Stars do not actually switch their lights on and off when they twinkle. The flicker happens between the star and your eyes, as its light passes through Earth’s moving atmosphere. Planets are affected by the same air, but they usually look steadier because their light arrives from a small disk rather than a single point. […]

The post Why Do Stars Twinkle While Planets Usually Look Steady? appeared first on Curiosmos.

The economist John Maynard Keynes once remarked, “In the long run we are all dead.” From an astronomical standpoint, this is true for the Earth itself. In roughly 5 billion years, the Sun will exhaust the hydrogen at its core and enter the next phase of its life as a Red Giant, where it will swell up large enough to engulf and destroy the Earth.

Currently, the Sun is still in its main-sequence phase, where it fuses hydrogen into helium in its core. Although it remains relatively stable during this phase, it will gradually grow brighter with time. As the Sun shines brighter, the increased heat and radiation will raise Earth’s surface temperature, potentially pushing it past the threshold for life to survive. 

One of Earth’s geological processes that helps regulate its surface temperature is the carbon cycle. Over millions of years, carbon moves from the Earth’s interior into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide or CO₂, where it functions as a greenhouse gas that traps heat. Plants take in this CO₂ through photosynthesis and move carbon through the biosphere. 

Meanwhile, rain and rock weathering draw carbon into the oceans and rocks. By pulling CO₂ out of the atmosphere, the carbon cycle could mitigate Earth’s warming as the Sun brightens over time. Today, human activities are increasing atmospheric CO₂ and warming the planet. However, over billions of years, the carbon cycle could gradually remove enough CO₂ from the atmosphere that eventually too little would remain to support photosynthesis. 

With these challenges to life on Earth in mind, the researchers Jacob Haqq‐Misra and Eric Wolf investigated how long Earth’s biosphere could last in the distant future. The team used computer models to calculate the balance of energy that Earth would receive and emit over time, accounting for the effects of increasing sunlight and changing atmospheric CO₂ concentrations. They followed this up with calculations using the ExoCAM model to determine the temperature and atmospheric conditions of future Earth across different latitudes. They related these conditions to a habitability metric to determine their impact on the biosphere.

To estimate the biosphere’s maximum possible lifespan, the team conducted 29 simulations representing the planet’s conditions over the next 2 billion years. In one set of simulations, the Earth’s carbon cycle contributed little to regulating surface temperature, with the atmosphere’s CO₂ concentration fixed at approximately modern levels of 400 parts per million (ppm) and surface temperatures continuing to increase. In another, the carbon cycle worked to keep Earth’s average surface temperature fixed at the modern average of approximately 59℉ (15℃), no matter how much it had to reduce CO₂ in the atmosphere. 

In the scenario with a fixed CO₂ concentration, the team found that in 1.7 billion years, Earth’s surface reached an average of 122°F (50°C), which is too hot for most land plants. After 1.9 billion years, it reached 149°F (65°), becoming too hot for all land plants to survive as temperatures continued to rise. 

They also found that in the fixed average surface temperature scenario, atmospheric CO₂ dropped below the 150 ppm level that most plants require for photosynthesis within 500 million years. After 1.4 billion years, CO₂ levels fell below 10 ppm, leaving only a few land photosynthesizers and aquatic plants alive. After about 1.8 billion years, atmospheric CO₂ dropped to 1 ppm, leaving only microbes capable of photosynthesis.

The researchers’ findings generally extend the estimated lifetime of Earth’s future biosphere compared with earlier, simpler models that suggested maximum lifespans of 100 million to 1.5 billion years. However, they clarified that other scientists should verify their results by running tests with other models, especially under extreme conditions of high incoming solar radiation and low atmospheric CO₂. 

Lastly, Haqq‐Misra and Wolf noted that their model did not account for major evolutionary changes that could help life adapt to future conditions. Over time, plants could evolve to tolerate higher temperatures or lower atmospheric CO₂ levels. Future humans or another intelligent species might also engage in large-scale geoengineering projects to prevent the end of life on Earth. If life on Earth proves adaptable enough, the biosphere may endure until a Red Giant fills the daytime sky.

