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        <title><![CDATA[Universe Today]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[Space and Astronomy News from Universe Today]]></description>
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        <lastBuildDate>Wed, 31 Dec 2025 08:54:57 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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            <title><![CDATA[Space Mice Come Home and Start Families]]></title>
            <link>https://www.universetoday.com/articles/space-mice-come-home-and-start-families</link>
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            <pubDate>Wed, 31 Dec 2025 08:52:54 +0000</pubDate>
            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Mark Thompson]]></dc:creator>
            <author>Mark Thompson (https://www.universetoday.com/authors/mark)</author>
            <description><![CDATA[<p><img src="https://www.universetoday.com/article_images/IMG_8595_20251231_000150.jpeg" alt="The rodent research facility for the International Space Station (Credit : NASA/Ames Research Center/Dominic Hart)" width="1280" height="720" /></p><p>A female mouse that spent two weeks aboard China’s space station has successfully given birth to healthy pups after returning to Earth. This marks the first time offspring have been born from mammals that have traveled in space. The birth demonstrates that short term spaceflight doesn’t impair reproductive capability and provides crucial data for understanding how space environments affect mammalian development, a critical question for future long-l duration human missions beyond Earth.</p>]]></description>
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        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[Hot Jupiters with a Memory of Their Past]]></title>
            <link>https://www.universetoday.com/articles/hot-jupiters-with-a-memory-of-their-past</link>
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            <pubDate>Wed, 31 Dec 2025 04:40:20 +0000</pubDate>
            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Laurence Tognetti, MSc]]></dc:creator>
            <author>Laurence Tognetti, MSc (https://www.universetoday.com/authors/laurencetognetti)</author>
            <description><![CDATA[<p><img src="https://www.universetoday.com/article_images/Low-Res_img-20251107-pr-sobun-pickup_20251231_044012.jpg" alt="Credit: Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo" width="1280" height="720" /></p><p>How did hot Jupiters end up orbiting so close to their stars, thus earning their moniker? This is what a recent study published in The Astronomical Journal hopes to address as a team of researchers from The University of Tokyo investigated the orbital evolution of hot Jupiters ended, specifically regarding where their orbits started before orbiting so close to their stars. This study has the potential to help scientists better understand the formation and evolution of exoplanets and what this could mean for finding life beyond Earth.</p>]]></description>
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        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[Could TRAPPIST-1’s Seven Worlds Host Moons?]]></title>
            <link>https://www.universetoday.com/articles/could-trappist-1s-seven-worlds-host-moons</link>
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            <pubDate>Tue, 30 Dec 2025 23:53:06 +0000</pubDate>
            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Mark Thompson]]></dc:creator>
            <author>Mark Thompson (https://www.universetoday.com/authors/mark)</author>
            <description><![CDATA[<p><img src="https://www.universetoday.com/article_images/IMG_8592_20251230_234330.jpeg" alt="True colour illustration of the Sun (left) next to TRAPPIST-1 (right). TRAPPIST-1 is darker, redder, and smaller than the Sun." width="1280" height="720" /></p><p>Scientists have discovered that moons could theoretically orbit all seven planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system despite the complex gravitational environment. Using computer simulations, a team of researchers have mapped stable zones where satellites could survive around each planet. They found that moons can remain stable up to about 40-45% of each planet’s sphere of gravitational influence. The neighbouring planets squeeze these stable zones slightly inward compared to isolated planets, but the effect is modest. Long term calculations suggest only tiny moons, roughly one ten millionth the mass of Earth, could survive the immense tidal forces.</p>]]></description>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[Europa Clipper Reveals a New Perspective on Comet 3I/ATLAS]]></title>
            <link>https://www.universetoday.com/articles/europa-clipper-reveals-a-new-perspective-on-comet-3iatlas</link>
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            <pubDate>Tue, 30 Dec 2025 13:43:56 +0000</pubDate>
            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Andy Tomaswick]]></dc:creator>
