Phys.org Astronomy and Space

• New census of sun's neighbors reveals best potential real estate for life

  A new study led by a Georgia State University astronomy graduate student is a major step forward in the search for stars that could host Earth-like planets that may prove to be good havens for life to develop. Sebastián Carrazco-Gaxiola shared the results at the January 2026 meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Phoenix, Ariz.

• Webb reveals a sample of galaxies with unusual features, nicknamed 'Platypus'

  After combing through NASA's James Webb Space Telescope's archive of sweeping extragalactic cosmic fields, a small team of astronomers at the University of Missouri says they have identified a sample of galaxies that have a previously unseen combination of features.

• Webb finds early-universe analog's unexpected talent for making dust

  Using NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have spotted two rare kinds of dust in the dwarf galaxy Sextans A, one of the most chemically primitive galaxies near the Milky Way.

• Young galaxies grow up fast: Research reveals unexpected chemical maturity

  Astronomers have captured the most detailed look yet at faraway galaxies at the peak of their youth, an active time when the adolescent galaxies were fervently producing new stars.

• First sky map from NASA's SPHEREx observatory

  NASA's SPHEREx Observatory has mapped the entire sky in 102 infrared colors, as seen here in this image released on Dec. 18, 2025. This image features a selection of colors emitted primarily by stars (blue, green, and white), hot hydrogen gas (blue), and cosmic dust (red).

• Webb telescope sheds light on ancient 'monster stars' that may reveal the birth of black holes

  Using data from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers from the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA) have revealed the universe's most mysterious distant objects, known as little red dots, may actually be gigantic, short-lived stars.

• 'Platypus' objects in the early universe look like stars but behave like galaxies

  Scientists at the University of Missouri have identified a small group of unusual objects in the early universe. Using NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), Haojing Yan and his team at Mizzou's College of Arts and Science spotted these strange objects, which seem like one galactic thing but have the unmistakable fingerprints of something else entirely.

• Rare 'firework morphology' of supernova remnant Pa 30 may be due to white dwarf wind

  In 1181 AD, a bright "guest star" was observed to linger in the sky for around six months. Nearly 850 years later, the likely remnants of this event were rediscovered and tentatively linked to the 1181 supernova and dubbed supernova remnant (SNR) Pa 30. Yet, this supernova remnant was unique in appearance and researchers have struggled to understand why.

• Jupiter's moon Europa lacks the undersea activity needed to support life, study suggests

  The giant planet Jupiter has nearly 100 known moons, yet none have captured the interest and imagination of astronomers and space scientists quite like Europa, an ice-shrouded world that is thought to possess a vast ocean of liquid salt water. For decades, scientists have wondered whether that ocean could harbor the right conditions for life, placing Europa near the top of the list of solar system bodies to explore.

• Black hole shreds distant 'super sun,' unleashing a spectacular event known as the Whippet

  A black hole has shredded a massive star like it was "preparing a snack for lunch," according to a team of scientists at the American Astronomical Society's annual meeting (5–8 January).

• ALMA devours cosmic 'hamburger,' reveals potential for giant planet formation

  Have you ever found something unexpected in your hamburger? Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) were surprised to discover the very earliest phases of giant planet formation between the dense layers of gas and dust in the "Gomez's Hamburger" system, referred to as GoHam. This research, currently in preparation for publication, was presented at a press conference at the American Astronomical Society's annual meeting (AAS 2026), held January 4–8 in Phoenix.

• To understand exoplanet habitability, we need a better understanding of stellar flaring

  One of the main questions in exoplanet science concerns M dwarfs (red dwarfs) and the habitability of exoplanets that orbit them. These stars are known for their prolific and energetic flaring, and that's a problem. M dwarfs are so small that their habitable zones are in tight proximity to them, putting any potentially habitable planets in the direct line of fire of all this dangerous flaring.

• Stars and planets are linked together, and dust is the key to understanding how

  Stars and planets are inextricably linked. They form together and stars shape the fate of planets. Stars create the dusty protoplanetary disks that give birth to planets of all kinds. And when a star dies, planets are either blown apart, swallowed, or doomed to spend an eternity in cold and darkness.

• Astronomers build molecular cloud atlas for nearby Andromeda galaxy

  Astronomers from Cardiff University, UK, have employed the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy (CARMA) to explore the nearby Andromeda galaxy. Results of the observational campaign, published December 27 on the pre-print server arXiv, yield important insights into the molecular cloud system of this galaxy.

• Blazar Ton 599's complex variability investigated by long-term observations

  Using the Whole Earth Blazar Telescope (WEBT), an international team of astronomers have performed long-term photometric observations of a luminous blazar known as Ton 599. Results of the observations, published in the Astronomy & Astrophysics journal, shed more light on the optical variability of this object.

• Thin ice may have protected lake water on frozen Mars

  Small lakes on ancient Mars may have remained liquid for decades, even with average air temperatures well below freezing.

