The purpose of this blog is the creation of an open, international, independent and free forum, where every UFO-researcher can publish the results of his/her research. The languagues, used for this blog, are Dutch, English and French.You can find the articles of a collegue by selecting his category. Each author stays resposable for the continue of his articles. As blogmaster I have the right to refuse an addition or an article, when it attacks other collegues or UFO-groupes.
Druk op onderstaande knop om te reageren in mijn forum
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Deze blog is opgedragen aan mijn overleden echtgenote Lucienne.
In 2012 verloor ze haar moedige strijd tegen kanker!
In 2011 startte ik deze blog, omdat ik niet mocht stoppen met mijn UFO-onderzoek.
BEDANKT!!!
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UFO'S of UAP'S, ASTRONOMIE, RUIMTEVAART, ARCHEOLOGIE, OUDHEIDKUNDE, SF-SNUFJES EN ANDERE ESOTERISCHE WETENSCHAPPEN - DE ALLERLAATSTE NIEUWTJES
UFO's of UAP'S in België en de rest van de wereld Ontdek de Fascinerende Wereld van UFO's en UAP's: Jouw Bron voor Onthullende Informatie!
Ben jij ook gefascineerd door het onbekende? Wil je meer weten over UFO's en UAP's, niet alleen in België, maar over de hele wereld? Dan ben je op de juiste plek!
België: Het Kloppend Hart van UFO-onderzoek
In België is BUFON (Belgisch UFO-Netwerk) dé autoriteit op het gebied van UFO-onderzoek. Voor betrouwbare en objectieve informatie over deze intrigerende fenomenen, bezoek je zeker onze Facebook-pagina en deze blog. Maar dat is nog niet alles! Ontdek ook het Belgisch UFO-meldpunt en Caelestia, twee organisaties die diepgaand onderzoek verrichten, al zijn ze soms kritisch of sceptisch.
Nederland: Een Schat aan Informatie
Voor onze Nederlandse buren is er de schitterende website www.ufowijzer.nl, beheerd door Paul Harmans. Deze site biedt een schat aan informatie en artikelen die je niet wilt missen!
Internationaal: MUFON - De Wereldwijde Autoriteit
Neem ook een kijkje bij MUFON (Mutual UFO Network Inc.), een gerenommeerde Amerikaanse UFO-vereniging met afdelingen in de VS en wereldwijd. MUFON is toegewijd aan de wetenschappelijke en analytische studie van het UFO-fenomeen, en hun maandelijkse tijdschrift, The MUFON UFO-Journal, is een must-read voor elke UFO-enthousiasteling. Bezoek hun website op www.mufon.com voor meer informatie.
Samenwerking en Toekomstvisie
Sinds 1 februari 2020 is Pieter niet alleen ex-president van BUFON, maar ook de voormalige nationale directeur van MUFON in Vlaanderen en Nederland. Dit creëert een sterke samenwerking met de Franse MUFON Reseau MUFON/EUROP, wat ons in staat stelt om nog meer waardevolle inzichten te delen.
Let op: Nepprofielen en Nieuwe Groeperingen
Pas op voor een nieuwe groepering die zich ook BUFON noemt, maar geen enkele connectie heeft met onze gevestigde organisatie. Hoewel zij de naam geregistreerd hebben, kunnen ze het rijke verleden en de expertise van onze groep niet evenaren. We wensen hen veel succes, maar we blijven de autoriteit in UFO-onderzoek!
Blijf Op De Hoogte!
Wil jij de laatste nieuwtjes over UFO's, ruimtevaart, archeologie, en meer? Volg ons dan en duik samen met ons in de fascinerende wereld van het onbekende! Sluit je aan bij de gemeenschap van nieuwsgierige geesten die net als jij verlangen naar antwoorden en avonturen in de sterren!
Heb je vragen of wil je meer weten? Aarzel dan niet om contact met ons op te nemen! Samen ontrafelen we het mysterie van de lucht en daarbuiten.
The idea of humans living beyond Earth was once only possible in science fiction, but now space agencies are making plans to bring space colonization closer to reality. NASA and SpaceXare exploring long-term missions to the moon and Mars, while astronomers continue to discover potentially habitable exoplanets orbiting distant stars beyond our solar system.
Supporters of planetary colonization argue that becoming a multi-planet species could safeguard us from potentially Earth-ending events. However, it will require an enormous effort to colonize another planet or moon. And if we look beyond Mars, potentially habitable planets may take thousands of years to reach.
But as technology advances and space agencies consider long-term human settlements on other planets, a more fundamental issue now beckons — not whether we can expand to other worlds, but whether we should.
What's your take? Answer our poll below and share the reasoning behind your choice in the comments.
Tractor beams inspired by sci-fi are real, and could solve the looming space junk problem
Tractor beams inspired by sci-fi are real, and could solve the looming space junk problem
Researchers are developing a real-life tractor beam, with the goal of pulling defunct satellites out of geostationary orbit to alleviate the space junk problem.
An artist's illustration shows how an electrostatic tractor beam could be used to pull defunct satellites out of geostationary orbit around Earth. In reality, the beam would be invisible.
In science fiction films, nothing raises tension quite like the good guys' spaceship getting caught in an invisible tractor beam that allows the baddies to slowly reel them in. But what was once only a sci-fi staple could soon become a reality.
Scientists are developing a real-life tractor beam, dubbed an electrostatic tractor. This tractor beam wouldn't suck in helpless starship pilots, however. Instead, it would use electrostatic attraction to nudge hazardous space junk safely out of Earth orbit.
The science is pretty much there, but the funding is not.
The electrostatic tractor beam could potentially alleviate that problem by safely moving dead satellites far out of Earth orbit, where they would drift harmlessly for eternity.
While the tractor beam wouldn't completely solve the space junk problem, the concept has several advantages over other proposed space debris removal methods, which could make it a valuable tool for tackling the issue, experts told Live Science.
A prototype could cost millions, and an operational, full-scale version even more. But if the financial hurdles can be overcome, the tractor beam could be operational within a decade, its builders say.
"The science is pretty much there, but the funding is not," project researcher Kaylee Champion, a doctoral student in the Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder), told Live Science.
Avoiding Disaster
Tractor beams are a staple of sci-fi films and TV shows, such as Star Trek.
(Image credit: Star Trek)
The tractor beams depicted in "Star Wars" and "Star Trek" suck up spacecraft via artificial gravity or an ambiguous "energy field." Such technology is likely beyond anything humans will ever achieve. But the concept inspired Hanspeter Schaub, an aerospace engineering professor at CU Boulder, to conceptualize a more realistic version.
In the wake of this disaster, Schaub wanted to be able to prevent this from happening again. To do this, he realized you could pull spacecraft out of harm's way by using the attraction between positively and negatively charged objects to make them "stick" together.
Over the next decade, Schaub and colleagues refined the concept. Now, they hope it can someday be used to move dead satellites out of geostationary orbit (GEO) — an orbit around Earth's equator where an object's speed matches the planet's rotation, making it seem like the object is fixed in place above a certain point on Earth. This would then free up space for other objects in GEO, which is considered "prime real estate" for satellites, Schaub said.
How does it work?
The researchers have been testing the electron gun on pieces of metal in the lab.
(Image credit: Nico Goda/CU Boulder)
The electrostatic tractor would use a servicer spacecraft equipped with an electron gun that would fire negatively charged electrons at a dead target satellite, Champion told Live Science. The electrons would give the target a negative charge while leaving the servicer with a positive charge. The electrostatic attraction between the two would keep them locked together despite being separated by 65 to 100 feet (20 to 30 meters) of empty space, she said.
Once the servicer and target are "stuck together," the servicer would be able to pull the target out of orbit without touching it. Ideally, the defunct satellite would be pulled into a "graveyard orbit" more distant from Earth, where it could safely drift forever, Champion said.
The electrostatic attraction between the two spacecraft would be extremely weak, due to limitations in electron gun technology and the distance by which the two would need to be separated to prevent collisions, project researcher Julian Hammerl, a doctoral student at CU Boulder, told Live Science. So the servicer would have to move very slowly, and it could take more than a month to fully move a single satellite out of GEO, he added.
That's a far cry from movie tractor beams, which are inescapable and rapidly reel in their prey. This is the "main difference between sci-fi and reality," Hammerl said.
Advantages and limitations
The amount of space junk surrounding Earth has greatly increased in recent years. Here is a comparison of space junk in 1965 (left) and 2010 (right).
(Image credit: NASA)
The electrostatic tractor would have one big advantage over other proposed space junk removal methods, such as harpoons, giant nets and physical docking systems: It would be completely touchless.
"You have these large, dead spacecraft about the size of a school bus rotating really fast," Hammerl said. "If you shoot a harpoon, use a big net or try to dock with them, then the physical contact can damage the spacecraft and then you are only making the [space junk] problem worse."
Scientists have proposed other touchless methods, such as using powerful magnets, but enormous magnets are both expensive to produce and would likely interfere with a servicer's controls, Champion said.
The main limitation of the electrostatic tractor is how slowly it would work. More than 550 satellites currently orbit Earth in GEO, but that number is expected to rise sharply in the coming decades.
If satellites were moved one at a time, then a single electrostatic tractor wouldn't keep pace with the number of satellites winking out of operation. Another limitation of the electrostatic tractor is that it would work too slowly to be practical for clearing smaller pieces of space junk, so it wouldn't be able to keep GEO completely free of debris.
Cost is the other big obstacle. The team has not yet done a full cost analysis for the electrostatic tractor, Schaub said, but it would likely cost tens of millions of dollars. However, once the servicer were in space, it would be relatively cost-effective to operate it, he added.
Next steps
Researcher Julian Hammerl photographed next to the ECLIPS machine at CU Boulder.
(Image credit: Nico Goda/CU Boulder)
The researchers are currently working on a series of experiments in their Electrostatic Charging Laboratory for Interactions between Plasma and Spacecraft (ECLIPS) machine at CU Boulder. The bathtub-sized, metallic vacuum chamber, which is equipped with an electron gun, allows the team to "do unique experiments that almost no one else can currently do" in order to simulate the effects of an electrostatic tractor on a smaller scale, Hammerl said.
Once the team is ready, the final and most challenging hurdle will be to secure funding for the first mission, which is a process they have not yet started.
Most of the mission cost would come from building and launching the servicer. However, the researchers would ideally like to launch two satellites for the first tests, a servicer and a target that they can maneuver, which would give them more control over their experiments but also double the cost.
If they can somehow wrangle that funding, a prototype tractor beam could be operational in around 10 years, the team previously estimated.
Is it viable?
Space junk is becoming a major problem for the space exploration industry.
(Image credit: CU Boulder)
While tractor beams may sound like a pipe dream, experts are optimistic about the technology.
"Their technology is still in the infancy stage," John Crassidis, an aerospace scientist at the University at Buffalo in New York, who is not involved in the research, told Live Science in an email. "But I am fairly confident it will work."
If you shoot a harpoon, use a big net or try to dock with them, then the physical contact can damage the spacecraft and then you are only making the [space junk] problem worse.
Removing space junk without touching it would also be much safer than any current alternative method, Crassidis added.
The electrostatic tractor "should be able to produce the forces necessary to move a defunct satellite" and "certainly has a high potential to work in practice," Carolin Frueh, an associate professor of aeronautics and astronautics at Purdue University in Indiana, told Live Science in an email. "But there are still several engineering challenges to be solved along the way to make it real-world-ready."
Scientists should continue to research other possible solutions, Crassidis said. Even if the CU Boulder team doesn't create a "final product" to remove nonfunctional satellites, their research will provide a stepping stone for other scientists, he added.
The interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS has been the subject of a flurry of sensational reports claiming that it is an alien spacecraft. However, recent studies show that no technosignatures, i.e., radio signals or emissions of substances indicating that extraterrestrial technology is operating on its surface, have been detected.
Comet 3I/ATLAS turned out not to be an alien spacecraft after all. Source: starwalk.space
New observations
Since the interstellar object (ISO) 3I/ATLAS was first discovered on July 1, 2025, it has garnered much attention, including speculation, hopes, and fears that it may somehow contain evidence of technologically advanced civilizations outside of our solar system.
Now, a new paper published on the arXiv preprint server details the findings from radio observations made at the 100-meter Green Bank Telescope as a part of the Breakthrough Listen program, designed to look for signs of alien life. The data were taken on December 18, 2025 — the day before the object’s closest approach to Earth, and those hoping for evidence of advanced alien civilizations may not like the results.
3I/ATLAS — natural or artificial object?
Only two other ISOs have ever been observed to enter our solar system. The first ISO, 1I/Oumuamua, was initially classified as an asteroid, then a comet; while the second, 2I/Borisov, was deemed to be a comet. 3I/ATLAS exhibits typical cometary characteristics, like a coma and an unelongated nucleus.
Yet, these objects often initially spark a lot of speculation. After its discovery, many rumors spread online about odd features of 3I/ATLAS indicating alien technology. However, scientists have also been actively studying the object, albeit with a bit more skepticism.
Now that six months have passed since its discovery, multiple telescopes have taken data in various wavelength bands, including radio, infrared, X-ray, and optical, and these data have been analyzed by many researchers. According to SETI, none of these observations have resulted in evidence of technosignatures.
Green Bank observations
The researchers involved in the new study say that interstellar probes are most likely to communicate using narrowband radio signals, due to their transmission efficiency and because of the low extinction associated with these signals across interstellar space. And so, the team conducted their signal search at four different radio bands covering 1-12 GHz right around the time of the comet’s closest approach.
The search picked up over 471,000 candidate signals initially, but after applying a sky localization filter, they were left with nine “events.” Further analysis showed that these were due to radio frequency interference, as they also appeared in off-target scans or were known contaminants. Even with its higher levels of sensitivity, the analysis found no candidate technosignature signals from 3I/ATLAS, which is in line with the results of other studies.
The study authors write, “Our survey concludes that there are no isotropic continuous-wave transmitters above 0.1W at the location of 3I/ATLAS. For comparison, a cell phone is an approximately isotropic continuous-wave transmitter at a level of ∼1W.”
The search continues
The data used in this study and other studies from the Breakthrough Listen program are publicly available, and data collection will continue on certain telescopes, such as Hubble. Those interested in 3I/ATLAS can expect more information to come, although it is unlikely at this point that technosignatures will be found.
Still, Earth’s many telescopes will continue to be on the lookout for future ISOs entering our solar system and potential technosignatures.
Een tijdlijn die steeds sneller gaat De kolonisatie van Mars komt steeds dichterbij. Elon Musk, de CEO van SpaceX, heeft een nieuwe streefdatum aangekondigd voor de eerste Starship-missie naar de Rode Planeet. Volgens Musk zou deze missie tegen eind 2026 kunnen plaatsvinden. Dit ambitieuze tijdschema onderstreept de vooruitstrevende interplanetaire ambities van het bedrijf.
Mars vóór mensen Zoals de BBC meldt, zal de missie die voor 2026 gepland staat geen mensen aan boord hebben. Het plan is om een onbemande Starship te sturen, bedoeld als een grootschalige generale repetitie om cruciale systemen te testen voordat een menselijke landing wordt overwogen.
Een erkende kansberekening Musk schat de kans op ongeveer 50% dat SpaceX erin slaagt om binnen dit tijdsvenster een onbemande Starship naar Mars te sturen. Dat percentage weerspiegelt zowel technologisch optimisme als een opvallende erkenning van de omvang van de resterende uitdagingen.
Waarom 2026 cruciaal is Het jaar is geen toeval. In 2026 staan de aarde en Mars gunstig ten opzichte van elkaar, wat de reistijd en het brandstofverbruik aanzienlijk vermindert. Zo’n lanceervenster doet zich slechts ongeveer eens in de twee jaar voor.
Starship als spil van de strategie Starship vormt het hart van het hele plan. Met een hoogte van 123 meter is het het grootste raketsysteem ooit gebouwd en volledig ontworpen voor hergebruik. Voor Musk is het het onmisbare voertuig om Mars van idee tot daadwerkelijke bestemming te maken.
Tests getekend door explosies De weg naar Mars is allesbehalve probleemloos geweest. Starship kende meerdere mislukkingen tijdens testvluchten, waaronder twee explosies in de lucht in 2025. SpaceX analyseert momenteel gegevens om het verlies van meerdere motoren te begrijpen.
De rol van de toezichthouder Na het laatste incident eiste de Amerikaanse Federal Aviation Administration een formeel onderzoek voordat nieuwe vluchten worden toegestaan. Dat toezicht voegt extra onzekerheid toe aan een toch al kwetsbare planning.
Een eerste stap, geen nederzetting Ondanks het woord kolonisatie zal 2026 niet het jaar zijn waarin mensen op Mars wonen. In het beste geval markeert dit het begin van een reeks technische missies die het pad effenen, niet het eindpunt ervan, zoals ook de BBC benadrukt.
Mensen vanaf 2029 – of later Musk heeft aangegeven dat, als de eerste missies succesvol zijn, de eerste menselijke landingen rond 2029 zouden kunnen plaatsvinden. Tegelijkertijd erkent hij, zoals Al Jazeera opmerkt, dat 2031 waarschijnlijk realistischer is.
Een multiplanetaire visie Het uiteindelijke doel blijft om van de mensheid een multiplanetaire soort te maken. Mars neemt daarin een centrale plaats in, voorgesteld als een tweede thuis dat de overleving van de mens op lange termijn kan waarborgen.
Optimus als symbolische passagiert De eerste Marsmissie zou mogelijk de humanoïde robot Optimus van Tesla vervoeren. Zijn aanwezigheid zou vooral symbolisch zijn en technologische ambitie uitstralen, meer dan wetenschappelijke noodzaak.
Een robot voor de aarde – en verder Optimus werd in 2024 publiekelijk gepresenteerd en is ontworpen om alledaagse taken uit te voeren. Musk heeft gezegd dat de robot uiteindelijk tussen de 20.000 en 30.000 dollar zou kunnen kosten, wat het experimentele karakter onderstreept.
Mars en de maan, parallelle routes Mars is niet het enige doel op korte termijn. SpaceX speelt ook een sleutelrol in de maanplannen van NASA, waarbij een aangepaste versie van Starship moet dienen als menselijke lander voor het Artemis-programma.
Een lange geschiedenis van beloftes Musk heeft zijn tijdlijnen vaker moeten bijstellen. In 2016 sprak hij over een Marsmissie in 2018, in 2020 voorspelde hij menselijke aankomst zes jaar later, en in 2024 stelde hij opnieuw 2026 als mijlpaal.
