• Dark matter may come in multiple forms, new model suggests
    11 April 2026
    Astronomers may not need to see the same dark matter signal everywhere in the Universe to confirm its existence. A new theoretical study suggests that dark matter could consist of more than one type of particle, potentially resolving a long-standing observational puzzle.
  • Witness to history: Artemis II, lunar exploration and hope
    02 April 2026
    ORLANDO, FLORIDA. I’m a space-crazed Canadian who has somehow seen 11 launches across four different rockets since 2009. I’ve witnessed missions with astronauts, interplanetary spacecraft and (inevitably) Starlink, across two continents. But Artemis II took me by surprise yesterday (April 1). The Space Launch System was so bright it was almost painful to look at. The arc of its plume across the sky made noise and noise and NOISE minutes after launch. And the grizzled photographers surrounding me on the press-site lawn at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida were screaming: “TO THE MOON!” And cheering. And yelling the phrase again. It’s literally 16 hours after launch as I type this. I’m in Orlando airport trying to look relaxed, as much as one can on three cups of coffee and five hours of sleep. It feels ridiculous thinking about suitcases and flight arrangements. I’ve been asking myself, “What is normal? Can this be normal?” Fellow Canadian Jeremy Hansen is on his way to the Moon, with NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch. I’ve been wanting to see any Moon mission with astronauts for 30 years; now there’s someone up there from my own country, and while
  • Artificial Intelligence uncovers more than 100 new worlds in NASA data
    25 March 2026
    A machine learning pipeline developed in the UK has validated over 100 exoplanets in NASA’s TESS data, revealing rare planetary systems and sharpening estimates of how common close orbiting worlds really are.
  • XRISM solves gamma-Cas’s 50-year X-ray mystery
    24 March 2026
    Strange X-rays from the naked eye star gamma-Cas have been confirmed to come from matter falling onto a hidden white dwarf companion, resolving a fifty-year astronomical mystery.
  • Molten lava world points to new class of planet
    16 March 2026
    Observations of the nearby exoplanet L 98-59 d suggest it belongs to a previously unrecognised class of planet that features vast magma oceans and sulphur-rich atmospheres. The discovery hints that many more exotic planetary types may be waiting to be found.
  • How to see the 3 March total lunar eclipse
    25 February 2026
    A total lunar eclipse is centred on the mid-Pacific 3 March, visible to observers in New Zealand and sweeping eastern Australia and western USA, with a large partial eclipse extending further east and west.

Current visual surface of the Sun by SDO - Courtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams.