A dedicated mid-infrared solar telescope in China has followed the magnetic field beneath an X1.5 flare and seen it apparently weaken as the flare peaked. The cause may be a change in viewing height rather than in the field itself.
NASA has published the flight plan for Artemis III, a 14-day mission in low Earth orbit in 2027. Four astronauts will dock with test versions of both commercial Moon landers before anyone tries to land.
As the black hole binary MAXI J0637-430 faded after its 2019 outburst, the outer edge of its disc became more strongly lit. A new study argues the inner disc had been shading it.
Atmospheric drag has ended the Swift Observatory’s science mission after almost 22 years of chasing gamma-ray bursts. A commercial rescue failed, and the rapid response role it filled now needs a new owner.
A burst seen by NASA’s Swift in 2016 opened with a flash typical of colliding neutron stars, then four minutes later produced one typical of a collapsing star. A new Nature Astronomy study argues that should not happen.
The Psyche spacecraft has settled into almost nonstop electric thrust after its Mars flyby. A push about as heavy as an AA battery will carry it to a metal-rich asteroid by 2029.
Webb has found methane in interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS carrying more deuterium than any methane in the Solar System, pointing to ice that formed in a cold, ancient cloud.
A new study matches the stars of Van Gogh’s The Starry Night to the Hyades cluster and dates the painted sky to a dawn around 22 July 1889, not June.
A Hubble study of six nearby starburst galaxies finds that ionising light escapes before supernova winds form, and that the winds then trap it. The result challenges a popular account of how the early Universe became transparent.
X-ray and radio observations of the galaxy 3C 120 suggest its black hole’s thin disc stops short, leaving a hot inner flow where the powerful jet is launched.