Ambitie versus realiteit Deze geschiedenis verklaart waarom experts nieuwe aankondigingen met voorzichtigheid benaderen. Technische complexiteit, mislukte tests en regelgeving maken elke deadline voorlopig.
Verkenning als iteratief proces Binnen deze aanpak dient elke onbemande missie om systemen te valideren, fouten te corrigeren en risico’s te verkleinen voordat mensenlevens op het spel staan. Zelfs een mislukte poging in 2026 zou al een historisch moment betekenen.
Meer dan symboliek De impact zou verder reiken dan technologie alleen. Een interplanetaire lancering van deze schaal zou wetenschappelijke, economische en culturele gevolgen hebben op wereldniveau.
Voorzichtige verwachtingen Opmerkelijk genoeg temperde Musk zelf de verwachtingen. Zijn nadruk op een kans van 50% is ongebruikelijk in zijn retoriek en onderstreept de echte onzekerheid rond de missie.
Het begin van een verhaal Zo zal 2026 waarschijnlijk niet het jaar zijn waarin Mars daadwerkelijk wordt gekoloniseerd, maar het zou wel het jaar kunnen zijn waarin dat verhaal echt begint: een onzekere eerste stap, maar mogelijk een beslissen
2026 is shaping up to be a stellar year for space exploration with the return of crewed Moon missions, preparations for futureMarsmissions, planetary defense initiatives, and a final slingshot to determine if Jupiter’s moonEuropa could be habitable.
Just days into the New Year, on January 6, NASA will begin spacewalks outside the International Space Station to prepare for installing a new solar array. As 2026 continues, international missions will proliferate, heralding a promising year for scientific discoveries and space exploration.
NASA Returns to the Moon in 2026
NASA’s Artemis II mission will get the year off to an early start with current plans for an early-February launch for the first crewed lunar flyby since the Apollo program ended in 1972. Over the course of 10 days, it will bring astronauts around the Moon and back. During that time, Artemis II will test essential systems ahead of future moon landings under the Artemis program. These include the Orion life support system and optical communications between Earth and the Moon. Additionally, the mission will deploy cubesats from several countries, including Argentina, Saudi Arabia, and South Korea.
NASA Artemis II astronauts (left to right) Christina Koch, Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman, and Canadian Space Agency Astronaut Jeremy Hansen. Credit: NASA/Josh Valcarcel
Through NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, the space agency will send essential materials to the lunar surface this year through two missions with private commercial partners. These missions will serve as important steps toward a crewed Artemis III Moon landing and, eventually, a permanent lunar base.
Intuitive Machines IM-3
The Intuitive Machines IM-3 mission builds on the IM-2 mission, which was cut short in 2025 due to touchdown errors, leaving the Athena lander unable to generate sufficient power. IM-3 will include multiple landers, a rover, robotic explorers, and an environmental monitor, with a particular focus on investigating the Reiner Gamma lunar swirl. The strange spiraling features known as lunar swirls are linked to magnetic anomalies that have long been observed on the Moon. IM-3 will investigate their nature and, ideally, provide scientists with new insights into how they form.
Meanwhile, Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 2, set for late 2026, and its Elytra Dark orbital vehicle will deploy both Blue Ghost and the ESA’s Lunar Pathfinder satellite. After Blue Ghost sets down on the far side of the moon, Elyta will stay in orbit to provide communications relay and radio frequency calibration support for five years. The mission will lay the groundwork for permanent habitation by identifying helpful resources, testing lunar power network technologies, and improving lunar communications.
This year, SpaceX hopes to make Starship’s first orbital flight
(Credit: SpaceX)
From the Moon to Mars with SpaceX
SpaceX plans to continue operations with its twelfth Starship launch, which is expected to reach suborbital altitude. The booster stack for the launch has already been assembled, keeping the mission on track for February or March. Following that, flight thirteen may achieve Starship’s first orbital flight, proving the vehicle’s spaceworthiness.
Later in the year, SpaceX has even more ambitious plans for Starship, including testing and demonstrating its Human Landing System for a crewed Artemis III mission and possibly launching uncrewed upper stages to Mars. From October to December, the 2026 Mars launch window will be open, a period when the two planets are optimally positioned for the shortest, most fuel-efficient journey between them every 26 months.
In 2024, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk outlined a plan to send five Starships loaded with Optimus robots to scout resources and prepare infrastructure for crewed missions scheduled for later windows. By May 2025, Musk estimated a 50% chance of meeting this goal. Later in the year, he admitted it was looking increasingly unlikely, but there was still a chance. Notably, the SpaceX website still states that the next launch window is in 2026, with no clear indication whether this goal will be met.
Another American aerospace company, Vast, is targeting a 2026 launch for the first-ever commercial space station. They will turn to SpaceX to launch the Haven-1 space station in May with a Falcon 9 rocket, followed by a 14-day crewed mission in June, arriving via a SpaceX Crew Dragon. Haven-1 will host a 10-slot microgravity research and manufacturing platform, along with amenities for a crew of four, available to paying customers
Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket carrying NASA’s twin ESCAPADE (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers) spacecraft launched in November 2025 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Credit: Blue Origin
NASA Launches in 2026
Musk isn’t the only one taking advantage of the 2026 Mars window. In November, NASA launched the ESCAPADE mission into Earth orbit. Once the launch window opens, ESCAPADE, using Earth’s gravity, will slingshot to the red planet, where its two identical satellites will study how space weather affects the strange Martian magnetosphere.
To establish long-term habitability, the mission will explore how space weather, the planet’s thin atmosphere, and its magnetic crust interact. Scientists hope this new data will conclusively reveal how Mars lost its thick atmosphere. Data from the project will be essential to long-term safe habitation on the Red Planet, as it will enable mission planners to mitigate the effects of dangerous space weather in an environment that depends on artificial life support systems.
Several other NASA missions will make progress this year. The Discovery Program’s Psyche spacecraft will use a Mars gravity assist this summer to catapult it on its journey to the metallic asteroid 16 Psyche. The Europa Clipper Mission will use another gravity assist from Earth in December to fling it on its way to its final destination. In 2030, once it arrives at Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons, it will assess whether the moon is habitable.
Over the summer, NASA will launch a group of small cubesats about the size of toasters as part of its SunRISE (Sun Radio Interferometer Space Experiment) mission. Focused on space weather, the mission will monitor solar radio bursts and map the Sun’s magnetic field. As NASA extends human missions to the Moon and beyond to Mars, a better understanding of how the Sun’s charged particles can affect spacecraft will be essential to mission safety.
China’s previous lunar mission, Chang’e-6, returned samples from the far side of the Moon.
Credit: CNSA
Chinese Space Exploration in 2026
America is not the only country with grand space ambitions for 2026. China’s Chang’e 7 is anticipated to launch toward the end of the year. Named for the Chinese moon goddess, the Chang’e series has focused on investigating the lunar surface, which will continue with Chang’e 7’s exploration of the lunar south pole.
This area is particularly interesting for its cold traps: the shadowy craters that never receive enough direct sunlight to become illuminated. Their perpetual darkness leaves them with stores of frozen water and other minerals that could make them an essential supply for future permanent bases. The mission includes an orbiter, a relay satellite, a lander, a rover, and a mini-flying probe. While NASA has already sent missions such as LRCROSS to the area, future missions, including Artemis III, will revisit it.
To investigate another rocky body in space, the Chinese Tianwen-2 sample-return mission will rendezvous with the asteroid 469219 Kamo’oalewa in July for exploration and sample collection.
China’s Space Telescope
In addition to another lunar mission, China will add a new companion to its Tiangong space station, which launched in three sections between 2021 and 2022. Tiangong is China’s first long-term space station and has been used to host numerous experiments in low Earth orbit. The new addition is a space telescope named Xuntian, expected to capture 40% of the sky during its mission, with a field of view approaching 350 times that of the Hubble Space Telescope.
Initially, the telescope was to be part of the Tiangong itself, but concerns about light pollution, vibration, and the space station obstructing the view led China to decide to launch Xuntian as a free-standing object in the same orbit as the space station. The mission is planned to last 10 years. It will utilize five onboard instruments: a survey camera, a terahertz receiver, a multichannel imager, an integral-field spectrograph, and a cool-planet imaging coronagraph.
These images will allow researchers to measure the positions, shapes, and brightnesses of nearly one billion galaxies, providing new context for their growth and evolution. To capture them, Xuntian features a two-meter-wide aperture, which enables a field of view 350 times that of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope.
JAXA’s Hayabusa-2 will continue its mission to investigate asteroids in 2026.
Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser. Asteroid: T. Santana-Ros et al. Hayabusa2 model: SuperTKG (CC-BY-SA).
International Missions in 2026
The European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) also have major plans for the year. Working together, the ESA-JAXA BepiColombo mission will enter Mercury orbit in November 2026, after which it will split into the Mercury Planetary Orbiter and the Mercury Magnetic Orbiter.
As the closest planet to the Sun, the mission will provide new insights into how hot planets near their stars evolve, with particular attention to their magnetic fields and magnetospheres. Additionally, mission measurements of Mercury’s motion will provide essential new data to evaluate Einstein’s general theory of relativity within the post-Newtonian formalism.
On its own, JAXA has two notable events planned. In July, Japan’s Haybusa-2 will conduct a flyby of the asteroid 98943 Torifune as part of its extended mission. More importantly, the Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) will launch in 2026 to perform a sample-return mission on the Martian moon Phobos and a flyby of the Martian moon Deimos. The return sample should reach Earth for study sometime in 2031.
