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  The BepiColombo spacecraft just broke in two. In December, the remainder will split in two again. It's all part of the elaborate preparations for making the best-ever observations of the enigmatic planet Mercury. https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/BepiColombo/Latest_updates_BepiColombo_s_arrival_at_Mercury #space #science #tech

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  The historic first Earthrise photo from the Moon was received 60 years ago today. It was shot on film, developed onboard the Lunar Orbiter 1 spacecraft, scanned, transmitted home...and then meticulously restored decades later. https://www.lpi.usra.edu/features/lunarOrbiter/ #space #science #history #tech

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  I needed something spectacular, and here it is: a view of the August 12 solar eclipse as seen from South Korea's Danuri satellite, in orbit around the Moon. That's the limb of the Moon in the foreground, and the lunar shadow sweeping across Greenland. https://www.mt.co.kr/amp/tech/2026/08/13/2026081314245392530

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  When and how did Earth get its oxygen? The answer used to seem simple...but the more we learn, the more complicated it looks. The path to breathable air may have been twisted by shifting continents & runaway glaciers. https://www.science.org/content/article/what-triggered-one-most-dramatic-changes-earth-s-history #science #nature #history

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  Just look at this gorgeous portrait of celestial creation! JWST trained its infrared vision on one tiny patch in the Orion Nebula. There, it saw a wild collage of collapsing clouds, protostars, jets, shockwaves, and dark disks where new planets are forming. https://esawebb.org/images/potm2605a/ #space #science #art #nature

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  David Hockney used his art to experiment with our perception of space and time. In 1994 he delivered a beautiful lecture at Caltech describing his process. [PDF link] https://calteches.library.caltech.edu/3762/1/Hockney.pdf #science #art #davidhockney

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  For the first time, scientists have detected the wind from a black hole. New images show the supermassive one at the center of our galaxy is puffing away, clearing out a void about 20 trillion miles wide. https://www.almaobservatory.org/en/press-releases/alma-finally-catches-the-milky-ways-black-hole-breathing/ #space #science #astronomy

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  Somehow, planet WD 1856b survived the death of its star intact, and then migrated into a tight, stable orbit around the star's collapsed remains. Astronomers have found that planets are remarkably resilient, forming & persisting in the most unlikely places. https://science.nasa.gov/missions/webb/nasas-webb-studies-how-planet-survived-death-of-its-star/ #space #science #nature

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  A rich fossil site in China is filling in the little-known transitional details of life before the Cambrian explosion. It documents the emergence of bilateral symmetry & pushes back the origin of the ancestors of all modern vertebrates. https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2026-04-03-spectacular-fossil-treasure-trove-pushes-back-origins-complex-animals #science #nature #history

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  The inner moons of Neptune look like they were turned inside out, with deep-interior minerals spattered across their surfaces. Probably these moons are the shattered remains of earlier satellites that were shredded when a Pluto-like object came barreling in. https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/neptunes-inner-moons-may-be-shattered-remains-of-ancient-icy-worlds #space #science #nature

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  The very first image from the surface of Mars, transmitted to Earth from NASA's Viking 1 lander, 50 years ago today. https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/our-first-view-of-the-surface-of-mars/ #science #nature #history #tech

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  Very exciting! First clear detection of an atmosphere around an Earth-size planet in the habitable zone of another star. This is a big step forward in figuring out if "potentially habitable" planets are actually habitable & if red dwarf stars could sustain life. https://www.science.org/content/article/astronomers-spot-first-atmosphere-around-potentially-habitable-alien-world #space #science #nature #life

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  For the first time, astronomers have detected sugar molecules (erythrulose, to be precise) in deep space, floating near the center of our galaxy. It adds to the evidence for complex prebiotic carbon chemistry in interstellar clouds, even before planets form. https://cen.acs.org/physical-chemistry/astrochemistry/astronomers-detect-first-sugar-in-interstellar-molecular-clouds/104/web/2026/07 #space #science #nature

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  Centaurus A is the quintessential "peculiar" galaxy. It's a powerful source of radio & x-rays. It looks like two galaxies that smashed into each other. I stared at photos of it for years, wondering what was going on. Now observations from JWST are providing some answers. https://esawebb.org/news/weic2615/ #space #science #nature

