The First Step Toward a Radio Telescope Is Mapping Earth’s Noise
A small satellite payload aims to map Earth’s radio leakage from orbit, clearing a path toward astronomy below the ionosphere’s cutoff.
Space
Did a Giant Ring Make Tabby’s Star’s Planet Look Oversized?
A Jupiter-sized planet may look oversized because a nearly polar ring blocks extra starlight—but one transit leaves the mystery unresolved.
How a Network of Small Sensors Traced a Meteor’s Shock Wave
Seven hobbyist and university sensors caught a meteor’s inaudible shock wave, revealing a new way to investigate fireballs after they vanish.
How Stellar Activity Can Make a Star's Spectrum Mimic Low Gravity
A study of 23 late-M dwarfs links stronger magnetic activity to spectra that mimic low gravity, complicating stellar and planet readings.
How Deep Ice Could Carry Salt Up—Then Trap It in Alien Worlds
A lab-made form of salty ice VII may carry salt through ocean-world mantles, then shed it near a hidden pressure boundary.
A White Dwarf’s Strange Metals Hint at a Planet Born Twice
A white dwarf’s unusual metals may trace gas from a giant planet formed from material its star shed before becoming a stellar remnant.
A Shaped Mirror Could Bring a Star’s Best References Close
A custom mirror could bring distant reference stars beside Tau Ceti, helping small spacecraft measure the faint wobbles planets cause.
A Star's Brief Brightening Could Reveal Its Dark Companion
A brief gravitational brightening could expose a quiet stellar remnant, but confirming it may take years of targeted observations.
A Wolf-Rayet Star’s Moving Wind Poses a Companion-Star Puzzle
A star’s 3.76-day flicker may come not from a companion, but from shifting structures traced in its powerful, fast-moving wind.
How Alien Rocks Can Masquerade as Atmospheres in Starlight
Laboratory rock spectra may help JWST separate alien geology from atmosphere, opening a cautious new route to exoplanet surface science.
How LISA Could Pick Black Holes From a White-Dwarf Chorus
A future space detector could separate hidden black-hole binaries from a white-dwarf chorus by combining orbital frequency and chirp clues.
The Astronomy Papers That Vanish in the Weekend Upload Rush
A study of 37,173 astronomy papers finds weekend submissions draw fewer citations, but crowded listings and author differences remain competing clues.
How Seawater’s Chlorine Could Help Spot a Supernova’s Neutrinos
Chlorine dissolved in seawater may help deep-sea neutrino telescopes spot supernova antineutrinos, doubling their modeled discovery reach.
The Two Giant Planets That Hint at a Third One’s Escape
Two tilted giant planets orbit 14 Herculis strangely. Simulations suggest a third, massive world may have been flung into interstellar space.
A Neutron Star’s Quark Shift May Send Neutrinos, Not Debris
A neutron-star simulation found that a shift toward quark matter can unleash intense neutrino emission without ejecting debris.
A Photonic Chip Could Sense Solar Turbulence Without an Image
A proposed photonic chip could measure atmospheric distortion by comparing light waves directly, offering a new route to sharper solar images.
The Cosmic Bursts Hiding Just Below the Gamma-Ray Threshold
Einstein Probe found that most fast X-ray transients lack gamma-ray detections, hinting at a softer, less familiar population of cosmic blasts.
How Titan’s Mountains May Explain Huygens’s Reversed Wind Profile
Titan’s terrain may explain why Huygens measured eastward winds near the ground, and offers clues about winds Dragonfly may encounter.
At the Sun’s Edge, 122 Dark Lines Turn Into Unexpected Light
A balloon-borne solar telescope found 122 spectral lines turning from absorption to emission before the Sun’s visible edge.
Venus’s Volcanic Clues May Last Longest Where Detection Is Hardest
Venus’s lower atmosphere may preserve volcanic clues longer than higher layers, guiding future searches for elusive eruptions.