EurekAlert! In the Spotlight - Global Astronomy Month

Welcome to In the Spotlight, where each month we shine a light on something exciting, timely, or simply fascinating from the world of science.

In honor of Global Astronomy Month, we’re exploring the science of space. Learn how astronomy connects us through curiosity, discovery, and a shared wonder for what lies beyond.

Latest News Releases

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 26-Jul-2025 12:10 ET (26-Jul-2025 16:10 GMT/UTC)

28-Apr-2025

Billion-year-old impact in Scotland sparks questions about life on land

Curtin University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

New Curtin University research has revealed that a massive meteorite struck northwestern Scotland about 200 million years later than previously thought, in a discovery that not only rewrites Scotland’s geological history but alters our understanding of the evolution of non-marine life on Earth.

Journal: Geology

28-Apr-2025

New research shatters long-held beliefs about asteroid Vesta

Michigan State University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

For decades, scientists believed Vesta, one of the largest objects in our solar system’s asteroid belt, wasn’t just an asteroid and eventually concluded it was more like a planet with a crust, mantle and core. Now, Michigan State University has contributed to research that flips this notion on its head.

A team led by the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab, or JPL, authored a paper, published in Nature Astronomy, that reveals Vesta doesn’t have a core. These findings startled researchers who, until that point, assumed Vesta was a protoplanet that never grew to a full planet.

Journal: Nature Astronomy

28-Apr-2025

New Horizons observations lead to first Lyman-alpha map from the galaxy V

Southwest Research Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

SAN ANTONIO — April 28, 2025 —The NASA New Horizons spacecraft’s extensive observations of Lyman-alpha emissions have resulted in the first-ever map from the galaxy at this important ultraviolet wavelength, providing a new look at the galactic region surrounding our solar system. The findings are described in a new study authored by the SwRI-led New Horizons team.

Journal: The Astronomical Journal

28-Apr-2025

Global first test success for a University of Leicester–NASA space power system

University of Leicester
Business Announcement

Scientists at the University of Leicester and NASA’s Glenn Research Center have combined cutting edge radioisotope power system technology with high efficiency power convertor technology

The successful test results demonstrate robustness and reliability for potential future spaceflight missions, and a pathway for applications in space

The Space Nuclear Power team based at Space Park Leicester travelled to NASA Glenn in January 2025 to support the project

Funder: UK Space Agency, NASA Radioisotope Power System Program

28-Apr-2025

A vast molecular cloud, long invisible, is discovered near solar system

Rutgers University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

An international team of scientists led by a Rutgers University-New Brunswick astrophysicist has discovered a potentially star-forming cloud that is one of the largest single structures in the sky and among the closest to the sun and Earth ever to be detected. The scientists have named the molecular hydrogen cloud “Eos,” after the Greek goddess of mythology who is the personification of dawn. Their discovery is outlined in a study published in Nature Astronomy.

Journal: Nature Astronomy
Funder: U.S. National Science Foundation, NASA Headquarters, U.S. National Science Foundation, NASA Headquarters, Royal Society, Royal Society, National Research Foundation of Korea, National Research Foundation of Korea

26-Apr-2025

Thirty-year mystery of dissonance in the “ringing” of black holes explained

Tokyo Metropolitan University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Tokyo, Japan – A scientist from Tokyo Metropolitan University has solved the longstanding problem of a “dissonance” in gravitational waves emitted by a black hole. Using high precision computing and a new theoretical physics framework, it was discovered that it was caused by a resonance between a pair of distinctive “modes” i.e. different ways in which a black hole can “ring.” The phenomenon offers new insights into the nascent field of black hole spectroscopy.

Journal: Physical Review Letters