EurekAlert! In the Spotlight - Space & Astronomy

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

This May brings a rare celestial treat, two full moons in one month! We’re exploring the science of space and how astronomy connects us through curiosity, discovery, and a shared wonder for what lies beyond.

Latest News Releases

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 6-Jun-2026 03:15 ET (6-Jun-2026 07:15 GMT/UTC)

30-Mar-2026

Sea Aggies triumph in search and rescue challenge

Texas A&M University

The Sea Aggies developed a self-contained, portable device to detect and decode an emergency radio signal from the Orion spacecraft — enabling recovery teams to locate the spacecraft — using a search and rescue satellite-aided tracking communication signal that is part of the Cospas-Sarsat program.

30-Mar-2026

The Earth formed from local building blocks

ETH Zurich
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The chemical composition of meteorites and asteroids acts as a kind of fingerprint, providing information about the origin of the building materials that formed the Earth.

Using a new analysis of existing data, the researchers show that this material must exclusively come from the inner solar system.

The material that formed the Earth is similar to that found on Mars and the asteroid Vesta. The Earth is thus part of a trend line extending from the Sun.

This close relationship also enables predictions to be made about the composition of Venus and Mercury, from which we have no known samples.