Amino acids, the building blocks necessary for life, were previously found in samples of 4.6-billion-year-old rocks from an asteroid called Bennu, delivered to Earth in 2023 by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission. How those amino acids — the molecules that create proteins and peptides in DNA — formed in space was a mystery, but new research led by Penn State scientists shows they could have originated in an icy-cold, radioactive environment at the dawn of Earth’s solar system.

A team of researchers have used spectral data from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to probe the HR 8799 star system and show that one of its giant Jupiter-like planets contains sulfur, a sign it formed like a planet not a star. 

Enceladus, a tiny moon of Saturn, trails a wake of electromagnetic ripples that extends over half a million kilometres. A major study by an international team of researchers using data from the NASA/ESA/ASI Cassini spacecraft has revealed a lattice-like structure of crisscrossing reflected waves that flow downstream behind the moon in Saturn's equatorial plane, but also reach up to very high northern and southern latitudes. The analysis of data from four instruments aboard Cassini, collected over the mission's 13-year duration, demonstrates the crucial role that Enceladus plays in circulating energy and momentum around Saturn’s space environment.

Astronomers have captured some of the most detailed images of debris discs from fully formed, ‘teenage’ planetary systems. Those images are expected to help astronomers locate new planets.

The University of Trento has demonstrated the existence of an empty lava tube even in the depths of Venus, a planet whose surface and geology have been largely shaped by volcanic processes. The cave was identified through radar data analysis as part of a project funded by the Italian Space Agency. "Our knowledge of Venus is still limited, and until now we have never had the opportunity to directly observe processes occurring beneath the surface of Earth’s twin planet. The identification of a volcanic cavity is therefore of particular importance, as it allows us to validate theories that for many years have only hypothesized their existence," explains Lorenzo Bruzzone, the coordinator of the research, full professor of the University of Trento. "This discovery contributes to a deeper understanding of the processes that have shaped Venus’s evolution and opens new perspectives for the study of the planet," he adds.

The largest gas giants in our galaxy blur the line between planets and brown dwarfs. How do these very large gas giants form? A team of researchers, led by the UC San Diego, used spectral data from the James Webb Space Telescope to probe the HR 8799 star system, leading to a surprising answer to this longstanding astronomical question.