Anyone who has been paying attention to cosmology over the past few years is aware of problems with our best attempts to explain why the universe is the way it is.
Our standard model, Lambda-CDM (or LCDM), is one of the most successful theories in the history of science. It accounts for the cosmic microwave background, the large-scale distribution of galaxies, the abundances of light elements, and…
Unusual red northern lights over Japan suggest some solar storms are stronger than we thought
May 27, 2026
A rare crimson aurora glowing over northern Japan may be a sign that some solar storms are more powerful than scientists once believed.
Researchers studying faint red auroras observed above Japan in June 2024 found that the displays stretched far higher into Earth’s…
'Very interesting wiggles' in data from silent NASA Mars spacecraft lead to unexpected solar wind discovery
May 27, 2026
Even as NASA continues to try to restore contact with the MAVEN spacecraft after it fell silent in late 2025, scientists analyzing its data have spotted a phenomenon in Mars’ atmosphere that, until now, had only been observed around strongly magnetized planets like…
DARPA is at last ready to test fueling up satellites in faraway Earth orbits, to keep those machines working a little bit longer.
DARPA’s (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) long-delayed Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellite (RSGS) demonstrator is slated to launch as soon as this summer, the U.S. military’s research and development group stated in a statement on Wednesday (May…
NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray spacecraft has observed a super-bright, supercharged supernova explosion that may have been powered up by a highly magnetic dead star, a type of neutron star called a magnetar. This magnetar would have actually been born in the supernova itself…
In northeastern California lies a series of caves that formed thousands of years ago when volcanoes erupted lava that later solidified, leaving behind tunnels wide enough for humans to walk through. But Earth isn’t the only planet in our solar system with volcanoes —…
Astronomers have studied 14 years of Hubble Space Telescope observations of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa, and now suspect that its infamous water vapor eruptions may not exist as was previously thought
Europa has long been a hot target for scientists aiming to investigate the habitability of nearby worlds and the possible existence of life elsewhere in the solar system. That is because this Jovian…
This cryptocurrency billionaire will fly SpaceX's 1st private Starship to Mars, but when?
May 25, 2026
When SpaceX attempted to launch its newest (and tallest) megarocket yet on Thursday (May 21), all eyes were on the shiny Starship Version 3 atop its South Texas pad. Especially NASA’s, since the agency wants to use the towering rocketship to land Artemis astronauts on the…
Update for May 22, 7:48 pm ET: SpaceX successfully launched its first next-generation Starship V3 megarocket on a test flight from Starbase, Texas on May 22. Our wrap story will be posted shortly.
The Ship upper stage lost one engine but performed most of its planned…
NASA exoplanet-hunting spacecraft TESS reveals its most complete look at the night sky yet
May 22, 2026
NASA’s exoplanet-hunting spacecraft TESS, or Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, has released its most complete view of the sky over Earth — the map reveals the location of 6,000 potential worlds beyond the solar system.
The mix of possible and confirmed extra-solar planets, or exoplanets, were identified by the mission prior to Sept. 2025. That’s the month that marked the conclusion of…
