ALMA is now fully equipped, allowing us to see the birth of stars and the chemistry of life like never before
Sandeep K S
Dec 20, 2025
1 min read
ALMA's Band 2 Upgrade: Enhancing cosmic exploration, the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array, located at 5000m in the Chilean Andes, now features 145 new amplifiers. This upgrade allows for detailed studies of the cold universe, including the formation of stars and planets, by reducing noise with an average temperature of 22K and expanding research into complex organic molecules and planetary disks.
China's FAST telescope—the largest on Earth—has scoured the archives to find 19 pulsars missed by previous searches, including rare "transient" ghosts.
Pulsars (spinning neutron stars) are lighthouses of the cosmos. Most are found near the Galactic Plane, where stars are dense.
In space, fire doesn't rise. It forms a ghostly sphere that is harder to detect and harder to kill. New research aims to tame flames for the journey to Mars.
On Earth, hot air is lighter than cold air. It rises, pulling fresh oxygen in from below. This convection gives fire its familiar teardrop shape and yellow color (soot).
Jupiter's outermost moon is a battered, icy archive of the early solar system. New thermal imaging is finally peeling back its scarred surface to reveal what lies beneath.
Using the ALMA telescope, researchers analyzed thermal data to peer into the top few centimeters of Callisto's surface (regolith).
Comments