The post The long-term fate of Earth’s biosphere appeared first on Sciworthy.

Satellites designed to provide internet service are now serving an unexpected second purpose: helping scientists map the nearly invisible atmosphere at the edge of space. Researchers at Kyoto University have used orbital changes from about 1,200 Starlink satellites to map Earth’s thermosphere, a thin and difficult-to-observe region of the upper atmosphere. Their analysis produced the [...]

Astronomers using the 4-m Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope in Hawaii have detected tiny plasma vortices on the Sun’s surface (photosphere) for the first time, revealing a long-suspected process that could transport energy into the million-degree corona.

The post Inouye Solar Telescope Discovers Hidden Plasma Vortices on Sun appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

Enormous rifts on Venus might still be widening.

High-resolution images from ESO’s Very Large Telescope and the Large Binocular Telescope reveal that the E-type asteroid (44) Nysa may be unlike any other world in the Solar System, with three connected lobes and a newly discovered satellite that could help explain how the bizarre object formed.

The post Astronomers Discover First-Ever Three-Lobed Asteroid appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

Pluto’s tenuous atmosphere appears to have begun contracting after years of holding steady, according to a new study published in the Planetary Science Journal.

The post Pluto’s Thin Atmosphere May Be Starting to Shrink appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

The Chicxulub impact not only plunged Earth into an impact winter but also produced a dust blanket that later overheated the planet, according to new research from Purdue University and the University of Colorado, Boulder.

The post Dinosaur-Killing Asteroid Didn’t Just Strike Earth, Its Dust Cloud Cooked It appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

After a century of speculation, astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) have captured the clearest evidence yet that the red supergiant Betelgeuse is orbited by a faint companion star.

The post Astronomers Directly Image Betelgeuse’s Long-Suspected Stellar Companion appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

Black carbon particles released by rocket launches remain in the upper atmosphere for much longer than sooty particles produced by sources on the ground. This finding, which comes from a study led by researchers at University College London (UCL), UK, suggests that the soot created in deploying “megaconstellations” containing hundreds or thousands of satellites could have poorly understood and potentially serious consequences for the Earth’s climate.

“Rocket launches are a unique source of pollution, injecting harmful chemicals directly into the upper layers of the atmosphere and contaminating Earth’s last remaining relatively pristine environment,” says the study’s lead author, UCL atmospheric chemist Connor Barker.

The number of rockets being launched into space has increased dramatically since 2019, and the trend shows few signs of stopping. This year has already seen more launches than the whole of 2020, and space industry experts believe the eventual total could surpass 2025’s figure of 329. The increase has primarily been driven by the Falcon 9 rockets launched by the US firm SpaceX, though China also logged a record 92 launch attempts in 2025.

“An unregulated geoengineering experiment”

In the new work, Barker and colleagues analysed data from rocket launches and satellite re-entries from 2020 to 2022. Their results, which they detail in Earth’s Future, show that the soot particles lingering in the upper atmosphere are 540 times more effective at altering climate than ground-based soot emissions from sources such as cars and power plants.

“Space industry pollution is like an unregulated geoengineering experiment,” says Barker. Soot particles from burning kerosene in rocket fuel absorb sunlight, he explains, which prevents it from reaching the Earth’s surface. The result is a small cooling effect, which might sound like a good thing in the context of rising global temperatures. However, Barker stresses that this cooling is minimal compared to the global warming caused by other human-generated emissions, while the particles themselves could have “many other serious unintended consequences”.

Predictions likely to underestimate future impact

As well as quantifying recent space industry emissions, the researchers make predictions about future ones. According to their calculations, by 2029 the space industry will be releasing about 870 tonnes of soot into the atmosphere each year. By way of comparison, Baker notes that according to the latest UK government figures, the annual emissions of the country’s entire passenger car fleet amounted to just 728 tonnes.

The team based its predictions on projections of data from 2020-2022, which is considered the beginning of the megaconstellation satellite era. Because of this, Barker cautions that they are likely to be underestimates, making the problem even more urgent. “It is critical that we understand the environmental impacts of satellite megaconstellations now while their impact is small, before any unforeseen consequences are difficult to reverse or repair,” he tells Physics World.

