Phys.org Astronomy and Space

• Earliest known barred spiral galaxy spotted just 2 billion years after Big Bang

  Research led by Daniel Ivanov, a physics and astronomy graduate student in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences at Pitt, uncovered a contender for one of the earliest observed spiral galaxies containing a stellar bar, a sometimes-striking visual feature that can play an important role in the evolution of a galaxy. Our galaxy, the Milky Way, also has a stellar bar.

• Asteroid impact simulation reveals the hidden strength of space rocks

  Physicists at the University of Oxford have contributed to a new study which has found that iron-rich asteroids can tolerate far more energy than previously thought without breaking apart—a breakthrough with direct implications for planetary defense strategies. The findings have been published in Nature Communications.

• NASA cancels spacewalk due to medical issue and may bring the crew back early

  NASA canceled its first spacewalk of the year and may bring its crew back early from the International Space Station due to an onboard medical issue.

• Study offers possible solution to a gravitational wave mystery

  Scientists at the University of Colorado Boulder may have solved a pressing mystery about the universe's gravitational wave background.

• Astrophysicists map how many ghost particles all the Milky Way's stars send towards Earth

  They're called ghost particles for a reason. They're everywhere—trillions of them constantly stream through everything: our bodies, our planet, even the entire cosmos. These so-called neutrinos are elementary particles that are invisible, incredibly light, and interact only rarely with other matter.

• Cosmic lens reveals hyperactive cradle of future galaxy cluster

  Galaxy clusters are formed by a dense packing of many galaxies, making them the most massive structures in the universe. Their progenitors, protoclusters, show these galaxies in their infancy, offering a window to study how they all formed. This early "settlement" of galaxies will eventually evolve into a sprawling metropolis by the present day.

• Repeating fast radio burst shows diverse activity and hints at magnetar origin

  Using the upgraded Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (uGMRT), Indian astronomers have performed multi-frequency observations of a repeating fast radio burst designated FRB 20201124A. Results of these observations shed more light on the activity and properties of this burst. The new findings were presented in a paper published December 31 on the arXiv preprint server.

• Solar physicists discover long-hidden source of gamma rays unleashed by flares

  Solar physicists say they have found a key source of intense gamma rays unleashed when Earth's nearest star produces its most violent eruptions.

• Plasma rings around M dwarf stars offer new clues to planetary habitability

  How does a star affect the makeup of its planets? And what does this mean for the habitability of distant worlds? Carnegie's Luke Bouma is exploring a new way to probe this critical question—using naturally occurring space weather stations that orbit at least 10% of M dwarf stars during their early lives. He is presenting his work at the 247th American Astronomical Society meeting.

• Lunar spacecraft exhaust could obscure clues to origins of life

  Over half of the exhaust methane from lunar spacecraft could end up contaminating areas of the moon that might otherwise yield clues about the origins of Earthly life, according to a recent study. The pollution could unfold rapidly regardless of a spacecraft's touchdown site; even for a landing at the South Pole, methane molecules may "hop" across the lunar surface to the North Pole in under two lunar days.

• Vera C. Rubin Observatory spots record-breaking asteroid in pre-survey observations

  Astronomers analyzing data from Vera C. Rubin Observatory have discovered the fastest-ever spinning asteroid with a diameter over half a kilometer—a feat uniquely enabled by Rubin. The study provides crucial information about asteroid composition and evolution, and demonstrates how Rubin is pushing the boundaries of what we can discover within our own solar system.

• Sandblasting on Mars: Camera reveals how prevailing winds shape elongated landforms in volcanic zone

  Martian winds can have quite an impact. ESA's Mars Express has spotted them whipping up sand grains and acting as a cosmic sandblaster, carving out intriguing grooves near Mars's equator.

• Inside the massive radio search of our newest interstellar guest

  It feels like every week now we're writing a new article about how 3I/ATLAS is not an alien technology. But it's worth reiterating, and perhaps taking a look at the methodology we used to prove that statement. A new paper, available in pre-print form on arXiv from Sofia Sheikh of the SETI Institute and her co-authors, details how one specific instrument—the Allen Telescope Array (ATA)—contributed to that effort.

• Supernova remnant video from NASA's Chandra is decades in making

  A new video shows the evolution of Kepler's Supernova Remnant using data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory captured over more than two and a half decades.

• The Milky Way's black hole is hiding an explosive past, evidence suggests

  Our galaxy's supermassive black hole is famous for being one of the dimmest in the universe. Evidence from a new space telescope shows that might not always have been the case.

• Stars that die off the beaten path

  Astronomers have created a detailed forecast of where they expect to observe future stellar explosions in a nearby galaxy, opening a new window into how exploding stars shape the cosmos. Focusing on M33, a spiral galaxy about 2.7 million light‑years away, this research combined new maps of cold atomic hydrogen gas from the U.S. National Science Foundation Very Large Array (NSF VLA) with millimeter‑wave observations of molecular gas from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA).

• Four baby planets show how super-Earths and sub-Neptunes form

  Thanks to the discovery of thousands of exoplanets to date, we know that planets bigger than Earth but smaller than Neptune orbit most stars. Oddly, our sun lacks such a planet. That's been a source of frustration for planetary scientists, who can't study them in as much detail as they'd like, leaving one big question: How did these planets form?

• A red moon, a blue moon, a supermoon and more: Your guide to the southern sky in 2026

  What will we see in the southern sky in 2026? A total eclipse of the moon (at a convenient time), a blue moon and a supermoon, the two brightest planets close together, and Jupiter disappearing behind the moon in the daytime.

• Dark matter and neutrinos may interact, challenging standard model of the universe

  Scientists are a step closer to solving one of the universe's biggest mysteries as new research finds evidence that two of its least understood components may be interacting, offering a rare window into the darkest recesses of the cosmos.

• The next great space race: Building data centers in orbit

  Google, SpaceX and Blue Origin are reportedly racing to develop technology for AI data centers in space, but it will likely be years before we see them rocketing into the sky, experts say.

• FAST J0139+4328 is a low-surface-brightness galaxy, deep imaging reveals

  Astronomers from Serbia and Russia have conducted deep optical observations of a cloud of neutral atomic hydrogen, designated FAST J0139+4328. Results of the observational campaign, published December 31 on the arXiv preprint server, provide evidence that FAST J0139+4328 is a low-surface-brightness galaxy.

• 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.