ESA News

October 5, 2025

Top Headlines

This New AI Can Spot Solar Storms Days Before They Strike

Sep. 17, 2025 — A new AI model from NYU Abu Dhabi predicts solar wind days in advance with far greater accuracy than existing methods. By analyzing ultraviolet solar images, it could help protect satellites, navigation systems, and power grids from disruptive space ...

Rapid Rocket Growth Raises Alarm over Earth’s Fragile Ozone Layer

Sep. 15, 2025 — The booming space industry has filled the skies with rockets and satellites, but this rapid expansion comes with a hidden danger: slowing the recovery of the ozone layer. Rocket launches and burning space debris release chlorine, soot, and metals ...

Hit the Wrong Spot and an Asteroid Returns on a Collision Course

Sep. 9, 2025 — Scientists caution that asteroid deflection must be precise, as striking the wrong spot risks sending it through a gravitational keyhole that sets up a future collision with Earth. Using lessons from NASA’s DART mission, researchers are developing ...

Google’s Quantum Computer Just Simulated the Hidden Strings of the Universe

Aug. 25, 2025 — Scientists using Google’s quantum processor have taken a major step toward unraveling the deepest mysteries of the universe. By simulating fundamental interactions described by gauge theories, the ...

A Record-breaking Antenna Just Deployed in Space. Here’s What It Will See

Aug. 18, 2025 — NASA and ISRO s NISAR satellite has just reached a major milestone: the successful deployment of its enormous 39-foot antenna reflector in orbit. Folded up like an umbrella during launch, the reflector is now fully extended and ready to support ...

NASA’s PREFIRE Satellites Reveal a Secret Glow Escaping from Our Planet

Aug. 18, 2025 — With its two tiny CubeSats, NASA’s PREFIRE mission is capturing invisible heat escaping from Earth, offering clues to how ice, clouds, and storms influence the climate system. The insights could lead to better weather forecasts and a deeper ...

UF Students Are Bending Metal with Lasers to Build Massive Structures in Orbit

July 2, 2025 — UF engineers, backed by DARPA and NASA, are perfecting laser-forming techniques that let metal sheets fold themselves into giant solar arrays, antennas, and even space-station parts right in ...

World’s Largest Camera Just Snapped the Universe in 3,200 Megapixels

June 27, 2025 — The LSST camera at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory has released its jaw-dropping first images, each capturing 45 times the area of the full moon in one shot. Over the next ten years, this cosmic giant will scan the southern sky in ultra-HD, helping ...

Particles Energized by Magnetic Reconnection in the Nascent Solar Wind

June 3, 2025 — Scientists have identified a new source of energetic particles near the Sun. These definitive observations were made by instruments aboard NASA's Parker Solar Probe, which detected the powerful phenomena as the spacecraft dipped in and out of the ...

Webb Reveals the Surprising Origin of Ultra-hot Exoplanet WASP-121b

June 2, 2025 — WASP-121b may have been born in a frozen zone and later migrated into its current inferno-like orbit. A surprise discovery of methane in the wrong place suggests intense vertical winds are reshaping how we understand planetary ...

Scientists Discover New Evidence of Intermediate-mass Black Holes

May 30, 2025 — A series of studies sheds light on the origins and characteristics of intermediate-mass black ...

Could 'Pausing' Cell Death Be the Final Frontier in Medicine on Earth and Beyond?

May 30, 2025 — The process of necrosis, a form of cell death, may represent one of the most promising ways to change the course of human aging, disease and even space travel, according to a new ...

Latest Headlines

updated 6:02am EDT

Rogue Planet Spotted Devouring 6 Billion Tons Every Second

Oct. 3, 2025 — Astronomers have uncovered a runaway feeding frenzy in a rogue planet drifting freely through space, devouring six billion tonnes of gas and dust every second. Located 620 light-years away in the ...

