been discovered on the outskirts of the Andromeda Galaxy, adding to the growing list of mysterious satellite galaxies lurking in our cosmic neighborhood. Named Pegasus VII, this newly identified low-luminosity galaxy is one of the faintest Andromeda satellites ever detected…more

Scientists spotted an unheard-of planet. Webb just peered into it. In deep space, far beyond our solar system, astronomers have spotted loads of super-Earths, mini-Neptunes, and hot Jupiters. But only once have they found an “ultra-hot Neptune” — a Neptune-size world orbiting extremely close to its star…more

China’s Mars rover makes stunning discovery in search for evidence of ancient water Mars may have once hosted an ocean with waves that lapped against sandy beaches 3.6 billion years ago, according to new research. China’s Zhurong rover and its ground-penetrating radar detected the ancient shorelines when it operated from May 2021 to May 2022…more

Our Solar System Crossed ‘Radcliffe Wave’ during Miocene Epoch, Astronomers Say As our Solar System orbits the Milky Way, it encounters various environments, including dense regions of the interstellar medium. These encounters can expose parts of the Solar System to the interstellar medium, while also increasing the flow of interstellar dust into the Solar System and Earth’s atmosphere. The discovery of new Galactic structures,…more

Black Hole The Size of 36 Billion Suns Could Lie at The Heart of Cosmic Horseshoe In 2007, astronomers discovered the Cosmic Horseshoe, a gravitationally lensed system of galaxies about five-and-a-half billion light-years away. The foreground galaxy’s mass magnifies and distorts the image of a distant background galaxy whose light has travelled for billions of years before reaching us…more

A Dark Scottish Isle Where Starlight Reigns Supreme Rum, a diamond-shaped island off the western coast of Scotland, is home to 40 people. Most of the island — 40 square miles of mountains, peatland and heath — is a national nature reserve, with residents mainly nestled around Kinloch Bay to the east. What the Isle of Rum lacks is artificial illumination…more

Will That Asteroid Strike Earth? Risk Level Rises to Highest Ever Recorded. Astronomers on Tuesday said that the asteroid designated 2024 YR4 had become the most likely sizable space rock ever forecast to impact planet Earth. The object, first detected in December, is 130 to 300 feet long and expected to make a very close pass of the planet in 2032. Its odds of impacting Earth on Dec. 22 of that year currently…more

First Direct Image of the Cosmic Web Reveals the Universe’s Hidden Highways A cosmic filament, 3 million light-years long, has been directly imaged for the first time — offering a new glimpse into the hidden framework of the Universe! Matter in intergalactic space is arranged in a vast network of interconnected filaments, known as the cosmic web…more

New Discovery Reveals the True Composition of Jupiter’s Clouds A backyard astronomer helped uncover a planetary mystery — Jupiter’s famous clouds aren’t ammonia ice but a murky mix of chemicals, sitting lower in the atmosphere than expected. For years, astronomers believed that Jupiter’s upper clouds — responsible for its iconic pale brown belts — were made of frozen ammonia…more

‘Moon Dust on Our Boots’: Texas Company’s Blue Ghost Lands on Lunar Surface A robotic spacecraft from an American startup gently set down on a lava plain on the moon’s near side early Sunday morning. The Blue Ghost lander, built by Firefly Aerospace of Cedar Park, Texas, touched down at 3:34 a.m. Eastern time. “You all stuck the landing,” Will Coogan, the Blue Ghost chief engineer…more