Dark Fires / Topics
Space & Astronomy
Explore space missions, planets, stars, galaxies, and the science behind new discoveries, with reporting grounded in observatories, mission teams, and published research.
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Perseverance Traces Three Water Episodes in Jezero’s Ancient Rocks
A September study reconstructs groundwater, possible lake exposure and a later hot-water event in Mars’s Margin unit, sharpening its astrobiological interest.
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Hubble’s Niobium Clue Points to a Planet Born After Its Star Aged
A new study connects unusual chemistry around white dwarf HS 0209+0832 with a possible gas giant formed from material its star shed.
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Webb Finds Ammonia on HATS-6 b and a Temperature Puzzle to Solve
The giant planet’s atmospheric spectrum includes water, methane and ammonia, while unexpectedly low modelled temperatures expose uncertainties in interpreting distant atmospheres.
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Beta Pictoris b Radio Bursts Offer a New Probe of an Exoplanet’s Magnetic Field
A September preprint traces natural auroral radio emission to a giant exoplanet, potentially opening a direct way to measure distant planetary magnetism.
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NASA’s Asteroid Viewer Adds Close-Approach Replays: How to Read Them
New Eyes on Asteroids controls make close encounters easier to explore. Here is how to put the animation alongside the underlying orbit and risk information.
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SunRISE Targets Mid-2027: How Six Small Satellites Will Study Solar Storms
NASA’s latest schedule puts SunRISE no earlier than mid-2027. Its distributed radio telescope aims to trace the origins of hazardous solar particles.
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Mars’s Giant Morning Cloud Offers a New Test of Atmospheric Physics
New modelling suggests an unusual route to ice formation in a recurring Martian cloud. The observations and remaining mismatches make the finding worth following.
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Pre-Sputnik Sky Flashes Remain an Open Scientific Question
Unusual points of light on old astronomical photographs continue to attract scientific attention. A revised study argues that telescope optics can help distinguish some candidate flashes from defects in photographic…
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The Black-Hole “UFO” Is a Powerful Cosmic Wind
Astronomers studying a distant quasar have reported an unusually powerful “UFO.” In this research, the abbreviation means ultra-fast outflow: gas moving at extraordinary speed near a supermassive black hole. The…