Saturn’s Icy Moon Enceladus Just Revealed Stunning New Clues to Life

Oct. 2, 2025 — Fresh analysis of Cassini data has revealed new complex organic molecules inside ice grains spewing from Enceladus. These discoveries strengthen the case that the moon’s underground ocean hosts ...

Scientists Just Found the Strongest Signs of Life on Mars Yet

Oct. 1, 2025 — Perseverance rover data shows Jezero Crater once held a calm lake, leaving behind mudstones rich in organic-linked minerals. The presence of iron-phosphate and iron-sulfide nodules suggests processes ...

Webb Spots First Hints of Atmosphere on a Potentially Habitable World

Oct. 1, 2025 — Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope are unraveling the mysteries of TRAPPIST-1e, an Earth-sized exoplanet 40 light years away that could harbor liquid water. Early data suggests hints of ...

Astronomers Stunned as Fiery Auroras Blaze on a Planet Without a Star

Sep. 29, 2025 — The James Webb Telescope has revealed fierce auroras, storms, and unchanging sand-like clouds on the rogue planet SIMP-0136. These insights are pushing the boundaries of our understanding of alien ...

Hubble Finds a Hybrid Galaxy With a Mysterious and Violent Past

Sep. 29, 2025 — Hubble has captured a striking new image of NGC 2775, a galaxy that defies easy classification. Blending features of spirals, ellipticals, and lenticulars, its puzzling structure may be the result of ...

Black Hole Discovery Confirms Einstein and Hawking Were Right

Sep. 29, 2025 — A fresh black hole merger detection has offered the clearest evidence yet for Einstein’s relativity and Hawking’s predictions. Scientists tracked the complete cosmic collision, confirming that ...

10 People Who Beat 8,000 Others to Become NASA Astronaut Candidates

Sep. 23, 2025 — NASA has chosen 10 new astronaut candidates who will train for missions to the Moon and Mars. Their selection represents a powerful blend of talent and ambition, fueling humanity’s next great leaps ...

NASA Just Confirmed Its 6,000th Alien World. Some Are Truly Bizarre

Sep. 21, 2025 — NASA has confirmed 6,000 exoplanets, marking a major milestone in humanity’s quest to understand other worlds. From gas giants hugging their stars to planets covered in lava or clouds of gemstones, ...

Strange Steam Worlds Could Rewrite the Search for Life

Sep. 15, 2025 — Scientists are unraveling the mysteries of "steam worlds"—exoplanets known as sub-Neptunes that are rich in water but orbit so close to their stars that their surfaces are shrouded in thick ...

Black Holes Just Proved Stephen Hawking Right With the Clearest Signal Yet

Sep. 12, 2025 — Gravitational-wave astronomy has exploded since 2015, capturing hundreds of black hole and neutron star collisions. With ever-clearer signals, researchers are testing Einstein’s relativity and ...

NASA’s Celestial “Accident” Unlocks Secrets of Jupiter and Saturn

Sep. 10, 2025 — Astronomers studying an oddball brown dwarf called “The Accident” have finally spotted silane, a long-predicted silicon molecule missing from Jupiter and Saturn’s skies. Its ancient, ...

Enceladus’s Plumes May Be Fooling Us About Life

Sep. 9, 2025 — Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus has long fascinated scientists with its spectacular water plumes, which NASA’s Cassini spacecraft once revealed to contain organic molecules. Many hoped these ...

Hubble Just Captured a Glittering Star Cluster Like No Other

Sep. 11, 2025 — Hubble’s latest image captures a glittering star cluster inside the Large Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf galaxy about 160,000 light-years from Earth. This region, known as N11, is one of the galaxy’s ...

The Sun’s Hidden Particle Engines Finally Exposed

Sep. 3, 2025 — Solar Orbiter has identified the Sun’s dual “engines” for superfast electrons: explosive flares and sweeping coronal mass ejections. By catching over 300 events close to their origin, the ...

A Weirdly Shaped Telescope Could Finally Find Earth 2. 0

Sep. 3, 2025 — Spotting Earth-like planets is nearly impossible with conventional telescopes, but researchers propose a bold fix: a rectangular design that can separate a planet’s faint glow from its blinding ...