While scientists have made great progress in the last few years, Baker says that are still large uncertainties in our emission estimates for the industry and our understanding of how they affect the atmosphere. “We hope that this work spurs further research to measure space industry emissions and highlights the need to regulate the geoengineering impacts of the space industry,” he says.

Team leader Eloise Marais, a professor of atmospheric chemistry and air quality at UCL, echoes this sentiment. “So far, there has been limited effort to effectively regulate this type of pollution,” she says.

The researchers are now working on an emissions tracker to visualize these emissions across the entire space age. “We are also using satellite imagery to remotely detect and quantify rocket launch emissions,” Barker reveals.

The post Soot from rocket launches is polluting Earth’s upper atmosphere appeared first on Physics World.

Planetary researchers have found the first evidence that bursts of energetic particles from the Sun could warm the lower atmosphere of Mars during massive dust storms, hinting at an unexpected link between space weather and Martian climate.

The post Space Weather May Warp Martian Weather during Dust Storms, Planetary Scientists Suggest appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

Some of the most promising locations to search for possible alien megastructures, known as Dyson spheres, may not be stars like the Sun, but rather the galaxy’s smallest and dimmest stars.

Physicist Freeman Dyson introduced the idea of a Dyson sphere in 1960, describing it as a shell or, more realistically, a swarm of orbiting collectors that could capture most of a star’s energy. This concept has interested scientists searching for signs of advanced technology, but the question of how such a structure would appear in astronomical observations remained unknown.

Now, a new study, available on the arXiv preprint server, suggests that one of the coldest objects in a stellar system could, in principle, be an artificial megastructure rather than a natural astronomical object.

Amirnezam Amiri, a physicist at the University of Arkansas, explored the question of Dyson spheres by modeling these hypothetical megastructures around two often-overlooked types of stars: red M-dwarfs and white dwarfs. Amiri credits discussions with Harvard astronomer and founder of the Galileo Project, Avi Loeb, with helping shape the study.

Small, Dim, and Built to Last

Red dwarfs make up about 70% of the stars in the Milky Way. These stars burn slowly and can remain stable for trillions of years, much longer than the universe has even existed so far. White dwarfs offer a different benefit. As the dense remnants of stars like the Sun, they shrink to about 1% of their original size. This means a Dyson swarm could orbit much closer, requiring less material and a smaller structure than one built around a star like the Sun.

Amiri’s study explores how astronomers could detect such structures. Both red dwarfs and white dwarfs are dim enough that the infrared heat emitted by a Dyson swarm would stand out more clearly against the star’s own light.

Reading the Wreckage on a Star Chart

Astronomers use the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram to classify stars by temperature and brightness, and this tool is central to Amiri’s analysis. A Dyson swarm would not destroy a star’s energy, but would capture its light and re-emit it as heat at much longer wavelengths. 

In the new model, a star with a Dyson swarm would appear on the H-R diagram at the same luminosity but shifted dramatically toward the cool end. For instance, a red dwarf at about 3,000 K could appear surrounded by a shell as cold as 50 K, a difference of about two orders of magnitude. No known stars naturally occupy this region of the H-R diagram.

Identifying Factors

Dust and distant galaxies can also produce strong infrared emissions, so astronomers cannot identify a Dyson swarm using temperature alone. Amiri’s model points to a more complex set of clues. A true Dyson swarm would not show the silicate dust features seen in normal dusty disks, so its spectrum would be unusually smooth for an object with strong infrared emission.

Additionally, if the swarm consists of many separate collectors rather than a solid shell, there would be gaps that cause irregular, non-stellar flickering as the pieces move. Each of these signs can have natural causes, but finding them together is rare and hard to explain without considering artificial structures.

Future Observations

Astronomers can carry out this search using existing telescopes. The James Webb Space Telescope’s infrared instruments are already designed to detect faint, cold signals like these. The Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s new sky survey and the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which is expected to launch later this year, will add to these efforts. Together, they will generate the kinds of observations needed to search for the signatures described in the study.

