Amateur Astronomers Association of Princeton

compiled by Arlene & David Kaplan

Astronomers Detect a Possible Signature of Life on a Distant Planet The search for life beyond Earth has led scientists to explore many suggestive mysteries, from plumes of methane on Mars to clouds of phosphine gas on Venus. But as far as we can tell, Earth’s inhabitants remain alone in the cosmos. Now a team of researchers is offering what it contends is the strongest indication yet of extraterrestrial life, not in our solar system but on a massive planet, known as K2-18b…more

A Century-Old Cosmic Mystery Solved – Four Hidden Planets Found Near Earth Astronomers have discovered four rocky planets, all significantly smaller than Earth, orbiting Barnard’s Star — the closest single star to our Sun and second closest overall, after the Alpha Centauri system. Barnard’s Star is located just six light-years away and has a long history of false alarms when it comes to planet detection…more

DOGE Cuts Hobble Office That Would Aid NASA and SpaceX Mars Landings An office in an obscure corner of the federal government that NASA has relied on to safely land astronauts on the moon and robotic probes on Mars is facing pressure to cut its tight-knit team of experts by at least 20 percent, according to two people familiar with the mandate…more

There’s a Lot of History to Unpack for This Space Expert Jonathan McDowell is a go-to expert for all things spaceflight. Thousands of subscribers read his monthly Space Report, and far more people have seen him on cable news and other media platforms explaining unexpected events in orbit…more

A Flag on Mars? Maybe Not So Soon. The distance between Earth and Mars constantly shifts as they move around the sun, ranging from about 35 million miles to 250 million miles. To conserve fuel, spacecraft don’t launch toward the current position of Mars. Instead, they wait until the planet is properly aligned and then cruise to where Mars will be — seven or more months in the future…more

It’s Springtime on Polaris-9b, and the Exoflowers Are Blooming Imagine setting out for a springtime stroll. Not here on Earth but on some distant planet — call it Novathis-458b — orbiting a distant star. Even light-years from home, you recognize some familiar pleasures: The sun (albeit a different sun) is shining. The roses are in bloom. A breeze is blowing….more

A new comet appeared in the sky, then likely disintegrated. But it can still be seen When a new comet appears in the sky, there is often excitement. But things don’t always end well for the ancient celestial objects, made of ice, frozen gases and rock, as they near the sun — and an untimely demise appears to hold true for Comet C/2025 F2 (SWAN). All signs suggest that the celestial object…more

A Fireball Near Mexico City Lit Up the Sky and the Internet
For a few brief moments on Wednesday, a bright fireball lit up the predawn skies near Mexico City. The display awed residents and online viewers alike as videos of the object quickly spread. The glowing object was a bolide, according to The Associated Press…more

He Was a Prophet of Space Travel. His Ashes Were Found in a Basement. The basement of the prewar co-op on the Upper West Side was so cluttered and dark in one area that the staff called it “the Dungeon,” and last year, the building’s new superintendent resolved to clear it out. For weeks, he hauled the junk left behind by former tenants — old air-conditioners,..more

Scientists Propose We Live in a Slowly Rotating Universe That Completes One Rotation Every 500 Billion Years A team of scientists has proposed a revolutionary idea to explain one of the greatest contradictions in our understanding of the universe: the discrepancy in measuring its rate of expansion, known as the Hubble Tension. According to a study published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, the answer might lie in the fact that the universe rotates slowly, like a gigantic cosmic whirlpool…more