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Received — 25 July 2026 ⏭

NASA’s ESCAPADE Snaps Family Portrait of Earth, Moon

✇NASA Science
By: Desiree Apodaca
24 July 2026 at 18:47

On July 3, one of NASA’s two Mars-destined ESCAPADE (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers) spacecraft captured photos of Earth and the Moon in visible and thermal infrared light. At the time, the spacecraft was 363,250 miles (584,600 kilometers) from Earth and 115,600 miles (186,100 kilometers) from the Moon, making the Moon appear relatively large.

Taken with the Sun only partly illuminating Earth and the Moon, the visible light image shows the two bodies as crescents, with only around 8% of each face sunlit. Yet in the thermal infrared image, the shadowed hemisphere of Earth is illuminated by its own heat from both the atmosphere and surface, glowing at minus 10 to minus 44 degrees Fahrenheit (250 to 280 kelvins). Without the insulating blankets of oceans and atmospheres, the Moon’s far side remains at a much cooler minus 280 degrees Fahrenheit (100 kelvins).

visible light
thermal infrared light
A black background with a thin white crescent on the left representing the Earth, and a thin off-white crescent on the right represents the Moon.
Caption: In these images from NASA’s ESCAPADE mission, Earth (left) and Moon (right) can be seen. The image to the left of the slider shows visible light reflected by the Sun while the infrared image to the right shows the bodies’ emitted energy. White rings have been added in the thermal image to show the actual size of Earth and the Moon. Credit: NASA/UCB-SSL/NAU-Radiant/Lucint
NASA/UCB-SSL/NAU-Radiant/Lucint
On a pitch black background sits a bright circle on the left filled with yellow, orange, and red and surrounded by a faint halo of purple. On the right, is a circle outlined with a white line, filled with black and a thin purple crescent on the right side of the circle.
In these images from NASA’s ESCAPADE mission, Earth (left) and Moon (right) can be seen. The image to the left of the slider shows visible light reflected by the Sun while the infrared image to the right shows the bodies’ emitted energy. White rings have been added in the thermal image to show the actual size of Earth and the Moon.
NASA/UCB-SSL/NAU-Radiant/Lucint
A black background with a thin white crescent on the left representing the Earth, and a thin off-white crescent on the right represents the Moon.
Caption: In these images from NASA’s ESCAPADE mission, Earth (left) and Moon (right) can be seen. The image to the left of the slider shows visible light reflected by the Sun while the infrared image to the right shows the bodies’ emitted energy. White rings have been added in the thermal image to show the actual size of Earth and the Moon. Credit: NASA/UCB-SSL/NAU-Radiant/Lucint
NASA/UCB-SSL/NAU-Radiant/Lucint
On a pitch black background sits a bright circle on the left filled with yellow, orange, and red and surrounded by a faint halo of purple. On the right, is a circle outlined with a white line, filled with black and a thin purple crescent on the right side of the circle.
In these images from NASA’s ESCAPADE mission, Earth (left) and Moon (right) can be seen. The image to the left of the slider shows visible light reflected by the Sun while the infrared image to the right shows the bodies’ emitted energy. White rings have been added in the thermal image to show the actual size of Earth and the Moon.
NASA/UCB-SSL/NAU-Radiant/Lucint
visible light
thermal infrared light

ESCAPADE Photos of Earth and Moon

July 3, 2026

In these images from NASA’s ESCAPADE mission, Earth (left) and Moon (right) can be seen. The image to the left of the slider shows visible light reflected by the Sun while the infrared image to the right shows the bodies’ emitted energy. White rings have been added in the thermal image to show the actual size of Earth and the Moon. Credit: NASA/UCB-SSL/NAU-Radiant/Lucint

The ESCAPADE mission used its Visible and Infrared Observation System cameras, provided by Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, to capture the images, which are more than just road trip photo album snaps.

“We are thrilled that ESCAPADE was able to accommodate these excellent space-qualified cameras which will search for visible Martian aurora and investigate thermal properties of the Martian surface and atmosphere,” said Rob Lillis, the mission’s principal investigator at the University of California, Berkeley. “Since Earth and the Moon are well-known targets, imaging them provides an important calibration check for ESCAPADE’s cameras.”