Planetary defense will receive some significant attention in 2026 with the ESA HERA mission’s arrival at the asteroid Didymos in November. HERA will follow up on the 2022 NASA DART mission. DART was a practical planetary defense test that used a kinetic impactor to alter the course of an asteroid. With its two cubists, HERA will rendezvous with the binary asteroid Didymos to observe the aftermath of DART’s impact up close.
2026 will not just be a year of beginnings but also of endings. The ESA’s Solar Orbiter mission is scheduled to conclude in 2026, with a possible 2030 extension under consideration.
With a plethora of launches, gravity slingshots, tests, landings, flybys, and sample return missions slated for the upcoming year, don’t expect the space news to slow down in 2026.
Ryan Whalen covers science and technology for The Debrief. He holds an MA in History and a Master of Library and Information Science with a certificate in Data Science. He can be contacted at ryan@thedebrief.org, and follow him on Twitter @mdntwvlf.
What did researchers discover now? The universe is packed with strange cosmic secrets that are often hard for researchers to explain. However, that isn’t the case with the latest bizarre discovery that a group of scientists made while scanning data from the night sky.
A planet full of diamonds Scientists using the James Webb Space Telescope observed what they described as a ‘lemon-shaped planet’ that could be overflowing with diamonds in its core. How this very strange planet came to be is still a mystery.
Photo Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI)
Meet PSR J2322-2650b PSR J2322-2650b, the official name given to the lemon-shaped diamond world, is what astronomers call an exoplanet, or a planet outside of our solar system. This weird world has about the same mass as Jupiter, but it’s very different.
A very exotic atmosphere NASA noted that PSR J2322-2650b has a very exotic atmosphere that is dominated by helium and carbon. Soot clouds could conceivably be floating through the air across the planet, which in turn could condense near the planet’s core and form diamonds.
The planet was a surprise "This was an absolute surprise," Peter Gao, a staff scientist at the Carnegie Earth and Planets Laboratory in Washington, and co-author of a paper about PSR J2322-2650b published in ‘The Astrophysical Journal Letters’ in early December.
“What the heck is this?” "I remember after we got the data down, our collective reaction was 'What the heck is this?'" Gao explained. His reaction makes a lot of sense since the strange makeup of PSR J2322-2650b is one of the least bizarre things about the planet.
Photo Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI)
Orbiting a pulsar star PSR J2322-2650b is orbiting what is known as a pulsar star, which NASA noted is a type of rapidly spinning neutron star. Pulsars shoot out a beam of electromagnetic radiation at regular intervals, which will prove to be a big benefit for researchers.
Studying the planet According to a press release from the University of Chicago, researchers will be able to study the strange lemon-shaped planet across its whole orbit, something that would be very difficult since stars generally outshine their planets.
A unique system “This system is unique because we are able to view the planet illuminated by its host star, but not see the host star at all,” explained Maya Beleznay, a graduate student at Stanford University who worked on modelling PSR J2322-2650b’s orbit.
Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By NASA/JPL-Caltech, Public Domain
Learning about planet formation “We get a really pristine spectrum. And we can better study this system in more detail than normal exoplanets,” Beleznay added. Further study of PSR J2322-2650b is very important since it challenges much of what we know about planet formation.
A mystery for now How the weird lemon-shaped planet came to be is reportedly a mystery. University of Chicago researcher Michael Zhang, the principal author on the recently released study about PSR J2322-2650b, noted that the planet could not have formed normally because of its strange compositon.
The mass of the Sun “The planet orbits a star that's completely bizarre — the mass of the Sun, but the size of a city,” Zhang explained. “This is a new type of planet atmosphere that nobody has ever seen before.”
The planet is unlike any other Zhang added that the data showed the planet did not have the normal molecules they expected to see on an exoplanet like water, methane, and carbon dioxide, but rather molecular carbon like C3 and C2.
Not formed normally “It's very hard to imagine how you get this extremely carbon-enriched composition. It seems to rule out every known formation mechanism,” Zhang said. However, despite not understanding how this strange planet formed, we do have an idea about how the planet came to take a similar shape to a lemon.
PSR J2322-2650b is abnormally close to its star. According to the scientists, the planet sits just one million miles away from the pulsar it orbits. Earth, for reference, is roughly 100 million miles away from our Sun. This close distance results in PSR J2322-2650b having a tight 7.8-hour orbit and puts the planet under a lot of gravitational stress.
Gravity is twisting the planet The gravitational pressure from being so close to its heavier pulsar star is what has pulled the Jupiter-mass planet into its strange lemon shape that has become the feature of this bizarre exoplanet. The press release from the University of Chicago reported that PSR J2322-2650b and its pulsar are what is known as a “black widow” system
What is a Black Widow system? “Black widows are a rare type of system where a rapidly spinning pulsar is paired with a small, low-mass companion,” the University of Chicago press release explained.
Photo Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI)
PSR J2322-2650b is strange indeed “In the past, material from the companion would have streamed onto the pulsar, causing it to spin faster over time, which powers a strong wind. That wind and radiation then bombard and evaporate the smaller and less massive star,” the press release added.
Map of how 3I/ATLAS is traveling through out solar system, compared to the inner planets, JUICe, and Europa Clipper. Credit - NASA/JPL-Caltech/APL/SwRI
Researchers have been trying to look at interstellar object 3I/ATLAS from every conceivable angle. That includes very unconventional ones. Recently, while 3I/ATLAS passed out of view of the Earth, it moved into a great vantage point for one of our interplanetary probes. Europa Clipper, whose main mission is to explore Jupiter’s active moon, turned its gaze during its six year journey back towards the center of the solar system and observed 3I/ATLAS as it was reaching its perihelion, and out of sight from the Earth.
Realizing that it could do so did not take long. Only a week after first finding this interstellar visitor, rocket scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory had mapped its entirely trajectory through the solar system. Armed with that information, Europa Clipper’s operational team realized the craft would have a unique vantage point during the later part of this year.
As it makes its way to Jupiter, it is currently curving slightly outside the orbit of Mars. 3I/ATLAS is making its way past the Red Planet, passing slightly inside its orbit, and has already garnered plenty of attention from instruments based there. But, Europa Clipper has some instruments that are uniquely well suited to studying the intricacies of the comet, and it just so happened to be able to observe it after it had moved out of sight from Mars, but before it was again visible from Earth.
The Ultraviolet Spectrograph (UVS) was originally designed to analyze the composition of Europa’s atmosphere and surface. But for the purposes of comet observation, it can detect transitions from atoms and molecules, such as when water breaks into hydrogen and oxygen.
Fraser discusses the actual science behind 3I/ATLAS
Insights like those are particularly critical, as from its vantage point, Europa Clipper was able to see the comet’s two “tails”. One, which follows behind the comet’s path, is made up primarily of dust parts that have fallen off the comet itself. The other, which extends from the comet directly away from the Sun, is made up of particles that have been directly plasmatized by the Sun’s rays.
Both of these tails are of interest to scientists, as they offer some of the best clues both to what 3I/ATLAS is made of, but also the chemical processes that are happening on the comet as it passes close to a star for the first time in potentially billions of years. Tracking how closely those processes conform to expectations of how they work in our own solar system is one of the critical insights that 3I/ATLAS can give us about the makeup of the galaxy outside our own neighborhood.
Europa Clipper also won’t be the only craft observing our visitor during that critical gap in observations from Earth and Mars-based platform. The Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer (JUICE), operator by ESA, also happened to be in position to observe 3I/ATLAS at the same time, but from a more typical view looking away from the Sun, as it passes back through Earth’s orbit on its way out to Jupiter. JUICE has its own version of the UVS instrument, and the additional data from a different angle will inherently complement that taken by Europa Clipper.
Fraser discusses 3I/ATLAS's perihelion, around the time of the Europa Clipper observations.
This extra observational time from these two space probes is honestly just lucky - if they happened to be further on in their journey, they wouldn’t have such a front-row seat to this once in a life-time flyby. While the results and analysis from this event haven’t yet been published, it likely will be in the next few months. Granted, they probably won’t stop sensationalists from continuing to claim that 3I/ATLAS is some sort of alien space craft, but as we continue to gather more evidence that it’s not, both Europa Clipper and JUICE will play a critical role in proving that something unforeseen didn’t happen when the object was blocked from out sight from other vantage points. And before long, Europa Clipper itself will pass through the comet's dust tail - who knows what additional observations it will be able to make from that unique vantage point.
Activist and researcher Amanda Nguyen, who flew on Blue Origin’s all-femalespaceflight in April 2025, has admitted to suffering from severe psychological distress after the mission. After months of battling depression, she has reported feeling better and shared her experience of overcoming severe trauma.
Activist and researcher Amanda Nguyen emotionally exits the New Shepard capsule immediately after landing. Photo: Blue Origin
Dream that turned into a challenge
In her Instagram post, Amanda revealed the deep depression that overwhelmed her after returning to Earth.
“Another dream turned into a nightmare,” she wrote. Nguyen described feeling that all her achievements – her scientific work, her historic status as the first Vietnamese woman in space – were “buried under an avalanche of misogyny” and hostile comments in the media.