Possible candidates for these future observations have already been identified. In 2024, Project Hephaistos identified seven potential Dyson sphere candidates among about 5 million cataloged stars, all linked to red dwarfs. One was ruled out after it was shown that a background black hole caused the observed signal. Several candidate Dyson sphere systems still remain under investigation. Amiri does not claim that any of these are actual Dyson spheres, and the paper makes this clear. Instead, the study offers a better way to tell true anomalies apart from dusty disks before using valuable telescope time. If a Dyson swarm surrounds a star and reradiates its energy at temperatures unlike those of natural stars, upcoming infrared surveys may finally be able to detect one.

Austin Burgess is a writer and researcher with a background in sales, marketing, and data analytics. He holds an MBA, a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, and a data analytics certification. His work focuses on breaking scientific developments, with an emphasis on emerging biology, cognitive neuroscience, and archaeological discoveries.

An international research team led by Harvard scientists has announced the first-ever detection of an atmosphere on an Earth-like rocky exoplanet, LHS 1140 b, orbiting within its star’s habitable zone, only 48 light-years away.

The researchers behind the historic discovery, which they are calling “a major milestone in the search for life on other planets,” said the detection of an atmosphere on an Earth-like rocky exoplanet offers the strongest evidence to date that worlds with similar compositions and temperatures to Earth that are also capable of supporting life could exist beyond our solar system.

Models Predicted First Earth-like Rocky Habitable Zone Exoplanet Atmosphere

In a statement announcing the detection of an atmosphere around a habitable-zone rocky exoplanet, the discovery was motivated by theoretical predictions suggesting that LHS 1140 b may contain an atmosphere. The planet was even more tantalizing because its orbit around its host red dwarf star allows for liquid water on its surface, a key ingredient for life as we know it.

Although thousands of exoplanets have been confirmed since 1995, including habitable-zone rocky worlds similar in size and composition to Earth, the team notes that determining whether any of these potential Earth analogs maintain an atmosphere. Like water, an atmosphere is considered a likely necessity for life to emerge.

“An atmosphere is essential for a planet to support life as we know it,” explained Collin Cherubim, the lead author of a study detailing the findings, who recently earned his Ph.D. in Earth and Planetary Sciences from Harvard University.

Robin Wordsworth, the Gordon McKay Professor of Environmental Science and Engineering and Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard, said that as recently as twenty years ago, astronomers still didn’t know if other, terrestrial-type planets “even existed.” However, he explained, they quickly found that this type of planet was common, including some orbiting within their star’s habitable zone.

“The next question was whether any of them had managed to keep an atmosphere,” the professor added.

Infrared Observations Confirm Historic First  

Before performing any direct observations, the team used computer models to predict what they might find on LHS 1140 b. As noted, those models predicted an upper atmosphere rich in helium. The models also suggested that the atmospheric helium was slowly escaping into space.

To test the model’s predictions, Cherubim and colleagues gained access to the Warm Infrared Echelle (WINERED) Spectrograph on the Magellan Observatory in Chile. The team noted that this powerful telescope allowed them to observe an alignment of LHS 1140 b and another planet transiting its star “on the same night.”

When analyzing the data, the team found that one of the planets appeared to lack any measurable atmosphere. However, as their models had predicted, helium was actively escaping from LHS 1140 b. The finding confirmed that this rocky exoplanet orbiting within its star’s habitable zone was actively maintaining an atmosphere.

David Charbonneau, the head of the Harvard Department of Astronomy and an astronomer at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, and Cherubim’s co-advisor with Wordsworth, was initially skeptical because the entire concept was based on a mathematical prediction of a phenomenon astronomers had never witnessed directly. However, Professor Charbonneau ended up praising the student’s determination and follow-through, which led to the historic detection.

“Collin analyzed the planets we knew about and predicted that this one would have a helium atmosphere,” Charbonneau said. “Then he organized telescope time, got the data, and the detection was statistically rock solid.”

“Hopefully it’s just the First of Many More Observations to Come”

When discussing the implications of the findings, Cherubim noted that “this is the first time anyone has found an atmosphere on a rocky planet in the habitable zone of another star.” Professor Wordsworth agreed, once again noting that until now, planets in these categories with atmospheres had been purely theoretical.

