Planetary scientists believe they can now predict the green glow of an aurora in the night sky above Mars, and they have the images to prove it. The first observations of a visible-light aurora from the surface of the Red Planet were made by NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover in 2024. Now, presenting at the Europlanet Science Congress–Division of Planetary Science (EPSC–DPS) joint meeting in Helsinki this week, Dr Elise Wright Knutsen of the University of Oslo will reveal a second snapshot of the aurora by Perseverance and, more importantly, the tools to predict when an aurora will occur on Mars.

A new AI-powered tool has reduced astronomers’ workload by 85% - filtering through thousands of data alerts to identify the few genuine signals caused by supernovae (powerful explosions from dying stars). The findings have been published today (10 Sept) in The Astrophysical Journal. 

Space scientists have discovered that double star V Sagittae - some 10,000 light years from earth - is burning bright because the greedy white dwarf is gorging on its larger twin in a feeding frenzy.

Whether helping create an alloy that can withstand the withering conditions of Venus in partnership with NASA or collaborating with the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) to develop a portable sensor that can identify rare earth elements (REE), the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering’s Paul Ohodnicki is fueling innovative research while solving problems both in space and right here on Earth. R&D World has recognized Ohodnicki and his team of collaborators with 2025 R&D 100 Awards, this year for two emerging technologies: VulcanAlloy and eMission Critical Sensor.

In the first discovery of its kind, astronomers have found silane in the atmosphere of an ancient brown dwarf nicknamed The Accident. This molecule plays an important role in the formation of clouds in gas giant atmospheres, but for decades it has eluded detection in planets like Jupiter and Saturn. The discovery was made possible with complementary observations from the U.S. National Science Foundation-funded Gemini South telescope in Chile and NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.

A pioneering study led by the University of Oxford in collaboration with international partners has applied AI for the first time to count the Great Wildebeest Migration from satellite images. Unexpectedly, the results showed fewer than 600,000 individual wildebeest – less than half the previous estimate of 1.3 million animals. The results have been published today (9 Sept) in PNAS Nexus.