A 34-year-old woman, the child of refugees who fled Vietnam by boat, felt like a “collateral victim.” She couldn’t get out of bed for weeks, and a month after the flight, she couldn’t speak through her tears during a call from a Blue Origin employee.
The star-studded crew of the Blue Origin NS-31 space tourism mission. Photo: Blue Origin
Despite her experiences, Amanda emphasized the positive outcomes of the mission. The flight drew attention to her breast cancer research and helped achieve the goal of using science as a tool for diplomacy. She recalled the symbolism: when Neil Armstrong was on the moon, bombs were falling on Vietnam, and now her family had seen a Vietnamese woman in space.
“We arrived in boats, and now we are in spaceships,” she wrote.
The road to recovery
Eight months later, Nguyen felt that “the fog of grief had begun to lift.” In her diary, she wrote, “I am happy to report that my depression is gone.” She concluded that the past never completely leaves us, but she is proud that she kept her promise to fight for her dreams and focus on kindness.
“The best gift this season is that I feel the fog lifting. I can say that it won’t take years,” Amanda Nguyen summed up.
The star described in the Gospels, which heralded the appearance of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem, behaves extremely strangely for a celestial body. However, scientists have calculated that under certain conditions, a comet could exhibit similar behavior. They even found a possible candidate.
The Star of Bethlehem. Source: phys.org
The Star of Bethlehem
Recently, the Journal of the British Astronomical Association published an article in which scientists attempted to explain the nature of the star that, according to the Bible, heralded the birth of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem and guided the three wise men from the East to him. Surprisingly, they found a completely rational explanation for it.
This is not the first time scientists have tried to understand whether there is any real astronomical event behind the Gospel myth. And it is clear that the word “star” can actually mean any celestial body. However, in the Gospel of Matthias, where it is described in the most detail, its behavior seems too strange.
Based on the text, the star of Bethlehem was initially somewhere in the east, then, overtaking the Magi, it flew west and hovered somewhere at the zenith above the city where Jesus was born. And it is precisely its stopping in one place that seems most strange. Whether it is a planet, a comet, or something else in space, its rotation should be affected by the rotation of our planet; that is, one way or another, it should rise and set during the day.
But in reality, there is one object that truly seems to hover above one place – a satellite in geostationary orbit. Of course, it actually moves, but its linear velocity is such that its angular velocity coincides with the Earth’s rotation.
Comet from Chinese sources
And now scientists have calculated that the same suspension effect could have occurred when a comet flew close to Earth. Of course, it did not enter geosynchronous orbit. But it moved much faster than a satellite in geostationary orbit. This means that at some point, it could have actually hovered over Bethlehem for a couple of hours.
And the most interesting thing is that the authors have already found a good candidate for the role of the Star of Bethlehem – a comet mentioned in the Chinese chronicle “Han Shu,” also known as the History of the Former Han Dynasty. According to this document, the comet appeared in the second month of the second year and was visible for 70 days. This means that it was indeed very bright.
The specified time period is March-April 5 BC. And this coincides perfectly with assumptions about the true date of Jesus’ birth. After all, King Herod, the same one who is credited with the mass murder of infants, ruled Judea from 37 to 4 BC. So, from this point of view, everything is indeed reliable.
However, opponents of the “comet” theory have another argument. In the tradition of Eastern mystics, which theoretically included the three wise kings, the comet was associated with something bad. However, researchers have recently discovered that this is not entirely true, as its appearance could also be linked to events in the royal family. So it could indeed have been perceived as a sign of the birth of a new king.
NASA scientists have proposed a new, unexpected source of energy that could sustain life in the deep ocean of Jupiter’s moon Europa. It may not be deep heat, but radioactive elements seeping from the ocean floor.
Jupiter rising over Europa. Illustration: Space Engine
A revolutionary model was presented at the annual conference of the American Geophysical Union. It suggests that the key to life may lie not in the moon’s interior, but in the rocks at the bottom of its ocean. Radioactive decay of uranium and potassium in these rocks could provide the energy necessary for biology.
The scale of the possible biosphere
Europa (moon). Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SETI Institute
Researchers were inspired by terrestrial ecosystems in deep-sea hydrothermal vents, where microorganisms exist thanks to chemosynthesis – the process of obtaining energy from chemical reactions. A similar process may occur on Europa. Radioactive decay splits water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen ions, which can become “fuel” for microbes.
The depth of the ocean on Europa can reach 100 km. Illustration: NASA
Internal structure of Jupiter’s moon Europa. Illustration: NASA
A team led by planetary scientist Ngoc Tuan Truong has modeled the concentration of radioactive isotopes in Europa’s ocean. Calculations showed that the energy released is sufficient to sustain biomass equivalent to a thousand blue whales. This discovery is particularly important in light of new data on Europa’s thick ice crust, which may insulate the ocean from the heat of the core.
Checking the theory
Evidence for this theory may be found by NASA’s Europa Clipper mission, which will reach Jupiter’s system in 2030. The spacecraft will study the composition of the ice and the deep processes of the moon. If the hypothesis is confirmed, Europa will be revealed as a world where life can feed on the energy of radioactive decay – a rather original scenario for the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.
Poster Europa Clipper: Journey to an Ocean World. Source: NASA/ Jet Propulsion Laboratory-Caltech
It is quite possible that Mars was the first planet in the solar system where life originated. And only later did microorganisms from Mars reach Earth. So, from a certain point of view, we may be all Martians.
Earth and Mars. Source: phys.org
A bold hypothesis
How did life begin on Earth? While scientists have theories, they don’t yet fully understand the precise chemical steps that led to biology, or when the first primitive life forms appeared.
But what if Earth’s life did not originate here, instead arriving on meteorites from Mars? It’s not the most favored theory for life’s origins, but it remains an intriguing hypothesis. Here, we’ll examine the evidence for and against.
Timing is a key factor. Mars formed around 4.6 billion years ago, while Earth is slightly younger at 4.54 billion years old. The surfaces of both planets were initially molten, before gradually cooling and hardening.
Life could, in theory, have arisen independently on both Earth and Mars shortly after formation. While the surface of Mars today is probably uninhabitable for life as we know it, early Mars probably had similar conditions to early Earth.
The possibility of life forming on Mars
Early Mars seems to have had a protective atmosphere and liquid water in the form of oceans, rivers, and lakes. It may also have been geothermally active, with plenty of hydrothermal vents and hot springs to provide the necessary conditions for the emergence of life.
However, about 4.51 billion years ago, a Mars-sized, rocky planet called Theia crashed into proto-Earth. This impact caused both bodies to melt together and then separate into Earth and its moon. If life had begun before this event, it certainly would not have survived it.
Mars, on the other hand, probably didn’t experience a global remelting event. The red planet had its fair share of impacts in the violent early solar system, but evidence suggests that none of these would have been large enough to destroy the planet, and some areas could have remained relatively stable.
So if life arose on Mars shortly after the formation of the planet 4.6 billion years ago, it could have continued evolving without major interruptions for at least half a billion years. After this time, Mars’ magnetic field collapsed, marking the beginning of the end for Martian habitability. The protective atmosphere disappeared, leaving the planet’s surface exposed to freezing temperatures and ionizing radiation from space.
The time required for life to emerge
But what of Earth: how soon did life appear after the impact that formed the moon? Tracing the tree of life back to its root leads to a microorganism called Luca – the last universal common ancestor. This is the microbial species from which all life today is descended. A recent study reconstructed Luca’s characteristics using genetics and the fossil record of early life on Earth. It is inferred that Luca lived 4.2 billion years ago – earlier than some previous estimates.
Luca was not the earliest organism on Earth, but one of multiple species of microbe existing in tandem on our planet at this time. They were competing, cooperating, and surviving the elements, as well as fending off attacks from viruses.
If small but fairly complex ecosystems were present on Earth around 4.2 billion years ago, life must have originated earlier. But how much earlier? The new estimate for the age of Luca is 360 million years after the formation of Earth and 290 million years after the moon-forming impact. All we know is that in these 290 million years, chemistry somehow became biology. Was this enough time for life to originate on Earth and then diversify into the ecosystems present when Luca was alive?
A Martian origin for terrestrial life circumvents this question. According to the hypothesis, species of Martian microorganism could have traveled to Earth on meteorites just in time to take advantage of the clement conditions following the moon’s formation.
The timing may be convenient for this idea. However, as someone who works in the field, my hunch would be that 290 million years is plenty of time for chemical reactions to produce the first living organisms on Earth, and for biology to subsequently diversify and become more complex.
Surviving the journey
Luca’s reconstructed genome suggests that it could live off molecular hydrogen or simple organic molecules as food sources. Along with other evidence, this suggests that Luca’s habitat was either a shallow marine hydrothermal vent system or a geothermal hot spring. Current thought in the origin of life field is that these kinds of environments on early Earth had the necessary conditions for life to emerge from non-living chemistry.
Luca also contained biochemical machinery that could protect it from high temperatures and UV radiation – real dangers in these early Earth environments. However, it’s far from certain that early life forms could have survived the journey from Mars to Earth. And there’s nothing in Luca’s genome to suggest that it was particularly well adapted to space flight.
To have made it to Earth, microorganisms would need to have survived the initial impact on Mars’ surface, a high-speed ejection from the Martian atmosphere, and travel through the vacuum of space while being bombarded by cosmic rays for at least the best part of a year.
They would then have needed to survive the high-temperature entry through Earth’s atmosphere and another impact onto the surface. This last event may or may not have deposited it in an environment to which it was even remotely adapted.
