A Pulsar’s Radio Flicker Maps Tiny Structures in Galactic Fog
A pulsar’s changing radio arcs reveal how tiny, invisible plasma structures reshape signals crossing the Milky Way.
Space
The Blue Galaxy That May Have Helped Clear the Cosmic Fog
JWST’s spectrum of EBG-1 hints that a bright, blue galaxy at cosmic dawn may have leaked most of its ionizing light.
JWST's Distant Galaxies Refuse to Fit the Usual Cosmic Shapes
JWST images sharpened the view of early galaxies, but two reliable methods disagree on whether many are disks, spheroids, or still taking shape.
How two telescopes could measure a white dwarf’s tiny face
A proposed two-telescope interferometer would use photon timing, not conventional images, to measure white dwarfs only microarcseconds wide.
A Young Galaxy May Have Built Stars Before Feedback Caught Up
JWST’s view of UNCOVER 3686 suggests an early galaxy formed stars with unusually high efficiency before stellar feedback fully took hold.
The Statistical-Physics Clue Hidden in a Planet-Hunting Algorithm
A statistical-physics concept helps map hidden twists in astronomy’s data-fitting problems, from exoplanet wobbles to neutrino signals.
A New Planet Model Makes Room for Worlds With Diamond Deep Inside
A new version of MAGRATHEA models graphite, diamond, and BC8 interiors, revealing why a planet’s size may not disclose its true composition.
Kepler’s 'Lonely' Planets May Be Members of Hidden Crowds
Kepler’s weak, lone planet signals may not mark empty systems: detection limits can make crowded planetary families look solitary.
The Planet-Forming Disk Where Methanol Appears Without Water
ALMA detected methanol but no water-vapor signal in one planet-forming disk, hinting that planetary systems may inherit different ice chemistry.
A Planetary Crash Could Glow Brightly Enough to Mimic a Star
Simulations suggest a rocky-planet collision could glow like a small star, but its near-infrared afterglow may fade before surveys catch it.
A Fading Word Trail Reveals an Unexpected Shift in Astronomy
A census of astronomy preprints finds a fading language trace as model-assisted writing grows—and explains what word counts can’t prove.
The Cosmic Disk That Changed Its Stability When the Frame Shifted
A theoretical disk model flips from unstable to stable when its frame changes, revealing how simulation boundaries can imitate cosmic structure.
A Blue Edge Around 3I/ATLAS Hints at Fleeting Icy Grains
A faint blue shift in 3I/ATLAS’s outer coma may reveal short-lived icy grains—and a hidden phase in an interstellar comet’s journey.
A Star’s Vast Glowing Shell May Help Solve Its Identity Crisis
A vast hydrogen arc around VX Sagittarii may record the star’s mass loss—and offer a new test of its disputed identity.
A Future Radio Telescope Could Read Weather Above Venus and Mars
A proposed ALMA upgrade could map winds and chemistry in Venus and Mars’ upper atmospheres, if astronomers solve a difficult imaging trade-off.
A Young Star’s Debris Disk Is Tilted, but the Culprit Is Missing
JWST reveals a 27-degree minimum tilt between a young star and its debris disk, while a giant-planet explanation remains elusive.
The Sun Could Map a Distant Earth—If We Can Reach Its Lens
A spacecraft could use the Sun’s gravity to map an exoplanet, but reaching the lens and reconstructing its blurred signal are formidable hurdles.
How an Invisible Intruder Can Split a River of Stars in Two
A dark subhalo may split a stellar stream into parallel strands, giving astronomers a new way to search for invisible matter.
Quaoar’s Rings Defy the Boundary That Should Turn Them Into Moons
Quaoar’s two rings orbit where they should become moons. Occultations and a new model offer clues to how they resist clumping.
The Moon’s Buried Layers Faced a Test on Earth—and Some Failed
A rover radar’s apparent lunar layers also appeared in Earth tests. A later Moon mission shows how calibration can separate signal from geology.