Space

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has observed the interstellar visitor 3I/ATLAS for the first time. The powerful space telescope trained its infrared vision and its Near-Infrared Spectrograph instrument (NIRspec) on the comet on Aug. 6, 2025. Discovered on July 1 by the ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) survey telescope, 3I/ATLAS is just the third-ever object found…

On Aug. 2, 2027, a total solar eclipse will cast its shadow from the Strait of Gibraltar through North Africa and into the heart of the Arabian Peninsula. During the eclipse, the sun’s disk will be completely covered from our perspective on Earth for a maximum of 6 minutes,22 seconds — the longest totality on land in 36 years, and the longest totality until June 3, 2114. No wonder…

New observations of a pair of colliding spiral galaxies hint at what might be in store for the Milky Way and the Andromeda galaxy if and when they collide. The findings, described in July in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, may also help to solve a puzzle plaguing the standard model of cosmology. The two colliding galaxies, NGC 5713 and NGC 5179, are located 88…

The first hurricane of the 2025 Atlantic season is upon us, and it has gained quite a bit of attention due to its massive size and intensification within a short period of time. Hurricane Erin, the fifth named storm of the season as well as the first hurricane to reach major status, formed on Aug. 11 and made its trek across the central Atlantic in just a few days. The storm reached hurricane…