Butterfly Nebula Reveals Sparkling Gems, Fiery Dust, and the Ingredients of Life

Aug. 28, 2025 — James Webb has revealed that the Butterfly Nebula hides a complex mix of gemstone-like crystals, fiery dust, and unexpected carbon molecules. The discovery may rewrite how we understand the chemistry ...

NASA’s SPHEREx Captures Comet 3I/ATLAS, a Visitor From Beyond the Solar System

Sep. 2, 2025 — NASA’s SPHEREx joined Webb and Hubble in studying interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, gathering data on its size, chemistry, and physical traits. While harmless to Earth, the comet provides scientists a ...

NASA’s Webb Space Telescope Reveals Secrets of Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS

Sep. 2, 2025 — Webb, Hubble, and SPHEREx are joining forces to study the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, revealing details about its structure and chemistry. The comet isn’t dangerous, but it’s offering scientists ...

Scientists Finally Pinpoint Jupiter’s Birth Using “molten Rock Raindrops”

Aug. 26, 2025 — Billions of years ago, Jupiter’s violent growth transformed the young solar system, smashing icy and rocky bodies together at incredible speeds. These cataclysmic collisions created tiny molten ...

Are We Accidentally Broadcasting Our Location to Alien Civilizations?

Aug. 23, 2025 — Earth may already be broadcasting its presence to alien civilizations without realizing it. A new study shows that our deep-space transmissions, especially those aimed at Mars and interplanetary ...

After 70 Years, the Sun’s Explosive Mystery Is Finally Solved

Aug. 20, 2025 — NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has directly observed magnetic reconnection in the Sun’s atmosphere for the first time, confirming decades-old theories about solar explosions. This discovery bridges ...

Hubble Spots a Nearly Invisible Galaxy Hiding in Plain Sight

Aug. 15, 2025 — Hubble has captured the faint beauty of NGC 45, a spiral galaxy in Cetus whose glowing pink star-forming clouds reveal hidden activity. It belongs to the rare class of low surface brightness ...

The Disappearing Planet Next Door Has Astronomers Intrigued

Aug. 14, 2025 — NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has detected strong evidence for a giant planet orbiting Alpha Centauri A, the nearest Sun-like star to Earth. Located just 4 light-years away, this possible ...

NASA’s Webb Telescope Just Found 300 Galaxies That Defy Explanation

Aug. 31, 2025 — Astronomers at the University of Missouri, using the James Webb Space Telescope, have uncovered 300 unusually bright cosmic objects that may be some of the earliest galaxies ever formed. By applying ...

Scientists May Have Finally Found the Universe’s Missing Sulfur

Aug. 19, 2025 — For decades, scientists have puzzled over why so little sulfur appears in space, even though it is one of the most common elements in the universe and vital to life. A new study suggests that the ...

Hubble Captures a Wild Star-Birthing Storm 160,000 Light-Years Away

Aug. 11, 2025 — Hubble’s latest portrait of the Tarantula Nebula reveals a turbulent star-making region far beyond the Milky Way. Located 160,000 light-years away in the Large Magellanic Cloud, this cosmic expanse ...

How NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer Was Lost Before Reaching the Moon

Aug. 11, 2025 — NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer, a mission designed to create high-resolution maps of water on the Moon, ended after losing contact with the spacecraft just one day after its February 26 launch. Despite ...

Giant Einstein Ring Reveals One of the Universe’s Biggest Black Holes

Aug. 10, 2025 — Astronomers have uncovered what may be the most massive black hole ever found, 36 billion times the mass of our Sun, hidden at the heart of the Cosmic Horseshoe galaxy. Located 5 billion light-years ...

This Star Survived Its Own Supernova and Shined Even Brighter

Aug. 4, 2025 — In a spectacular image captured by the Hubble Space Telescope, the spiral galaxy NGC 1309 glows with cosmic elegance and hides a strange ...