            <author>Andy Tomaswick (https://www.universetoday.com/authors/andy-tomaswick)</author>
            <description><![CDATA[<p><img src="https://www.universetoday.com/article_images/Low-Res_TA012942_20251230_134345.png" alt="Map of how 3I/ATLAS is traveling through out solar system, compared to the inner planets, JUICe, and Europa Clipper. Credit - NASA/JPL-Caltech/APL/SwRI" width="1280" height="720" /></p><p>Researchers have been trying to look at interstellar object 3I/ATLAS from every conceivable angle. That includes very unconventional ones. Recently, while 3I/ATLAS passed out of view of the Earth, it moved into a great vantage point for one of our interplanetary probes. Europa Clipper, whose main mission is to explore Jupiter’s active moon, turned its gaze during its six year journey back towards the center of the solar system and observed 3I/ATLAS as it was reaching its perihelion, and out of sight from the Earth.</p>]]></description>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[A Pioneering Study Assesses the Likelihood of Asteroid Mining]]></title>
            <link>https://www.universetoday.com/articles/a-pioneering-study-assesses-the-likelihood-of-asteroid-mining</link>
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            <pubDate>Mon, 29 Dec 2025 23:14:53 +0000</pubDate>
            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Matthew Williams]]></dc:creator>
            <author>Matthew Williams (https://www.universetoday.com/authors/houseofwilliams)</author>
            <description><![CDATA[<p><img src="https://www.universetoday.com/article_images/SCAR-E-robotic-miner_20251229_230932.webp" alt="Artist's rendering of an asteroid mining robot. Credit: Asteroid Mining Corporation" width="1280" height="720" /></p><p>A team led by the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC) analyzed samples of C-type asteroids in a recent study. Their findings support the idea that these asteroids can serve as a crucial source of materials if and when asteroid mining is realized.</p>]]></description>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[Why Supermassive Black Holes Turn Down Feasts]]></title>
            <link>https://www.universetoday.com/articles/why-supermassive-black-holes-turn-down-feasts</link>
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            <pubDate>Mon, 29 Dec 2025 22:46:28 +0000</pubDate>
            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Mark Thompson]]></dc:creator>
            <author>Mark Thompson (https://www.universetoday.com/authors/mark)</author>
            <description><![CDATA[<p><img src="https://www.universetoday.com/article_images/IMG_8589_20251229_224626.jpeg" alt="First-ever direct photograph of a Black hole, captured by the Event Horizon Telescope (Credit : Event Horizon Telescope)" width="1280" height="720" /></p><p>Supermassive black holes have a reputation for devouring everything in sight, but new observations from the Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array reveal they can be surprisingly picky eaters. Even when galaxy mergers deliver enormous amounts of cold molecular gas directly to a black hole’s doorstep, many choose to nibble rather than gorge raising questions about what triggers feeding episodes. The discovery suggests black hole growth during galaxy collisions may be far more inefficient and episodic than we previously thought.</p>]]></description>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[The Origami Wheel That Could Explore Lunar Caves]]></title>
            <link>https://www.universetoday.com/articles/the-origami-wheel-that-could-explore-lunar-caves</link>
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            <pubDate>Mon, 29 Dec 2025 06:58:36 +0000</pubDate>
            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Mark Thompson]]></dc:creator>
            <author>Mark Thompson (https://www.universetoday.com/authors/mark)</author>
            <description><![CDATA[<p><img src="https://www.universetoday.com/article_images/IMG_8580_20251229_065821.jpeg" alt="Expanding wheels may significantly enhance the capability and reach of lunar rovers {Credit : NASA/Dave Scott)" width="1280" height="720" /></p><p>A joint research team from South Korea has developed a fascinating wheel inspired by origami and Da Vinci bridge principles that could unlock access to the Moon’s most dangerous and scientifically useful terrain. The wheel expands from 230 mm to 500 mm in diameter on demand, allowing small rovers to navigate steep lunar pits and lava tube entrances that would trap conventional vehicles.</p>]]></description>
        </item>
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            <title><![CDATA[Hubble Reveals Chaos in the Largest Planet Nursery Ever Seen]]></title>
            <link>https://www.universetoday.com/articles/hubble-reveals-chaos-in-the-largest-planet-nursery-ever-seen</link>
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            <pubDate>Mon, 29 Dec 2025 06:02:08 +0000</pubDate>
            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Mark Thompson]]></dc:creator>