The chances of all of this seem pretty slim to me. However difficult the transition from chemistry to biology may appear, it seems far easier to me than the idea that this transition would occur on Mars, with life forms surviving the journey to Earth, and then adapting to a completely new planet.
The resilience of microorganisms in space
It’s useful to look at studies of whether microorganisms could survive the journey between planets. So far, it looks like only the hardiest microorganisms could survive the journey between Mars and Earth. These are species adapted to preventing damage from radiation and capable of surviving desiccation through the formation of spores.
But maybe, just maybe, if a population of microorganisms were trapped in the interior of a sufficiently large meteorite, they could be protected from most of the harsh conditions of space. Some computer simulations even support this idea. Further simulations and laboratory experiments to test this are ongoing.
This raises another question – if life made it from Mars to Earth within the first 500 million years of our solar system’s existence, why hasn’t it spread from Earth to the rest of the solar system in the following four billion years? Maybe we’re not the Martians after all.
That means it takes light 160,000 years to travel the distance to this 'star factor', so this is actually what it looked like 160,000 years ago.
Here on Earth, Neanderthals were extinct only 40,000 years ago, so would still be roaming our planet for another 120,000 years after this light was emitted from the factory.
This is an unfathomably gigantic scale the telescope has revealed, with the full width of this factory being 150 light years across too.
Thick clouds of cold hydrogen - star fuel - twist over the giant area, glowing deep red where baby stars are forming, burning.
Some erratic stars have blasted their surroundings with powerful stellar winds which carve out giant bubbles in the gas.
It is visible in the southern hemisphere of Earth in the constellations of Dorado and Mensa, showing as a large misty cloud, easily seen by the naked eye in dark skies.
The Hubble Space Telescope has been in a low Earth orbit for the past three decades and has been revealing far away pieces of space for all that time. It is a joint project between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA).
This new picture from the Hubble Space Telescope shows a 'star factory' at work in the Large Magellanic Cloud
They’re some of the most sterile places on Earth – but scientists have discovered dozens of new bacterial species inside NASA’s cleanrooms.
These facilities are ultra-sanitised, highly controlled spaces where spacecraft and sensitive instruments are built and tested.
They are designed to prevent any form of contamination and to stop unwanted microbes from hitching a ride to other planets.
So experts were left stunned after finding 26 tiny living organisms – all previously unknown bacterial species – in the Kennedy Space Center cleanrooms in Florida.
Despite stringent measures including filtering air, the strict regulation of temperature and humidity and the use of harsh chemical detergents, these microbes have somehow managed to survive.
‘It was a genuine “stop and re-check everything” moment,’ Alexandre Rosado, a professor of Bioscience at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia, told Live Science.
Recent analysis of these microbes has shed light on how they can live – and even thrive – in one of the harshest man-made environments on Earth.
And it turns out they have genes that help them resist the effects of radiation and even repair their own DNA.
A selection of the 26 new bacterial species discovered in the cleanroom, despite the facility being ultra-sanitised and highly controlled
The Phoenix Mars Lander in the cleanroom at the Kennedy Space Center. This photograph was taken in 2007, when bacterial samples were collected from the floor
The main goal of cleanrooms is to stop Earth’s organisms contaminating other planets that could potentially contain life.
They also play a crucial role in protecting Earth from potential alien hitchhikers in returned samples.
However, ‘cleanrooms don’t contain “no” life’, Professor Rosado said. ‘Our results show these new species are usually rare but can be found.’
The new species were identified lurking in cleanrooms where NASA assembled its Phoenix Mars Lander in 2007.
They were collected and preserved at the time, and recent advances in DNA technology has allowed scientists to properly analyse them.
The findings, published in the journal Microbiome, read: ‘Maintaining the biological cleanliness of NASA’s mission-associated cleanrooms, where spacecraft are assembled and tested, is critical for planetary protection.
‘Even with stringent controls such as regulated airflow, temperature management and rigorous cleaning, resilient microorganisms can persist in these environments, posing potential risks for space missions.’
The next step, experts said, is to figure out whether any of these tiny organisms could have potentially tolerated conditions during a journey to Mars’ northern polar cap, where Phoenix landed in 2008.
This image shows Phoenix hanging from its parachute as it descended to the Martian surface in 2008
Experts said the next step is to work out whether any of these microorganisms could have survived the trip to the Red Planet. Pictured: The Phoenix Lander on Mars
Professor Rosado said several species do carry genes that may help them adapt to the stresses of spaceflight.
But their survival would depend on how they handle the harsh conditions of the journey and on the Red Planet itself, including exposure to vacuum, deep cold and high levels of UV.
To explore this further, the team plan to test the microbes inside a ‘planetary simulation chamber’ that could reveal whether they could survive a trip through space.
One is currently being built at JAUST, with its first experiments expected to commence in early 2026.
The team said that beyond space exploration, these microbes hold ‘immense promise’ for biotechnology as their resistance to radiation and chemical stressors could drive innovations in medicine, pharmaceuticals and the food industry.
The usual annual highlights include eclipses, full moons, and meteor showers. But let’s look a little further into the future. Here are the most spectacular cosmic events expected to occur before the end of 2100.
What will future astronomers see in the sky? Illustrative photo: Unsplash
The flight of the asteroid Apophis
Asteroid 99942 Apophis.Image: Space Engine
The first major spectacle, which previously gained notoriety due to distorted media reports, awaits us on April 13, 2029. The asteroid Apophis, with a diameter of 370 m, will fly by at a distance of only 32,000 km from Earth – closer than satellites in geostationary orbit.
Its discovery caused concern. However, more accurate calculations have almost completely ruled out a collision with Earth in this century. Nevertheless, the 2029 flyby is a unique opportunity for science, as such a close approach occurs only about once every 800 years.
The return of Halley’s Comet
Halley’s Comet (1P/Halley) is the most famous comet and the brightest of the short-period comets
The last perihelion of the famous Halley’s Comet took place in 1986. The next return of the tailed guest is expected in 2061. Moreover, next time there will be the most favorable conditions for its observation, because it will be 9 times brighter. It will be a wonderful object for observation. In addition, the comet is expected to meet with Venus, which promises an additional spectacle.
V Sagittae
This faint star in the constellation Sagitta has been slowly but steadily brightening since the early 20th century. Astronomers believe it is a binary system, where two stars are gradually moving closer together. The most popular theory says that towards the end of the century, around 2083±10 years, these stars may merge. This will cause a powerful explosion – the birth of a new or even supernova star. V Sagittae may shine brighter than Sirius in the sky and be visible even during the day for weeks or months.
The Great Conjunctions of Jupiter and Saturn
These two giant planets come together in the sky every 20 years. But not every conjunction is clearly visible. In 2040, the phenomenon will be moderate, but in September of that year, all visible planets will line up in a row, creating a beautiful sight.
Space connections in 2040 and 2080
But the most important conjunction will be in 2080. That is when Jupiter and Saturn will come extremely close together – at a distance similar to the record set in 2020. They will also be far from the blinding glare of the Sun, providing ideal conditions for observation around the world.
Unpredictable events
The century also promises surprises that cannot be accurately dated at this time:
Flashes of new meteor showers, more powerful than the famous Leonids.
The explosion of a supernova in our Milky Way galaxy, the first in many centuries.
Bright comets that are currently located far away in the outer Solar System.
Interstellar objects, which were first officially confirmed only in the last decade, and since 2017, three such “guests” have been officially detected.
Despite the forecasts, the main thing is to remain attentive to the sky. The most memorable astronomical events often come unexpectedly.
Deep inside the Earth, at the boundary between the mantle and the outer core, there are so-called ultra-low velocity zones – areas that seem to be unaffected by the fiery chaos raging in the depths. Now, scientists claim to have unraveled their mystery.
What lies beneath the Earth? Source: www.livescience.com
Ultra-low speed zones
At the very center of our planet is a solid inner core. Between it and the crust, matter is in a very hot and liquid state and is divided into two layers: the outer core and the mantle above it. Recently, the journal Nature Communications published a study by scientists from the Institute of Earth Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in which they attempted to unravel one of the mysteries lurking at the point of their collision.
The fact is that the 300-kilometer layer at the boundary between the outer core and the mantle, i.e., at a depth of 2,900 km, has a complex structure. Complex processes of mass and heat exchange take place there, but at the same time, there are relatively small areas of up to 100 km in size that are characterized by extremely low seismic activity and high density.
They are called ultra-low velocity zones. It is believed that they have a significant impact on the processes occurring in this boundary layer, but scientists still do not understand where they come from.
Thermal insulation materials
Researchers have tackled this mystery in their latest work. They used ultra-fast optical spectroscopy in combination with diamond cells with a high-pressure and high-temperature anvil. This allowed them to study the properties of the iron-rich magnesiowüstite, which may make up the low-velocity zones.
Usually, minerals rich in metal have high thermal conductivity; they are like natural radiators for heating systems, but in magnesiowüstite, this indicator turned out to be extremely low. Simply put, it is a good heat insulator.
Scientists now understand that ultra-low velocity zones are actually pieces of heavy thermal insulation floating in viscous, molten material and altering the flows within it. Further research will reveal how this occurs.
2026 will be the year NASA astronauts fly around the moon again — if all goes to plan
2026 will be the year NASA astronauts fly around the moon again — if all goes to plan
The Artemis II mission, which could launch as early as February, is expected to send four astronauts on a trip to the moon, though they won't land on its surface.