The ESCAPADE spacecraft, which were built by Rocket Lab, are currently in a “loiter” orbit around Lagrange point 2, a location in space about a million miles from Earth. In November 2026, the spacecraft will fly by Earth to use the planet’s gravity to slingshot their way to Mars. When the spacecraft arrive in September 2027, they will study how a million-mile-per-hour stream of material flowing from the Sun, known as solar wind, interacts with the Martian environment and how that drives atmospheric loss at the Red Planet.

The ESCAPADE mission is funded by NASA’s Heliophysics Division and is part of the NASA Small Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration program. The UC Berkeley’s Space Sciences Laboratory leads the mission with key partners Rocket Lab; NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland; Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University; Advanced Space; and Blue Origin.

By Mara Johnson-Groh
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

The post NASA’s ESCAPADE Snaps Family Portrait of Earth, Moon appeared first on NASA Science.

NASA’s ESCAPADE Snaps Family Portrait of Earth, Moon

✇NASA
24 July 2026 at 18:47

On July 3, one of NASA’s two Mars-destined ESCAPADE (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers) spacecraft captured photos of Earth and the Moon in visible and thermal infrared light. At the time, the spacecraft was 363,250 miles (584,600 kilometers) from Earth and 115,600 miles (186,100 kilometers) from the Moon, making the Moon appear relatively large.

Taken with the Sun only partly illuminating Earth and the Moon, the visible light image shows the two bodies as crescents, with only around 8% of each face sunlit. Yet in the thermal infrared image, the shadowed hemisphere of Earth is illuminated by its own heat from both the atmosphere and surface, glowing at minus 10 to minus 44 degrees Fahrenheit (250 to 280 kelvins). Without the insulating blankets of oceans and atmospheres, the Moon’s far side remains at a much cooler minus 280 degrees Fahrenheit (100 kelvins).




visible light
thermal infrared light

A black background with a thin white crescent on the left representing the Earth, and a thin off-white crescent on the right represents the Moon.
Caption: In these images from NASA’s ESCAPADE mission, Earth (left) and Moon (right) can be seen. The image to the left of the slider shows visible light reflected by the Sun while the infrared image to the right shows the bodies’ emitted energy. White rings have been added in the thermal image to show the actual size of Earth and the Moon. Credit: NASA/UCB-SSL/NAU-Radiant/Lucint
NASA/UCB-SSL/NAU-Radiant/Lucint

On a pitch black background sits a bright circle on the left filled with yellow, orange, and red and surrounded by a faint halo of purple. On the right, is a circle outlined with a white line, filled with black and a thin purple crescent on the right side of the circle.
In these images from NASA’s ESCAPADE mission, Earth (left) and Moon (right) can be seen. The image to the left of the slider shows visible light reflected by the Sun while the infrared image to the right shows the bodies’ emitted energy. White rings have been added in the thermal image to show the actual size of Earth and the Moon.
NASA/UCB-SSL/NAU-Radiant/Lucint

A black background with a thin white crescent on the left representing the Earth, and a thin off-white crescent on the right represents the Moon.
Caption: In these images from NASA’s ESCAPADE mission, Earth (left) and Moon (right) can be seen. The image to the left of the slider shows visible light reflected by the Sun while the infrared image to the right shows the bodies’ emitted energy. White rings have been added in the thermal image to show the actual size of Earth and the Moon. Credit: NASA/UCB-SSL/NAU-Radiant/Lucint
NASA/UCB-SSL/NAU-Radiant/Lucint
On a pitch black background sits a bright circle on the left filled with yellow, orange, and red and surrounded by a faint halo of purple. On the right, is a circle outlined with a white line, filled with black and a thin purple crescent on the right side of the circle.
In these images from NASA’s ESCAPADE mission, Earth (left) and Moon (right) can be seen. The image to the left of the slider shows visible light reflected by the Sun while the infrared image to the right shows the bodies’ emitted energy. White rings have been added in the thermal image to show the actual size of Earth and the Moon.
NASA/UCB-SSL/NAU-Radiant/Lucint

visible light

thermal infrared light

ESCAPADE Photos of Earth and Moon

July 3, 2026


In these images from NASA’s ESCAPADE mission, Earth (left) and Moon (right) can be seen. The image to the left of the slider shows visible light reflected by the Sun while the infrared image to the right shows the bodies’ emitted energy. White rings have been added in the thermal image to show the actual size of Earth and the Moon. Credit: NASA/UCB-SSL/NAU-Radiant/Lucint

The ESCAPADE mission used its Visible and Infrared Observation System cameras, provided by Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, to capture the images, which are more than just road trip photo album snaps.

