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    Category Astronomy/Space

    Sugars, ‘gum,’ stardust found in NASA’s asteroid Bennu samples

    December 4, 2025, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Graphic labeled "Bio-essential sugars ribose and glucose in samples from asteroid Bennu." The left half of the graphic has a background image of Bennu. In front of it are the RNA molecular components on Bennu: guanine, cytosine, ribose, adenine, uracil, and phosphate. Below them, the molecular structure of glucose is accompanied by text: "Ribose and glucose are sugars essential to life on Earth. RNA uses ribose for its structure. Glucose provides cells with energy and is used to make fibers like cellulose. A team of Japanese and US scientists have found ribose and glucose in samples of asteroid Bennu (collected by NASA'S OSIRIS-REx mission), suggesting that these simple sugars were brought to the early Earth by meteorites." The right half of the graphic has a background image of Earth. In front of it is the genetic code for protein synthesis, including ribose, phosphate, and the RNA nucleobases guanine, cytosine adenine, and uracil. Below that, the chemical process of energy production via glycolysis and the chemical structure of cellulose are annotated.
    A team of Japanese and US scientists have discovered the bio-essential sugars ribose and glucose in samples of asteroid Bennu that were collected by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission. This finding builds on the earlier discovery of nucleobases (the genetic components of DNA and RNA), phosphate, and amino acids (the building blocks of proteins) in the Bennu samples, showing that the molecular ingredients of life could have been delivered to early Earth by meteorites. Download this graphic from NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio website: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14932
    NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona/Dan Gallagher 

    The asteroid Bennu continues to provide new clues to scientists’ biggest questions about the formation of the early solar system and the origins of life...

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    Dynamic duo of bacteria could change Mars dust into versatile building material for first human colonists

    December 3, 2025, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    mars
    Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

    Since humanity’s first steps on the moon, the aspiration to extend human civilization beyond Earth has been a central objective of international space agencies, targeting long-term extraterrestrial habitation. Among the celestial bodies within reach, Mars is considered our next home.

    The red planet, with its stark landscapes and tantalizing similarities to Earth, beckons as the frontier of human exploration and settlement. But establishing a permanent foothold on Mars remains one of humanity’s boldest dreams and the most formidable scientific and engineering challenge.

    The red planet, once draped in a thick atmosphere, has undergone dramatic transformation over billions of years...

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    JWST spots a strange red dot so extreme scientists can’t explain it

    December 2, 2025, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    The discovery of strange, ultra-red objects—especially the extreme case known as The Cliff—has pushed astronomers to propose an entirely new type of cosmic structure: black hole stars. These exotic hybrids could explain rapid black hole growth in the early universe, but their existence remains unproven.

    In the summer of 2022, only a few weeks after the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) began delivering its first scientific images, astronomers noticed an unexpected pattern: tiny red points scattered throughout the new observations. These extremely compact, distinctly red objects appeared with remarkable clarity thanks to JWST’s sensitivity, and there were far more of them than expected...

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    Rare high-resolution observations of a flare-prolific solar active region

    December 1, 2025, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Mosaics of GREGOR observations in different wavelength bands showing the active region NOAA 14274 at around 08:33 UT on 10 November 2025, about 30 minutes before an X1.2 flare began.
    Credit: AIP / C. Denker

    Scientists have captured an exceptionally rare, high-resolution view of an active region that produced two powerful X-class solar flares—an achievement rarely possible from Earth. Using the GREGOR solar telescope in Tenerife, researchers recorded the explosive activity of the sun’s most energetic sunspot group of 2025, revealing twisted magnetic structures and the early stages of flare ignition with unprecedented detail. The flares triggered fast coronal mass ejections that lit up Earth’s skies with vivid auroras in the nights that followed.

    Challenges of observing solar flares
    H...

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