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  NASA & Katalyst Space are attempting to rescue the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, a powerful gamma-ray telescope that's on a death-spiral toward Earth. A booster spacecraft, called Link, is now on its way. It will attempt to grab Swift & lift it to safety. If successful, the same technique could be applied to the Hubble telescope. https://spacenews.com/pegasus-launches-swift-reboost-mission/ #space #science #technology

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  At link: A cheat sheet to all the types of rays that come to us from the distant universe. The image here shows the gamma ray sky. https://astrobites.org/2022/10/16/guide-to-the-electromagnetic-spectrum-in-astronomy-2/ #science #nature #technology

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  We live at an extraordinary moment in science history: We're the first generation able to see a meaningful map of the entire visible universe. This view across billions of light years is based on JWST data, as part of the COSMOS-Web survey. https://news.ucr.edu/articles/2026/05/11/astronomers-produce-most-detailed-map-cosmic-web #space #science #nature

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  The physics of a spinning dreidel is quite a bit different in the microgravity environment of the International Space Station, as demonstrated by astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli. https://mashable.com/article/nasa-space-hanukkah-dreidel #space #science #chanukah #physics

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  That's surprising: Astronomers discovered an atmosphere on 2002 XV93, a small world in the Kuiper Belt, out beyond Pluto Maybe the atmosphere comes from ice volcanoes or from a recent impact? Either way, it points to dynamic events in the cold outer solar system. https://www.nao.ac.jp/en/news/science/2026/20260505-prc.html #space #science #nature

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  A wave of darkness is spreading across Mars. These images show dramatic changes to the Martian surface over the past 50 years, as volcanic dust blows through an ancient impact basin. https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Mars_Express/Ash_creeps_across_Mars #space #science #nature #astronomy

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  For your weekend enjoyment, here's a beautiful, expansive new view of the Sombrero Galaxy, courtesy of the 570-megapixel Dark Energy Camera on the Blanco Telescope in Chile. The galaxy's dark "brim" is a ring of dust and cold gas encircling a vast ball of stars. https://noirlab.edu/public/news/noirlab2612/ #space #science #nature

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  This story is amazing. Giant octopuses of the Cretaceous were up to 19 meters (60 feet) long. They were the apex ocean predators of their day, eating up plesiosaurs and mosasaurs. And they were apparently quite intelligent. Sorry we missed you! https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aea6285 #science #nature #history

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  After all these years, we're are still learning fundamentally new things about the Sun & how it interacts with Earth. NASA's PUNCH mission is creating 3D "tomographic" maps of how solar eruptions blow past our planet & spread out through the solar system. https://punch.space.swri.edu/punch_news.php?story=2026-04-09_punch_news_punch-generates-3-D-tomography #space #science #nature

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  Thought for the day: Earth is 10^30 times as dense as an averaged-out sample of the universe. That is, gravity has amplified the density of our planet by a factor of thousand billion billion billion. Without that amplification, we would not be here. #space #science #nature #history

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  In the same spirit, here's a periodic table scaled to show the relative abundances of elements in Saturn. It's enriched in heavy elements compared to the cosmic average...but hydrogen still dominates overwhelmingly. #space #science #astronomy #nature

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  Some people seek out rare birds or chase storms. Patrick McFarland modified a Toyota minivan so he could track down the subtle electric "corona" that shines around trees, potentially shaping the ecology of forests. https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2025GL119591 #science #nature #ecology

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  If they are working their way up the periodic table, I'd keep a close eye on any lithium batteries.

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  In happier news, it's been a great week for learning strange new things about the universe. A few highlights: The Rubin Observatory opened its eyes & immediately discovered 1900 asteroids, including the fastest-spinning large asteroid (once every 1.88 minutes!). https://noirlab.edu/public/news/noirlab2601/ #science #nature #space

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  It is astonishing that humans are able to do these things. This is what happens when we act collectively to solve extremely difficult technical problems. (It works with many other kinds of problems, too, by the way.) You can follow Artemis II's encounter with the Moon starting at 1pm EDT. https://plus.nasa.gov/ #space #science #tech #artemis

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  A new study confirms the "Hubble tension": measurements of the local expansion of the universe do not line up with measurements of how the universe was expanding after the Big Bang. It's no simple experimental error. 11 different techniques agree. https://noirlab.edu/public/news/noirlab2611/?lang #space #science #science