            <author>Mark Thompson (https://www.universetoday.com/authors/mark)</author>
            <description><![CDATA[<p><img src="https://www.universetoday.com/article_images/IMG_8572_20251229_060058.jpeg" alt="This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows “Dracula’s Chivito”  the largest planet forming disc ever observed (Credit : NASA/ESA)" width="1280" height="720" /></p><p>Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have discovered the largest planet forming disk ever observed around a young star, stretching nearly 40 times the diameter of our Solar System. Nicknamed “Dracula’s Chivito” for its hamburger like appearance when viewed edge on, this massive disk reveals an unexpectedly chaotic and asymmetric structure with wisps of material extending far above and below its central plane. The discovery offers an unprecedented window into how planets might form in extreme environments, challenging previous assumptions about the orderly nature of planetary nurseries.</p>]]></description>
        </item>
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            <title><![CDATA[Rethinking How We End A Satellite's Mission]]></title>
            <link>https://www.universetoday.com/articles/rethinking-how-we-end-a-satellites-mission</link>
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            <pubDate>Sun, 28 Dec 2025 15:38:02 +0000</pubDate>
            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Andy Tomaswick]]></dc:creator>
            <author>Andy Tomaswick (https://www.universetoday.com/authors/andy-tomaswick)</author>
            <description><![CDATA[<p><img src="https://www.universetoday.com/article_images/53210363111-ddd7da8fa5-o-3_20251228_153750.webp" alt="The OSIRIS-REx capsule successfully made it back to Earth. Credit - NASA" width="1280" height="720" /></p><p>At the end of their lives, most satellites fall to their death. Many of the smaller ones, including most of those going up as part of the “mega-constellations” currently under construction, are intended to burn up in the atmosphere. This Design for Demise (D4D) principle has unintended consequences, according to a paper by Antoinette Ott and Christophe Bonnal, both of whom work for MaiaSpace, a company designing reusable launch vehicles for the small satellite market.</p>]]></description>
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            <title><![CDATA[NASA’s SPHEREx Observatory Completes Its First Map of the Cosmos in 102 Infrared Wavelengths]]></title>
            <link>https://www.universetoday.com/articles/nasas-spherex-observatory-completes-its-first-map-of-the-cosmos-in-102-infrared-wavelengths</link>
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            <pubDate>Sat, 27 Dec 2025 21:37:00 +0000</pubDate>
            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Matthew Williams]]></dc:creator>
            <author>Matthew Williams (https://www.universetoday.com/authors/houseofwilliams)</author>
            <description><![CDATA[<p><img src="https://www.universetoday.com/article_images/e1a-SPHEREx_all_sky_stars_and_gas-dust_20251227_234114.jpg" alt="NASA’s SPHEREx has mapped the entire sky in 102 infrared colors, which are invisible to the human eye but can be used to reveal different features of the cosmos. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech" width="1280" height="720" /></p><p>Launched in March, NASA’s SPHEREx space telescope has completed its first infrared map of the entire sky in 102 colors. This map will enable 3D distance measurements to other galaxies and allow astronomers to measure the influence of Cosmic Inflation on the large-scale structure of the Universe.</p>]]></description>
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            <title><![CDATA[Turning Structural Failure into Propulsion]]></title>
            <link>https://www.universetoday.com/articles/turning-structural-failure-into-propulsion</link>
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            <pubDate>Sat, 27 Dec 2025 11:43:42 +0000</pubDate>
            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Andy Tomaswick]]></dc:creator>
            <author>Andy Tomaswick (https://www.universetoday.com/authors/andy-tomaswick)</author>
            <description><![CDATA[<p><img src="https://www.universetoday.com/article_images/pSjBrjX6PbexUmvkacDjTY.jpg_20251227_114340.webp" alt="Image of IKAROS - the first ever successfully deployed solar sail. Credit - JAXA" width="1280" height="720" /></p><p>Solar sails have some major advantages over traditional propulsion methods - most notably they don’t use any propellant. But, how exactly do they turn? In traditional sailing, a ship’s captain can simply adjust the angle of the sail itself to catch the wind at a different angle. But they also have the added advantage of a rudder, which doesn’t work when sailing on light. This has been a long-standing challenge, but a new paper available in pre-print from arXiv, by Gulzhan Aldan and Igor Bargatin at the University of Pennsylvania describes a new technique to turn solar sails - kirigami.</p>]]></description>
