The robotic spacecraft launched to rescue NASA’s aging Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory disintegrated over Earth’s atmosphere on Friday, September 27, 2026, less than three months after its initial deployment. Katalyst Space Technologies confirmed the destruction of its three-armed spacecraft, named Link, bringing the $30-million salvage mission to a premature close. The observatory itself is now … Read more
Black holes of all sizes launch radio jets at the exact same critical threshold in their feeding cycle, according to a study published in Nature Astronomy by an international team co-led by Andrew Mummery of the Institute for Advanced Study and Adelle Goodwin of Curtin University. The research demonstrates that stellar-mass objects and supermassive giants … Read more
Gravitational wave detectors could soon test Einstein’s general relativity by searching for hidden matter around spinning black holes, according to a theoretical study published in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics. For nearly sixty years, the no-hair theorem has dictated that black holes are defined entirely by their mass and spin. Researchers at Nagoya … Read more
The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument project has completed the largest map of the universe ever created, compiling 5.6 trillion pixels of data across 13 years of observations to chart roughly 75 percent of the night sky, according to findings detailed by project researchers. Mapping Four Billion Celestial Objects in the Cosmos The newly released map … Read more
The AGN Channel: A New Theory for Planet and Star Formation Astronomers have identified a novel environment for celestial formation: the dust-rich tori surrounding active galactic nuclei (AGN). According to research published in the Astrophysical Journal, these energetic cores—powered by feeding supermassive black holes—may host millions of planetary-mass objects. A team from New Mexico State … Read more
Astronomers have identified the faintest shock breakout flash ever tied to a supernova of this type, designated EP260321a, which occurred 515 million light-years away. Detected by the Einstein Probe on March 21, 2026, the event challenges existing models of stellar death by appearing to bridge the gap between ordinary supernovae and the universe’s most energetic … Read more
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has captured a high-resolution image of Centaurus A, a galaxy located 11 million light-years from Earth. The observation, marking the fourth anniversary of the telescope’s mission, reveals new details of a galactic merger that occurred 2 billion years ago, including the mechanics of its supermassive black hole and ongoing … Read more
The Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s Decade-Long Mission to Map the Southern Sky The Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile has launched a 10-year project to map the southern night sky using the world’s largest digital camera, according to Phil Marshall, Deputy Director of Operations at the NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory. The camera, perched atop … Read more
Astronomers have identified a new millisecond pulsar, designated PSR J0125−5854, using the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA). The pulsar, which exhibits a rotation period of 24.6 milliseconds, is located between 1,600 and 3,200 light-years from Earth and is believed to exist within a binary system alongside a white dwarf star. What is a millisecond pulsar? Pulsars … Read more
How Public Figures Like Jessica Cediel Are Shaping Political Discourse in Latin America—and What It Means for Digital Diplomacy Colombia’s presidential race is becoming a battleground for celebrity influence, with viral moments like Jessica Cediel’s endorsement of Abelardo de la Espriella sparking debates over public figures’ role in politics—and the consequences when they push back … Read more