“Now we know at least one has,” the professor said.

The data also suggest that LHS 1140 b’s atmosphere has likely survived for more than three billion years, roughly three-quarters of Earth’s existence. This durability makes LHS 1140 b an excellent candidate for future exoplanet atmosphere studies.

More broadly, the team said that using ground-based observatories to search for escaping gases, such as the helium detected leaving LHS 1140 b, “may become an important tool for studying atmospheres on rocky exoplanets.” They also note the potential value of atmospheric detection for astrobiologists searching for signs of life in the cosmos.

As for Cherubim, he plans on following up his historic discovery with a more detailed analysis of the planet’s atmospheric composition. He also said he would like to investigate the possible presence of surface oceans or other planetary characteristics typically associated with habitability and life. The entire team also said they would like to use Cherubim’s model to search for similar Earth-like, habitable-zone rocky exoplanets.

“This has been a model validation, and hopefully it’s just the first of many more observations to come,” Cherubim said.

The study, “Helium escaping from the atmosphere of a nearby rocky exoplanet orbiting in a habitable zone,” was published in Science.

Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him directly at christopher@thedebrief.org.

A population study suggests the human body may already be responding to changes in the composition of the atmosphere. The air outside may be leaving a subtle signature in human blood. Researchers have identified gradual changes in a key carbon dioxide-related blood marker and warn that it could approach the upper limit of its healthy [...]

Using spectral data from the Magellan Clay telescope at Las Campanas Observatory, astronomers detected helium escaping from LHS 1140b, a rocky exoplanet that orbits in the habitable zone of the nearby low-mass star LHS 1140.

The post Potential Atmosphere Detected on Habitable-Zone Exoplanet LHS 1140b appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

A new analysis suggests the four sub-Earth exoplanets orbiting Barnard’s star -- the Sun’s nearest single-star neighbor -- are likely packed with the deep-Earth mineral periclase, stripped of their atmospheres and far too hostile to support life.

The post Barnard’s Star Planetary System May Be Filled with Water-Poor Rocky Worlds appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

A new study shows how changes in ocean circulation could reshape global rainfall patterns. A storm reaching California can begin with changes thousands of miles away in the Atlantic Ocean. Climate modeling suggests that as one of the planet’s major ocean circulation systems weakens, more moisture could be directed toward the West Coast while snowfall [...]

Vous venez de nettoyer vos vitres, puis une averse éclate. Et les voilà couvertes de traces. Faut-il en conclure que la pluie est responsable ? En réalité, le phénomène est bien plus subtil et révèle ce qui se cache dans l'air que nous respirons.

This week in science and technology news we’re covering at The Debrief: For decades, physicists have argued about Richard Feynman’s Sprinkler Problem, involving the question of how a reverse sprinkler would operate. Now we may finally know the answer… elsewhere, new studies reveal how breathwork may trigger psychedelic-like states, emotional breakthroughs, and psychological insights without drugs. Meanwhile, a stone sphere unearthed at an archaeological site in Azerbaijan is reportedly unlike anything previously documented in the South Caucasus.

Also, in an exclusive feature, University of Toronto bioethicist KM Bowman, Ph.D., writes for The Debrief about his firsthand experience with uncontacted indigenous tribes: “Through the haze stood a man. Barely clothed, carrying what appeared to be a weapon of some form, he remained motionless for only a few seconds before silently disappearing back into the forest.” In his essay, Bowman shares his experience and asks whether governments can protect “the uncontacted.”

Finally, here’s a look at more stories The Debrief is tracking right now…

Nitrogen is an essential building block of proteins, amino acids, and DNA. Without nitrogen, cells can’t function or reproduce. Nitrogen is abundant in the atmosphere as dinitrogen gas, but plants and animals can’t access atmospheric nitrogen. Instead, we rely on biologically available forms like ammonia and nitrate. 

Specialized microbes can transform atmospheric nitrogen into ammonia via a process called biological nitrogen fixation. Nitrogen-fixing soil bacteria have a unique protein complex, the nitrogenase complex, that facilitates this nitrogen transformation. The nitrogenase complex is activated by a group of genes known as nif genes. 

