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    Category Astronomy/Space

    Rapid brightening of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS as it nears sun surprises scientists

    November 2, 2025, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Rapid brightening of interstellar comet as it nears the Sun surprises scientists
    Left: Stack of all CCOR-1 frames of 3I/ATLAS (top), and an equivalent stack centered on a nearby star on the same frames, approximating the PSF (bottom). Right: Similar stacks of all HI1 (top), COR2 (middle), and LASCO C3 Clear (bottom) frames of 3I. All stacks are aligned with north up. The heliocentric velocity (+v), and sunward (⊙) or antisunward (−⊙) directions are labeled for the comet at the midpoint time. Credit: arXiv (2025). DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2510.25035

    An interstellar comet that originated outside our solar system has just made its closest pass to the sun, brightening dramatically and rapidly as it did so. The reason for the sudden extreme activity is currently puzzling scientists.

    A stranger in the neighborhood
    The latest visitor to our corner of the galaxy was f...

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    Scientists find an explanation for odd-ball, water-rich exoplanets: They make their own water

    October 31, 2025, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Scientists find an explanation for oddball, water-rich exoplanets: they make their own water
    Laser-heated diamond-anvil cell experiments on silicate melts in a hydrogen medium. Credit: Nature (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-09630-7

    As more and more exoplanets are discovered throughout the galaxy, scientists find some that defy explanation—at least for awhile. A new study, published in Nature, describes a process that might explain why a large portion of exoplanets have water on their surface, even when it doesn’t make sense.

    Water where it shouldn’t be
    A particular category of exoplanets that are between the size of Earth and Neptune, referred to as “sub-Neptunes,” generally have a rocky core, which is surrounded by an envelope of either hydrogen or water...

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    The Red Spider Nebula, caught by Webb

    October 29, 2025, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    The Red Spider Nebula, caught by Webb
    A large planetary nebula. The nebula’s central star is hidden by a blotchy pinkish cloud of dust. A strong red light radiates from this area, illuminating the nearby dust. Two large loops extend diagonally away from the center, formed of thin ridges of molecular gas, here colored blue. They stretch out to the corners of the view. A huge number of bright, whitish stars cover the background, also easily visible through the thin dust layers. Credit: European Space Agency

    This new NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope Picture of the Month features a cosmic creepy-crawly called NGC6537—the Red Spider Nebula. Using its Near-InfraRed Camera (NIRCam), Webb has revealed never-before-seen details in this picturesque planetary nebula with a rich backdrop of thousands of stars.

    Planetary ne...

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    XRISM catches a pulsar’s cosmic wind—and sees a surprising result

    October 28, 2025, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    XRISM catches a pulsar's cosmic wind—and sees a surprising result
    An artist’s conception of a pulsar/main sequence star pair, similar to the one featured in the study. Credit: ESA

    The universe is a strange place. The X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) orbiting observatory recently highlighted this fact, when it was turned on a pulsar to document its powerful cosmic winds.

    The XRISM observatory is a joint mission for NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The mission was also a replacement for the ill-fated Hitomi X-ray observatory, which failed shortly after launch in 2016.

    The discovery comes courtesy of ESA’s Resolve instrument, a soft X-ray spectrometer aboard XRISM. The study looked at neutron star GX 13+1...

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