Astronomers have found a third giant planet around Beta Pictoris, one of the best-known young planetary systems near Earth. The discovery is striking because the planet was not first picked out as a bright dot in a telescope image. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope found it in the spectrum of light coming from the system: […]

The post Webb Found a Hidden Planet in Beta Pictoris By Reading Its Atmosphere appeared first on Curiosmos.

NASA is currently targeting August 30 for the launch of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope from Florida. The date can move, as launch dates do, but the mission is close enough to the pad that its central idea deserves a clear look: Roman will survey huge stretches of the universe in one exposure, gathering […]

The post NASA Is Targeting an August Launch for Roman. Here’s What the Telescope Will See appeared first on Curiosmos.

NASA says a new four-spacecraft mission has completed an early test that could make one of the hardest parts of space-weather forecasting much more precise: estimating when a solar eruption will reach Earth. In a proof-of-concept exercise announced on August 4, NASA’s PUNCH mission used continuous images of a coronal mass ejection, or CME, to […]

The post NASA’s PUNCH Mission Predicted a Solar Storm Arrival Within 30 Minutes appeared first on Curiosmos.

For nearly three decades, 1998 SH2 looked like a fairly ordinary near-Earth asteroid. It was discovered in 1998, catalogued, and followed through a 4½-year orbit around the Sun. Then, during a close but safe pass by Earth in August 2025, its motion refused to match the path astronomers had calculated. The explanation, announced by NASA […]

The post A Near-Earth Object Called an Asteroid for Decades Turns Out to Be a Comet appeared first on Curiosmos.

A star being torn apart by a black hole is already an unusual sight. In this case, the black hole was in an even stranger place: more than 30,000 light-years from the center of the galaxy that appears to host it. NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory helped confirm the event after an automated survey spotted […]

The post A Black Hole Far from Its Galaxy’s Center Was Caught Tearing Apart a Star appeared first on Curiosmos.

Messier 87 is already famous for a photograph most people have seen: the Event Horizon Telescope image of the black hole at its center. Yet the black hole’s most dramatic feature is not the dark ring at the core. It is a jet of particles that extends thousands of light-years into space. Now, a team […]

The post Chandra Has Tracked the Jet of M87’s Black Hole as It Changes appeared first on Curiosmos.

On Wednesday, August 12, the Moon’s shadow will sweep across a narrow stretch of the Northern Hemisphere. Greenland, Iceland, northern Russia, the Atlantic, Spain and a small corner of Portugal lie in the path of totality. Much of Europe, northwestern Africa, Canada and parts of the United States will see a partial eclipse. It is […]

The post The August 12 Total Solar Eclipse: Where to See It—and Why NASA Is Flying Through Its Shadow appeared first on Curiosmos.

NASA and Roscosmos have agreed to continue exchanging seats between Soyuz and Crew Dragon spacecraft, but that agreement does not yet extend to Starliner.

The post NASA and Roscosmos continue seat barter agreement appeared first on SpaceNews.