“We are thrilled that ESCAPADE was able to accommodate these excellent space-qualified cameras which will search for visible Martian aurora and investigate thermal properties of the Martian surface and atmosphere,” said Rob Lillis, the mission’s principal investigator at the University of California, Berkeley. “Since Earth and the Moon are well-known targets, imaging them provides an important calibration check for ESCAPADE’s cameras.”

The ESCAPADE spacecraft, which were built by Rocket Lab, are currently in a “loiter” orbit around Lagrange point 2, a location in space about a million miles from Earth. In November 2026, the spacecraft will fly by Earth to use the planet’s gravity to slingshot their way to Mars. When the spacecraft arrive in September 2027, they will study how a million-mile-per-hour stream of material flowing from the Sun, known as solar wind, interacts with the Martian environment and how that drives atmospheric loss at the Red Planet.

The ESCAPADE mission is funded by NASA’s Heliophysics Division and is part of the NASA Small Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration program. The UC Berkeley’s Space Sciences Laboratory leads the mission with key partners Rocket Lab; NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland; Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University; Advanced Space; and Blue Origin.

By Mara Johnson-Groh
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

Scientists may have finally solved the mystery of the sun's missing silver

✇Space
23 July 2026 at 21:00

For several years now, astronomers who study the sun have faced a little mystery — our star seemed to hold too little silver. Whenever scientists examined the sun's outer layers, they've seen significantly less silver than they've expected to find.

Where, then, did the missing silver go?

As it turns out, this mystery may finally be solved. Newly published research suggests that the sun's missing silver may have been hiding in plain sight all along.

At first, the real mystery might seem to be why you'd seek silver in the sun at all. After all, 98.5% of the sun's mass is made from lightweight hydrogen and helium. Silver is just a tiny fraction of the remaining 1.5%, which also includes traces of other heavy elements like iron and copper.

These trace elements can illuminate the history of the cosmos. Silver is thought to form when dying stars violently explode in supernovas. When astronomers find silver in the sun and other stars, they can retrace the silver's origins and how stars have evolved over the eons.

"By studying the light of stars of different types and ages, we hope to understand where silver is formed in the universe, and how it has been distributed throughout the Milky Way over time," says Sema Caliskan, the lead author of the research and now a postdoc at the University of Liège in Belgium, in a statement.

Silver is particularly interesting because it's also found in utterly ancient meteorites called CI chondrites. These meteorites formed from the same primordial matter that created the sun, 4.6 billion years ago. As a result, when scientists break into CI chondrites that have fallen to Earth, they expect to find silver levels that match those they see in the sun.

A rainbow assortment of spectral lines. On the left, where it's dark, there are two vertical white lines.

(Image credit: Anish Amarsi/Uppsala University)

Astronomers can measure the latter from afar by looking at sunlight's spectral lines. As light streams out from the sun's heart, it crashes into the atoms of our star's outer layers, which absorb the light at certain wavelengths. Look at a spectrum of sunlight, and you'll see dark lines where light has been absorbed. Atoms of different elements absorb different wavelengths, so each element leaves a distinct fingerprint.

Scientists can pore over these spectral fingerprints to reconstruct what elements created them and in what quantities. Therein lies the mystery: The sun seemed to contain much less silver than CI chondrites would indicate. This missing silver is a source for confusion in the sun's history.

Caliskan and her colleagues wondered if astronomers were missing something. They could not visit the sun in person, but they could still find where the silver might be hidden by simulating the sun's atoms on a computer. If they could create a high-silver model that still spawned the low-silver spectral lines, that model could be a good guess for the silver's whereabouts.

Other scientists had tried this before to limited success, but their simulations had been relatively simple. As light strikes an atom, the light has all sorts of intricate effects on the atom's innards. These effects can alter how the atom absorbs the light and, therefore, change how astronomers see that light.

Past models hadn't accounted for many of these tricky "non-equilibrium effects", because simulating them is far easier said than done. They're messy and complex and they vary a great deal from atom to atom.

In fact, no known scientists had ever tried to simulate a silver atom with non-equilibrium effects before Caliskan and her fellow investigators took on the challenge. They tried with their best guesses and the power of the Tetralith supercomputer in Linköping, Sweden.