The Artemis II astronauts pause during a demonstration test at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Saturday.Gregg Newton
If all goes according to NASA’s plans, 2026 will finally be the year that astronauts once again launch to the moon.
In a matter of months, four astronauts are poised to fly around the moon on a roughly 10-day mission — the closest humans will have gotten in more than half a century.
The flight, known as Artemis II, could lift off as early as February and would be a long-awaited jump start to America’s lagging return-to-the-moon program. The mission will serve as a crucial test of NASA’s next-generation Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft, which have been in development for more than a decade and faced years of setbacks and severe budget overruns. The system has never carried a crew before.
Returning to the moon has been a priority for President Donald Trump since his first term, and the current administration has placed renewed emphasis on dominating the intensifying space race between the U.S. and China. Chinese officials have pledged to land their own astronauts on the lunar surface by 2030.
Beyond the geopolitical implications, the Artemis II mission is designed to usher in a new era of space exploration, with the goal of eventually establishing bases for long-duration stays on the moon before astronauts someday venture on to Mars.
“Within the next three years, we are going to land American astronauts again on the moon, but this time with the infrastructure to stay,” Jared Isaacman, NASA’s new administrator, told NBC News in an interview last week after he was sworn in.
For some scientists, the excitement around returning to the moon stems from the prospect of investigating enduring mysteries about the moon’s formation and evolution — such as violent collisions in the nascent solar system that created it and where its water originated — which came into focus during the Apollo program in the 1960s and 1970s.
“As you can imagine, lunar scientists have had a lot of pent up questions for decades,” said Brett Denevi, a planetary scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland.
Answering some of those questions could shed light on similar processes that occurred during our planet’s formation, according to Denevi.
“Earth is kind of a terrible record-keeper,” she said. “With plate tectonics, weather — these things have just totally erased its very earliest history. But on the moon, you have this terrain that formed about 4.5 billion years ago, and it’s just sitting there on the surface for us to explore.”
Although the Artemis II mission won’t land on the lunar surface, it will test various technologies,docking maneuvers and life-support systems — first in Earth orbit and then in orbit around the moon — that will be essential for future missions.
NASA previously launched the Space Launch System rocket and Orion capsule on an uncrewed test flight around the moon — the Artemis I mission — for 3 1/2 weeks in 2022.
NASA's Artemis I Space Launch System rocket, with the Orion capsule attached, launches toward the moon in 2022 from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla.
“There’s a lot riding on this, both good and bad,” said Casey Dreier, chief of space policy for The Planetary Society, a nonprofit organization that conducts research, advocacy and outreach to promote space exploration. “Everything seems to be coming together, but this is the first time with humans on this rocket, and we’ve never tested this life-support system in space before.”
No launch date has been announced, but it is expected between February and April. The crew on board will be NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
The foursome was selected for the mission in 2023. Wiseman, Glover and Koch will make their second trips to space, while Hansen will be making his spaceflight debut.
Last weekend, the astronauts completed a key launch-day rehearsal, which involved donning their flight suits, boarding the Orion spacecraft and running through the countdown sequence to the point just before liftoff.
The Artemis program was established under the first Trump administration in 2019, and it salvaged the Space Launch System rocket and Orion capsule from prior stalled or canceled projects at NASA. The space agency had been working on a next-generation booster since 2010, a year before it retired the space shuttles. The Orion spacecraft, meanwhile, was originally designed for the Constellation Program, which was established by President George W. Bush to conduct crewed flights to the moon and Mars.
Last week, Trump doubled down on his return-to-the-moon agenda in an executive order that directed NASA to prioritize “expanding human reach and American presence in space” by landing astronauts on the lunar surface by 2028.
“This is the culmination of what is now almost a 15-year effort,” Dreier said. “Assuming it works, it’ll be seen as a major win for the administration. But if this doesn’t work, or if something calamitous happens, that will really reset everything.”
The Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft sit on the launch pad ahead of liftoff in November 2022 at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Red Huber / Getty Images
Artemis II is intended to pave the way for the Artemis III mission in 2027, which is expected to land four astronauts near the moon’s south pole, a region vastly different from where the Apollo astronauts left their bootprints.
Whereas the Apollo moon landings occurred within a narrow band around the moon’s equator, the south polar region is a more challenging place to land because the terrain is pockmarked with craters. These permanently shadowed basins are thought to house abundant water ice, a precious resource for establishing a long-term presence on the moon and for future crewed missions deeper in the solar system.
“Apollo gave us the framework to understand the moon,” Denevi said, “and now we have the foundation to ask different questions.”
Denevi leads the geology team for the Artemis III flight, a role thatinvolves deciding where the crew members will roam after they land, what types of fieldwork they will conduct and which samples they will collect to bring home. She is particularly interested in samples from the moon’s shadowed craters, which are among the coldest places in the solar system.
“When I first started studying the moon, I thought I’d spend my whole career studying historical data,” she said. “Now to have the opportunity to be involved in going to collect new samples that can provide new pieces to this puzzle, instead of trying to rearrange all of the old pieces, that’s going to be a huge step forward.
Stunning photos of Mars that will blow your mind Mars has always fascinated scientists, and it is believed to be the planet with the closest conditions to Earth for life in our solar system. Various projects with rovers have been sent looking for traces of bioactivity, among other experiments and data collection efforts.
In this gallery, you can explore the beautiful landscapes of our neighboring planet in breathtaking images. Click through to get started.
Mount Sharp, 2012 This picture displays the bottom of Mount Sharp, also known as Aeolis Mons, on Mars. The mountain stands at a height of 5.5 km (3.4 miles) above the surrounding valley.
Gullies, 2017 These flow features, resembling moraines on Earth, are located in the mid-latitudes of Mars. This indicates that the deposits may contain ice or have had ice in the past.
Yellowknife Bay, 2013 These spherical shapes in Yellowknife Bay are believed to be concretions, suggesting that water seeped through sediment pores to create them.
Sandy hill, 2014 These are the sand dunes of Mars' northernmost region, visible as they appear after being covered by seasonal carbon dioxide (dry) ice during winter.
Acidalia Plain, 2015 This plain is depicted as the fictional touchdown location for a crewed mission called Ares 3 in the popular novel and film 'The Martian.'
Noctis Labyrinthus, 2013 Located on the Tharsis rise in the upper part of Valles Marineris, this area is recognized for its intricate network of deep valleys with steep walls.
Gale crater, 2013 This crater, thought to be around 3.5 to 3.8 billion years old, is likely a dry lake located near the northwestern region of the Aeolis quadrangle.
Gale crater, 2013 The rover designed to explore Gale crater, which is about the size of a car, can be seen as a blue dot in the lower right corner of the image.
Gale crater, 2012 This photo shows a section of the wall of Gale crater, where a system of valleys, thought to be created by water, enters the crater from the surrounding area.
Victoria Crater, 2006 This impact crater found in the Meridiani Planum plain has a width of approximately 730 meters (2,395 feet)and is named after a ship from Ferdinand Magellan's fleet, the first to sail around the world.
Color Photos, 2008 This is one of the initial color photographs of the surface of Mars captured after the Phoenix Mars lander spacecraft safely touched down on May 25, 2008. It marked the historic first landing near Mars's northern pole.
Hellas Planitia, 2008 This image displays a view from a different angle of a mountain located in eastern Hellas Planitia. The mountain harbors sizable glaciers beneath rocks.
Hellas Planitia, 2008 This is an alternative view of the mountain in the eastern Hellas Planitia, which revealed the presence of sizable glaciers concealed beneath fragmented rocks.
Southern hemisphere, 2017 Small pits are visible in the bright residual layer of carbon dioxide ice near a larger, circular feature that extends through the ice and dust. This may be an impact crater or a pit created by collapse.
Rock geology, 2014 This evenly-layered rock formation displays a pattern typical of a lake-floor sedimentary deposit, suggesting a lake once filled this crater.
Cape Verde, 2006 Cape Verde, a landscape with rocky cliffs, stands on the edge of Victoria crater. These cliffs were named after the country, as a tribute to Ferdinand Magellan who had explored Cape Verde during his round-the-world journey.
Marquette Island, 2010 Marquette Island is a rock about the size of a basketball whose texture and composition suggest it came from deep inside the Martian crust.
Echus Chasma, 2008 Waterfalls may have cascaded down these towering cliffs in the past, which stand at a staggering 4,000 meters (13,123 feet). The remarkably even valley floor indicates that it was subsequently submerged by basaltic lava.
Mars, 1997 This high-definition image captures the detailed features of Mars, while it was positioned approximately 100 million km (60 million miles) away from Earth.
Totality over Guam from 2019. Credit: Eliot Herman.
The coming year offers eclipses, occultations and much more.
Ready for another amazing year of skywatching? 2025 was a wild year with a steady parade of comets knocking on naked eye visibility, and one extra special interstellar comet,3I/ATLAS.
The sky just keeps on turning into 2026. Watch for mutual eclipse season for the major moons of Jupiter, as the moons pass one if front of the other. The ongoing solar cycle is also still expected to be active into 2026 producing sunspots, space weather and more. And (finally!) we’ll see the return of total solar eclipses on August 12th, as umbral shadow of the Moon crosses Greenland, Iceland and northern Spain.
Comet 3I/ATLAS crosses paths with asteroid 65 Cybele.