• Betelgeuse's elusive companion star: Siwarha's 'wake' detected

  Using new observations from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based observatories, astronomers have tracked the influence of a recently discovered companion star, Siwarha, on the gas around Betelgeuse. The research, by scientists at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA), reveals a trail of dense gas swirling through Betelgeuse's vast, extended atmosphere, shedding light on why the giant star's brightness and atmosphere have changed in strange and unusual ways.

• Active solar region observed for record 94 days

  In May 2024, the strongest solar storm in twenty years raged. An international team led by ETH Zurich observed it. Their findings are now helping to improve space weather forecasts.

• Hubble examines Cloud-9, first of new type of object

  A team using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has uncovered a new type of astronomical object—a starless, gas-rich, dark-matter cloud that is considered a "relic" or remnant of early galaxy formation. Nicknamed "Cloud-9," this is the first confirmed detection of such an object in the universe. The finding, published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, furthers the understanding of galaxy formation, the early universe, and the nature of dark matter itself.

• Astronomers reveal hidden lives of the early universe's ultramassive galaxies

  An international team of astronomers has uncovered multiple evolutionary paths for the universe's most massive galaxies. Observations of ultramassive galaxies, each containing more than 100 billion stars, show that less than 2 billion years after the Big Bang, some had already stopped forming stars and lost their dust, while others continued forming stars hidden behind thick dust clouds.

• Ultramassive black holes and their galaxies: A matter of scale

  Nearly every galaxy has a supermassive black hole in its core. Whether the black hole forms first and then the galaxy around it—or the other way around—is still a matter of some debate, but we know the evolution of both are deeply connected. We can use that relationship to study the black holes.

• XRISM gives sharpest-ever glimpse at growth of a rapidly-spinning black hole

  Astronomers have obtained the sharpest-ever X-ray spectrum of an iconic active galaxy, providing the most accurate, precise view ever obtained of the extreme relativistic effects imprinted onto the spacetime around a supermassive black hole.

• The ambitious plan to spot habitable moons around giant planets

  So far, humanity has yet to find its first "exomoon"—a moon orbiting a planet outside of the solar system. But that hasn't been for lack of trying. According to a new paper by Thomas Winterhalder of the European Southern Observatory and his co-authors, which is available on the arXiv preprint server, the reason isn't because those moons don't exist, but simply because we lack the technology to detect them. They propose a new "kilometric baseline interferometer" that can detect moons as small as Earth up to 200 parsecs (652 light years) away.

• A neighboring vista of stellar birth

  This ESA/Hubble picture highlights another view of a distant stellar birthplace. Captured in a parallel field to a recently released image, this scene reveals a neighboring region of the N159 star-forming complex in the Large Magellanic Cloud, approximately 160,000 light-years away.

• Earliest, hottest galaxy cluster gas on record challenges cosmological models

  An international team of astronomers led by Canadian researchers has found something the universe wasn't supposed to have: a galaxy cluster blazing with hot gas just 1.4 billion years after the Big Bang, far earlier and hotter than theory predicts.

• Why astronomy needs a giant in the Canary Islands

  Size matters when it comes to telescopes. The bigger they are, the farther they can see. Prioritizing constructing large ones is therefore high on the priority list for many observational organizations. But doing so comes at a cost, and not just in terms of money. Finding a suitable site can be a challenge, and that has been particularly true for the effort to build a 30-meter telescope in the Northern Hemisphere.

• Solar flares and stellar flares hit differently

  The sun is not only our closest stellar neighbor, it's also the star we understand the most. As we've observed it over the centuries, we've learned that the sun is not an immortal constant. It goes through active and quiet cycles, it has become warmer over geologic time scales, and it occasionally batters Earth with solar flares. We've generally thought that other main sequence stars behave in much the same way, but when it comes to solar flares, that isn't always true.

• Galactic globular cluster loses stars through tidal stripping, observations reveal

  Using the Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT), astronomers have observed a nearby galactic globular cluster known as NGC 6569. Results of the observational campaign, published December 22 on the arXiv preprint server, indicate that this globular cluster is actively losing stars through tidal stripping.

• Astronomers measure both mass and distance of a rogue planet for the first time

  While most planets that we are familiar with stick relatively close to their host star in a predictable orbit, some planets seem to have been knocked out of their orbits, floating through space free of any particular gravitational attachments. Astronomers refer to these lonely planets as "free-floating" or "rogue" planets.

• The interstellar comet that's spilling its secrets

  When 3I/ATLAS swept past the sun in late October 2025, it became only the third confirmed visitor from interstellar space ever detected. Unlike the mysterious 'Oumuamua, which revealed almost nothing about itself during its brief flyby in 2017, or even 2I/Borisov which appeared in 2019, this latest interstellar traveler arrived with perfect timing for detailed study.