Category Astronomy/Space

Hidden ice beneath Mars’ surface may mark the spot where humanity first sets foot on the Red Planet. A newly identified region on Mars may hold the key to future human landings. Researchers found evidence of water ice less than a meter beneath the surface, close enough to be harvested for water, oxygen, and fuel. The location strikes a rare balance between sunlight and cold, helping preserve the ice. It could also offer clues about whether Mars once supported life.

Before humans can make the long trip to another world, scientists must identify a safe and practical place to land. New research led by a University of Mississippi scientist suggests one region on Mars may meet many of the requirements for future human missions.

Erica Luzzi, a planetary geologist and postdoctoral re...

A Carnegie-led team of astronomers detected the strongest evidence yet of an atmosphere around a rocky planet beyond our solar system. Their work, published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, used NASA’s JWST to reveal an alien atmosphere in an unexpected place—an ancient, ultra-hot super-Earth that likely hosts a magma ocean.

TOI-561 b is a rocky world that’s about twice Earth’s ma...

Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), an international team of astronomers has observed an elliptical galaxy known as NGC 4486B. Results of the observational campaign, published Dec. 16 on the arXiv preprint server, deliver important insights into the properties of the double nucleus of this galaxy.

Why does NGC 4486B have a double nucleus?
NGC 4486B (also known as VCC1279) is a compact elliptical galaxy at the center of the Virgo Cluster. It has a small effective radius of about 620 light years, an absolute magnitude of 17.6 mag, and its total stellar mass is estimated to be approximately 6 billion solar masses.

Hubble Space Telescope observations of NGC 4486B have revealed that it hosts a double nucleus, as does the Andromeda galaxy...

An international team of astronomers has achieved a first in probing the early universe, using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), detecting a supernova—the explosive death of a massive star—at an unprecedented cosmic distance.

The explosion, designated SN in GRB 250314A, occurred when the universe was only about 730 million years old, placing it deep in the era of reionization. This remarkable discovery provides a direct look at the final moments of a massive star from a time when the first stars and galaxies were just beginning to form.

The event, which has ...