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At the heart of our galaxy lies Sagittarius A*—a supermassive black hole with a mass four million times that of the Sun. For years, astronomers believed its immense tidal forces would shred any object that ventured too close. But new observations from the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile, using the advanced instrument ERIS, tell a different story: several enigmatic “dusty objects” are not only surviving—they’re thriving in stable orbits.

On July 2, 2025, NASA’s Fermi satellite recorded an extraordinary cosmic event: a gamma-ray burst so unusual it triggered the detector three times over several hours. Dubbed GRB 250702DBE, this source defies standard classifications. Now, a team from the Yunnan Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has uncovered something even more surprising within the data—quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs)—offering vital clues to its mysterious origin.

In a stroke of extraordinary timing and clear skies, scientists using the 1.5-meter GREGOR solar telescope in Tenerife have recorded the explosive evolution of two powerful X-class solar flares on November 10 and 11, 2025. These rare, high-resolution observations—spanning magnetic braids, penumbral distortions, and flare precursors—offer an unprecedented view into the heart of the sun’s most energetic active region of the year.

The image illustrates two theoretical models of energy transfer between dark matter and dark energy: Model 1 depicts dark matter decaying into dark energy, resulting in elongated halos and stronger cosmic web alignment; Model 2 shows dark energy converting into dark matter, leading to compact halos with weaker cosmic web alignment. These models aim to address major cosmic challenges and assist in future astronomical surveys.

In early 2025, scientists analyzing data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) identified three extraordinary objects in the distant universe. These candidates—extremely bright, very redshifted, and helium-rich—match theoretical predictions for “dark stars”: hypothetical, supermassive objects powered not by nuclear fusion, but by the annihilation of dark matter particles.

In the early 1930s, Swiss astronomer Fritz Zwicky noticed galaxies spinning faster than their visible mass could explain. He proposed an invisible substance—dark matter—as the cosmic glue holding them together.

An international team led by researchers from The University of Hong Kong (HKU) has made a major breakthrough in planetary science: for the first time, they have systematically classified six distinct tectonic regimes that govern how rocky planets evolve.

The outer planets of the solar system are swarmed by ice-wrapped moons. Some of these, such as Saturn's moon Enceladus, harbor hidden oceans of liquid water between an icy crust and a rocky core—making them prime candidates in the search for extraterrestrial life.

In a significant shift, NASA and Boeing have agreed to keep astronauts off the next Starliner mission, opting instead for an uncrewed cargo test flight to validate the spacecraft’s safety. The decision follows a troubled 2024 crewed mission that left two NASA astronauts stranded on the International Space Station for over nine months—and forced their return on a SpaceX capsule.

There's always a touch of melancholy when a chapter that has absorbed years of work comes to an end. In the case of the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT), those years amount to nearly 20—and now the telescope has completed its mission. Yet some endings are also important beginnings, opening new paths for the entire scientific community.

Dusty Star-Forming Galaxies (DSFGs) are the monsters of the early universe. They churn out stars at incredible rates—sometimes thousands of solar masses per year. But they are notoriously hard to find because they are shrouded in thick clouds of dust that block visible light. Recently, a team led by Longji Bing was inspecting the COSMOS field when they stumbled upon a surprise: a massive galaxy, designated AC-2168, existing just 800 million years after the Big Bang.

Tracing the origins of Earth's lost neighbor, Theia: 4.5 billion years ago, a collision with this Mars-sized body led to the formation of the Moon. Scientists analyze isotopic fingerprints in rocks to uncover Theia's history, suggesting it once orbited closer to the Sun alongside Earth.