Legume plants like peanuts, peas, and beans have nitrogen-fixing bacteria in the soil zone around their roots, called the rhizosphere. The symbiotic relationship between nitrogen-fixing soil bacteria and legume plants supplies most of the biologically available nitrogen to life on Earth.

However, one piece of the puzzle remains unexplored: the role of soil viruses in these nitrogen transformations, referred to as the nitrogen cycle. Viruses are microscopic particles made up of genetic material and proteins, but they can’t reproduce without a host cell. Scientists consider viruses to be biological entities that are halfway between living and non-living.

To reproduce, viruses contact a host cell and inject their genetic material into it. The virus’s genetic material takes over the host cell’s genome and forces the cell to produce proteins that assemble into new viruses. As new viruses are created, they can incorporate genes from the host cell into their own genetic material. Genes that are transferred from a host cell to a virus are known as auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs). Viruses can carry AMGs and pass them to other hosts or use them to increase their own ecological fitness. 

Scientists from China, Spain, and the Czech Republic set out to investigate whether viruses from legume roots could increase local soil nitrogen fixation by expressing nif AMGs or by transferring nif genes to other bacteria. First, they determined the global distribution of viral nitrogen-fixing genes by analyzing about 8.6 million viral genomes from the Integrated Microbial Genomes/Virus database. They looked for the DNA sequences of known nitrogen-fixing genes and the locations where the viruses were sampled. They found that only 0.003% of the viruses in the database had at least 1 nitrogen-fixing gene, but they clustered in the same locations as nitrogen-fixing bacteria. 

The team also found 3 types of viruses that most commonly carried nitrogen-fixing genes: Kyanoviridae, Nudiviridae, and Bronfenbrennervirinae. Kyanoviridae viruses carried a nif gene called nifU. The researchers used a computer program called DRAM-v to confirm that nifU was a fully functional gene and a real tool that viruses could use. 

Next, the team collected soil samples from a cowpea field in Nanjing, China, to test whether the cowpea roots influenced the abundance of viruses using nitrogen-fixing genes. They collected soil from the cowpea rhizospheres and soil away from the plants. They analyzed both viral and bacterial RNA in the soil samples to identify active genes, using a sequencing process called metatranscriptomics. They found that the viral nifU gene was actively expressed in the cowpea rhizosphere samples more than in the non-crop soil. Although about 96% of nifU genes were being expressed by bacteria, viruses contributed about 4%. 

The researchers then assessed whether rhizospheric viruses changed the amount of nitrogen being fixed in these soils. They set up small, enclosed containers of sterile soil and added either bacteria or a mixture of bacteria and viruses extracted from the cowpea rhizospheres. They found that soil with viruses had higher total nitrogen (36 milligrams per kilogram, or mg/kg) than soil without viruses (17 mg/kg). 

Finally, they adjusted the air in each container to have a different form of dinitrogen gas. Atoms of the same element that have different atomic masses are known as isotopes. Nitrogen has 2 stable isotopes: lighter nitrogen-14 and heavier nitrogen-15. Bacteria or viruses that fix nitrogen at natural isotope abundances will take up nitrogen-14. But scientists can track who in the population fixes nitrogen by adding nitrogen-15 to the air, a process called nitrogen-15 stable isotope probing. Nitrogen-fixers will incorporate the heavy nitrogen-15 into their biomass over time and increase their weight, allowing researchers to separate and identify them.

The team grew the bacteria and viruses with nitrogen-15 for 35 days, then used stable isotope probing to separate the nitrogen fixers. They detected viral nifU AMGs among the heavier biomass, confirming that rhizospheric viruses were fixing nitrogen. 

The team concluded that rhizospheric viruses and the viral nifU AMG can increase nitrogen fixation in cowpea soils. The team suggested that although viruses with nitrogen-fixing genes are rare, they can influence the soil nitrogen cycle. They recommended that future researchers further test the contribution of viral nifU genes to plant nitrogen fixation with controlled infection experiments.

The post Viruses help plants obtain nitrogen appeared first on Sciworthy.