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Space & Planetary

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 13-Nov-2026 04:16 ET (13-Nov-2026 09:16 GMT/UTC)

Listening to Sun's 'heart' hints our star could be changing

Royal Astronomical Society
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The Sun's internal 'biorhythm' – which plays a critical role in the space weather we experience on Earth – has mysteriously changed over the past 40 years, a new study suggests.

Listening to tiny sound waves inside our star's 'heart' led researchers to discover that it may be entering "a different mode of behaviour". They now need to explore what this means.

The research, published today in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, is of particular significance to space weather.

Journal: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

Weighing newborn planets using their dusty fingerprints

University of Warwick
Peer-Reviewed Publication

University of Warwick astronomers have found a new way to estimate the masses of planets hidden inside the dusty disks surrounding young stars.

Journal: The Astrophysical Journal

Two orogenies, one craton: New evidence from the Yinshan Block on Earth's early supercontinent cycles

Peking University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Peking University, June 8, 2026: A new study published in Precambrian Research by Jawad Shabbir, a PhD student at Peking University's School of Earth and Space Sciences under Professor Song Shuguang, addresses a critical yet poorly understood period in Earth's history. The Archean-Proterozoic transition witnessed global tectonic evolution, cratonization, glaciation, banded iron formations, and the Great Oxygenation Event—events linked to supercontinent formation. Focusing on the Yinshan Block within the North China Craton (NCC), the research challenges previous ambiguities by revealing two complete orogenic cycles driven by tectonic processes similar to modern Earth.

Listening to the Sun reveals previously hidden changes to solar cycle

University of Birmingham
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Tiny sound waves inside the Sun unmask evidence of systematic changes in the solar activity cycle over the last 40 years – with implications for predicting space weather.

Journal: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

Taking dark energy out of the equation

University of California - Davis
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Almost 30 years ago, dark energy was proposed as the force responsible for the accelerating expansion of the universe. But for UC Davis mathematicians, the math didn't add up. Their new study challenges the standard cosmological model of the universe.

Funder: Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, American Institute of Mathematics

Omnidirectional, sea-urchin-like robot defies traditional designs

Duke University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Duke University roboticists have introduced a design parameter called dynamic isotropy that measures how uniformly a robot can act in any dimension on space. Using this idea, they have built Argus: a sea anemone-like robot with no front, no back and 20 modular, telescoping legs radiating out from the central core, each tipped with a depth camera.

Journal: Science Robotics
Funder: Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Army Research Laboratory

Simulations predict how astronaut team dynamics could impact future Moon base operations

PLOS
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers have developed a novel virtual model for simulating how astronauts in future Moon base operations might interact with each other and with their environment, with preliminary simulations revealing potential opportunities to boost the chances of a successful mission. Raymond Vera and colleagues at George Mason University in Virginia, USA, present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS One on May 27, 2026.

Journal: PLOS One

New study reveals ‘droplet’ mechanism behind key drug targets

Duke University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A Duke University School of Medicine team found that β‑arrestin proteins, which regulate GPCR activity, can assemble into liquid-like clusters known as condensates both at baseline and near activated receptors. These droplet-like structures act as hubs that organize signaling molecules in space and time.

The CTAO advances towards early science in La Palma as LST collaboration announces inauguration of large-sized telescope sub-array

Cherenkov Telescope Array
Business Announcement

On 26 May 2026, a joint press conference was held in Santa Cruz de La Palma, Canary Islands (Spain) with representatives from the CTAO Central Organisation (CTAO ERIC), the CTAO LST Collaboration, the Cabildo de La Palma, and the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) to underscore the CTAO project’s advancement towards groundbreaking science and to announce the upcoming inauguration of the four Large-Sized Telescopes (LSTs) on 15 October 2026 at the CTAO-North site.

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