Indeed, these non-equilibrium effects seem to explain the silver mystery. Based on their model, Caliskan and colleagues calculated that the sun holds 55% more silver than astronomers have measured.

This isn't a perfect match for the CI chondrites, but it's close enough that investigators can rule out any extraordinary cause. Instead, the missing silver may have been right there, in the sun all along, simply occluded from astronomers' view by tricks of physics. Next, Caliskan and colleagues plan to use this method to simulate other types of stars.

They published their work in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics in July 2026.

The Sun’s twin star may have tilted the planets’ orbits

✇Sciworthy
By: Ben Pauley
23 July 2026 at 12:00

Around 4.6 billion years ago, an immense cloud of gas and dust in space collapsed in on itself. As it collapsed, gravity pulled most of the material toward several small points, one of which would eventually become our Sun. The other points formed other stars in what scientists call an open cluster. 

During this early stage of the Sun’s life, it was surrounded by a swirling disk of leftover material aligned with its equator, known as a protoplanetary disk. Eventually, this disk condensed to form the planets that make up our solar system. This process normally results in a system with a star at its center, and the planets orbiting the plane of the star’s equator. 

However, scientists have found that this scenario doesn’t quite hold for our solar system. The planets in our solar system orbit the Sun in a single plane offset from the Sun’s equator by approximately 6°. The fact that the planets are in the same orbital plane suggests that the protoplanetary disk model of solar system formation is correct, since the odds of the Sun capturing 8 rogue planets in this arrangement are astronomically low. So, what threw the planets in our solar system off-kilter?

The plane in which the solar system’s planets orbit the Sun is offset from the Sun’s equator by approximately 6°. Li simulated how the solar system tilted based on its 4 largest planets, from left to right: Neptune, Saturn, Jupiter, and Uranus.

The plane in which the solar system’s planets orbit the Sun is offset from the Sun’s equator by approximately 6°. Li simulated how the solar system tilted based on its 4 largest planets, from left to right: Neptune, Saturn, Jupiter, and Uranus. Illustration by Andrew Bizal.

To determine what caused the solar system to tilt, Daohai Li at Queen Mary University of London recently used the computer program NBODY6++ to model different versions of the open cluster from which the Sun came. In these simulations, he varied the number of stars in the cluster, from 500 to 2,000 to 8,000. He also varied the radius of the cluster, from 0.25 to 1 to 4 parsecs (8 to 30 to 100 trillion kilometers or 5 to 20 to 70 trillion miles). Finally, he varied the percentage of stars with a binary companion from 10% to 50% to 90%. Li assigned each star a randomly generated initial mass, starting position, and velocity, and simulated their interactions for 400 million years.

First, Li examined the simulations to identify stars with masses approximately equal to the Sun’s. From this group of solar-massed stars, Li found ones that left the cluster after 400 million years as a single star, after either forming alone or having lost a former companion star. He proposed that these stars were the most similar to the Sun and could thus host a simulated solar system.

Li then simulated the planets and their orbits as they would have formed on these potential host stars. To simplify this process, Li only simulated the 4 giant planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, which dominate planetary behavior in our solar system. He modeled these solar systems independently for 200 million years to ensure they would remain intact and used those that did for statistical analysis of the solar system’s past.

Overall, Li discovered 2 scenarios that could explain the solar system’s tilt. In the first, the primordial solar system was jostled by many distant neighboring stars in its cluster. This jostling tilts the planets’ orbits, but it does so randomly. Therefore, this scenario would make it unlikely for the planets to remain in the same orbital plane. It would also cause them to orbit the Sun faster and more chaotically than in our solar system.

In the second scenario, the Sun had a temporary companion star that it either formed with or briefly encountered before separating. When this occurred, the simulated planets’ orbits all tilted together. Stars that formed with a binary companion had a 10% chance of tilting their planets’ orbits by 6° or more, while stars that formed alone had a less than 0.1% chance. 

Li concluded that the solar system could have tilted as a result of interactions between the Sun and a temporary companion star within its parent cluster. However, he acknowledged that the model strongly depends on how closely a star passes by the Sun, since the closer a star passes, the more it disturbs the solar system. Despite this uncertainty, it’s possible that somewhere in space is the Sun’s twin or former neighbor that we haven’t seen in eons, and that’s what made our solar system crooked!

The post The Sun’s twin star may have tilted the planets’ orbits appeared first on Sciworthy.

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