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An industrial project in Chile threatens Earth's darkest sky. 28 leading astronomers signed an open letter urging to move it

December 11, 2025
German Nobel Prize-winning astrophysicist Reinhard Genzel has penned a letter urging the government of Chile to halt the development of a green hydrogen plant in the vicinity of one of the world’s top astronomical observatories. In the letter, Genzel and 30 other world-leading astronomers urge Chilean leaders to protect the pristine, unpolluted night sky above Cerro Paranal, an…
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This supermassive black hole flung out matter at 134 million mph: 'On a scale almost too big to imagine'

December 10, 2025
Supermassive black holes are notoriously messy eaters, but the behemoth at the heart of spiral galaxy NGC 3783 really takes the cake — and then flings it out into space at a fifth the speed of light. Astronomers recently spotted a gale of hot, charged particles erupting from this black hole in the aftermath of a powerful X-ray flare that occurred just a few hours earlier. As one of the…
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Uranus's small moons are dark, red, and water-poor

December 9, 2025
This article was originally published at Eos. The publication contributed the article to Space.com’s Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. The solar system’s oddball planet has some pretty odd moons, too. The first infrared spectra of Uranus’s small inner…
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5 key takeaways from Jared Isaacman's 2nd NASA chief nomination hearing

December 9, 2025
Can the U.S. beat China to the moon, and will NASA have the resources to do so? These were just some of the considerations raised when SpaceX billionaire private astronaut Jared Isaacman once again appeared before a Senate committee Wednesday (Dec. 3) for a bid at NASA chief. This wasn’t Isaacman’s first rodeo before the Senate’s Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation…
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A green flash at sunset | Space photo of the day for Dec. 8, 2025

December 9, 2025
Just as the sun slips behind the Chilean Andes, it seemed to send up a tiny emerald flare. The photograph, taken from Cerro Pachón in Chile by NOIRLab Audiovisual Ambassador Petr Horálek, captures a classic but elusive atmospheric trick of the light: the green flash. What…
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December's 'Cold Moon' rises: See breathtaking images of the final full moon of 2025

December 8, 2025
The final full moon of 2025 treated stargazers to a high-flying lunar spectacle as the “Cold Moon” glowed among the stars of the constellation Taurus on Dec. 4. December’s full moon was the third in a string of “Supermoons” — full moons that occur when the moon reaches its closest point to Earth in its monthly orbit. Around this time, it can appear up to 14% larger…
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