Credit: Filipp Romanov.
Here's a quick run down of the best of the best events to watch for in 2026:
-A total solar eclipse spanning the North Atlantic into Spain on August 12th. -A return of totality with a total lunar eclipse for North America and the Pacific Region on March 3rd. -Mutual eclipse-transit season resumes for the moons of Jupiter. -Two fine dusk occultations of Venus by the Moon on June 17th and September 14th. -The Moon occults Jupiter for eastern North America on October 6th. -The Perseid and Geminid meteor showers both put on fine shows, with the Moon near New. -The Moon occults Antares, Regulus and the Pleiades (Messier 45) worldwide. -Saturn meets Mercury in the dusk sky on April 20th. -Several fine lunar/planetary/stellar groupings occur in November, as the Moon slides by several planets and notable bright stars. -A good binocular comet C/2025 R3 PanSTARRS makes a brief Spring 2026 apparition.
The Sun in 2026
We’re still coming off of the intense Solar Cycle 25 maximum in 2026, as we head towards the transition dip of solar minimum around 2030 into solar cycle 26.
A massive sunspot graces Sol in 2025, as seen in hydrogen-alpha and calcium-k.
Credit: Eliot Herman.
Sunspot activity is always a big unknown, as massive sunspots come and go. Here are the definite known phenomena for the Earth and Sun in 2026:
Sun-Earth phenomena for 2026.
The Moon in 2026
The path of the Moon is still transitioning in 2026, from steep versus the ecliptic plane in 2025 fresh off major lunar standstill. We're now headed back towards shallow and Minor Lunar Standstill in May 2034. This is due to the 5 degree tilt of the Moon’s orbit versus the ecliptic, assuring a cycle transitioning from hilly to shallow to hilly again. This 18.6 year cycle is what’s known as *lunar nodal precession*. The Moon is still swinging wide in 2026, and headed from wide north-to-south near the solstices.
Moon phases for 2026.
Eclipses in 2026
*The eclipse path for the August 12th Total Solar Eclipse. From The Atlas of Total Solar Eclipses 2020 to 2045 by Michael Zeiler/Michael E. Bakich*
2026 sees four eclipses (2 lunar and 2 solar) the normal minimum that can occur:
February 17th - An annular solar eclipse for the Antarctic.
March 3rd - A total lunar eclipse for the Americas, the Pacific, Australia and the Far East. Totality for this one is just over 56 minutes in duration.
The March 2025 total lunar eclipse.
Credit: Robert Sparks.
August 12th - A Total solar eclipse for Iceland, the North Atlantic and northern Spain.
August 28th - A deep (93% obscured) partial lunar eclipse for Africa, Europe, the Atlantic and the Americas.
*An animation of the August 2026 eclipse.
Credit: NASA/GSFC/A.T. Sinclair*
Lunar Occultations of Planets in 2026
The Moon occults 4 planets a total of 11 times in 2026: Mercury (1), Venus (3), Mars (3), Jupiter (4). Saturn is the only naked eye planet that eludes the Moon in 2026.
Lunar v. planet occultations for 2026.
The October 6th occultation of Jupiter by the Moon.
Credit: Occult 4.2.
Lunar Occultations of Bright Stars by the Moon
Two of the four +1st magnitude stars that the Moon can occult (Regulus and Antares) are visited by the Moon in 2026… Aldebaran and Spica sit this one out.
First, the Moon occults Regulus:
Lunar occultations of Regulus for 2026.
The Moon also visits Antares in 2026:
Lunar occultations of Antares for 2026.
The Moon also continues visiting the open cluster Messier 44 (Praesepe) and Messier 45 (The Pleiades), once per lunation in 2026.
Planets in 2026
Planets wander the ecliptic (hence the Greek name planetai, meaning ‘wanderer’) transitioning from the dawn to dusk sky and back again. Sometimes, they slide past each other as seen from Earth. Here’s the best planet-versus-planet conjunctions to look forward to in 2026:
Planetary conjunctions for 2026.
The Inner Planets in 2026
Mercury reaches greatest elongation six times in 2026, three each in the dawn and dusk. Meanwhile, Venus passes solar conjunction on January 6th, and spends the rest of the year dominating the dusk sky before reaching solar conjunction on October 24th and reemerging once again in the dawn.
The inner planets for 2026.
Outer Planets in 2026
Planets beyond Earth’s orbit can reach opposition, rising ‘opposite’ in the east versus the setting Sun in the west. This also represents the best time to observe a given planet, as it passes closest to the Earth and remains above the horizon from sunset until sunrise.
Mars does not reach opposition until February 19th, 2027. Meanwhile, the average plane of Jupiter’s moons reaches its bidecadal edge-on point once again starting in late 2026, meaning the four moons will pass one in front of the other, eclipsing and occulting each other in a complex series of events. Finally, Saturn’s rings are gradually widening from edge-on in 2025, averaging 10 degrees open in 2026 and headed towards their widest tilt 27 degrees in 2031.
Oppositions for 2026.
Here are several key planetary groupings to watch for in 2026:
-June 16th: Mercury, Venus, Jupiter and the waxing crescent Moon at dusk.
-Nov 2-3rd: The waning, just past Last Quarter Moon passes Mars, Jupiter and Regulus, all in a row in the pre-dusk sky.
-Nov 7th: The waning crescent Moon groups with Venus and the bright star Spica at dawn.
-Nov 30th: The waning gibbous Moon groups with Mars, Jupiter and Regulus high in the pre-dawn sky.
The Moon meets Venus and Spica on November 7th.
Credit: Stellarium.
Three planets also transit the Messier 44 cluster in 2026:
-M44/Jupiter August 4th (but just 4 degrees west of the Sun) -M44/Mercury August 14th (just 13 degrees west of the Sun) -M44/Mars October 11th (70 west of Sun the Sun)
The Best Meteor Showers in 2026
About a dozen dependable meteor showers of the 110 known showers peak annually, as the Earth plows through streams laid down by their respective parent comets:
Top meteor showers for 2026.
Bright Comets in 2026
Bright comets for the coming year are always the big wildcard. As of writing this, there are only a half-dozen odd comets set to break +10th magnitude in 2026. Keep in mind, that could change very quickly if a bright new comet on a long period orbit makes itself known.
Comet C/2025 A6 Lemmon as seen from Sa Calobra, Mallorca Spain.
The James Webb Space Telescope observes galaxies in the early universe. In one of them, it saw a bright spot – a supernova explosion.
A supernova explosion. Source: phys.org
Explosion from the early universe
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.
Credit: Artwork - NASA, ESA, NSF's NOIRLab, Mark Garlick, Mahdi Zamani
This event, reported in a recently published scientific article, was first noted by a bright burst of high-energy radiation known as a long gamma-ray burst (GRB), detected by the Space-based Multiband Variable Object Monitor (SVOM) on March 14, 2025. Follow-up observations with the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO/VLT) confirmed the extreme distance.
The connection between supernovae and gamma-ray bursts
The key finding came from targeted observations with JWST’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCAM) approximately 110 days after the burst. Scientists were able to separate the light of the explosion from its faint, underlying host galaxy.
Astronomers now have a new measuring stick to peek into the universe in its early stages. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has captured the earliest known supernova on camera, a mind-blowing stellar explosion that lit up the universe some 730 million years ago. At the time, galaxies were still finding their feet, and stars were burning with an unrestrained ferocity. This discovery pushes the timing for such massive events back more than a billion years, providing a better understanding of how the early cosmos formed its first heavy elements.
Co-author and astrophysicist at UCD School of Physics, Dr. Antonio Martin-Carrillo said, “The key observation, or smoking gun, that connects the death of massive stars with gamma-ray bursts is the discovery of a supernova emerging at the same sky location. Almost every supernova ever studied has been relatively nearby to us, with just a handful of exceptions to date. When we confirmed the age of this one, we saw a unique opportunity to probe how the universe was there and what type of stars existed and died back then.”
“Using models based on the population of supernovae associated with GRBs in our local universe, we made some predictions of what the emission should be and used it to propose a new observation with the James Webb Space Telescope. To our surprise, our model worked remarkably well and the observed supernova seems to match really well the death of stars that we see regularly. We were also able to get a glimpse of the galaxy that hosted this dying star.”
Similarities between supernovae from the early universe and modern supernovae
The data indicate that the distant supernova is surprisingly similar in brightness and spectral properties to the prototype GRB-associated supernova, SN 1998bw, which exploded in the local universe.
This similarity suggests that the massive star that collapsed to create GRB 250314A was not significantly different from the progenitors of GRBs observed locally, despite the vastly different physical conditions (such as lower metallicity) in the early universe. The observations also ruled out a much more luminous event, such as a superluminous supernova (SLSN).
The findings challenge the assumption that the stars of the early universe, formed under extremely low-metallicity conditions, would lead to markedly different, perhaps brighter or bluer, stellar explosions than those seen today.
While this discovery provides a powerful anchor point for understanding stellar evolution in the early universe, it also opens new questions about the observed uniformity.
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Over mijzelf
Ik ben Pieter, en gebruik soms ook wel de schuilnaam Peter2011.
Ik ben een man en woon in Linter (België) en mijn beroep is Ik ben op rust..
Ik ben geboren op 18/10/1950 en ben nu dus 75 jaar jong.
Mijn hobby's zijn: Ufologie en andere esoterische onderwerpen.
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