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            <title><![CDATA[Before We Build on the Moon, We Have to Master the Commute]]></title>
            <link>https://www.universetoday.com/articles/before-we-build-on-the-moon-we-have-to-master-the-commute</link>
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            <pubDate>Fri, 26 Dec 2025 14:52:16 +0000</pubDate>
            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Andy Tomaswick]]></dc:creator>
            <author>Andy Tomaswick (https://www.universetoday.com/authors/andy-tomaswick)</author>
            <description><![CDATA[<p><img src="https://www.universetoday.com/article_images/52530824918_0f808fa548_4k_20251226_145215.webp" alt="The Orion Capsule takes a &quot;selfie&quot; with the Moon and Earth. Credit - NASA" width="1280" height="720" /></p><p>Even most rocket scientists would rather avoid hard math when they don’t have to do it. So when it comes to figuring out orbits in complex three-body systems, like those in Cis-lunar space, which is between the Earth and the Moon, they’d rather someone else do the work for them. Luckily, some scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory seems to have a masochistic streak - or enough of an altruistic one that it overwhelmed the unpleasantness of doing the hard math - to come up with an open-source dataset and software package that maps out 1,000,000 cis-lunar orbits.</p>]]></description>
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            <title><![CDATA[Top Astronomical Events to Watch For in 2026]]></title>
            <link>https://www.universetoday.com/articles/top-astronomical-events-to-watch-for-in-2026</link>
            <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.universetoday.com/articles/top-astronomical-events-to-watch-for-in-2026</guid>
            <pubDate>Fri, 26 Dec 2025 13:23:00 +0000</pubDate>
            <dc:creator><![CDATA[David Dickinson]]></dc:creator>
            <author>David Dickinson (https://www.universetoday.com/authors/david-dickinson)</author>
            <description><![CDATA[<p><img src="https://www.universetoday.com/article_images/53237668194_06fe11ce82_k_20251222_153029.jpg" alt="Totality over Guam from 2019. Credit: Eliot Herman." width="1280" height="720" /></p><p>Ready for another amazing year of skywatching? 2025 was a wild year, with a steady parade of comets knocking on naked eye visibility, and one extra special interstellar comet, 3I/ATLAS.  

The sky just keeps on turning into 2026. Watch for mutual eclipse season for the major moons of Jupiter, as the moons pass one if front of the other. The ongoing solar cycle is also still expected to be active into 2026, producing sunspots space weather and more. And (finally!) we’ll see the return of total solar eclipses on August 12th, as umbral shadow of the Moon crosses Greenland, Iceland and northern Spain.</p>]]></description>
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            <title><![CDATA[Webb Spots the 'Smoke' from Crashing Exocomets Around a Nearby Star]]></title>
            <link>https://www.universetoday.com/articles/webb-spots-the-smoke-from-crashing-exocomets-around-a-nearby-star</link>
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            <pubDate>Tue, 23 Dec 2025 12:23:06 +0000</pubDate>
            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Andy Tomaswick]]></dc:creator>
            <author>Andy Tomaswick (https://www.universetoday.com/authors/andy-tomaswick)</author>
            <description><![CDATA[<p><img src="https://www.universetoday.com/article_images/opo1702a_20251223_122305.jpg" alt="Artist's conception of a series of exocomets approaching a newly formed star. Credit - NASA / ESA / A. Feild / G. Bacon (STScI)" width="1280" height="720" /></p><p>The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) was involved in yet another first discovery recently available in pre-print form on arXiv from Cicero Lu at the Gemini Observatory and his co-authors. This time, humanity’s most advanced space telescope found UV-fluorescent carbon monoxide in a protoplanetary debris disc for the first time ever. It also discovered some features of that disc that have considerable implications for planetary formation theory.</p>]]></description>
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            <title><![CDATA[Russia's Plans for a Space Station Includes "Recycling" its ISS Modules]]></title>
            <link>https://www.universetoday.com/articles/russias-plans-for-a-space-station-includes-recycling-its-iss-modules</link>
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            <pubDate>Mon, 22 Dec 2025 23:06:46 +0000</pubDate>
            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Matthew Williams]]></dc:creator>
            <author>Matthew Williams (https://www.universetoday.com/authors/houseofwilliams)</author>
            <description><![CDATA[<p><img src="https://www.universetoday.com/article_images/RUSSIA-NEW-STATION-1_20251222_230418.jpg" alt="Next-generation spacecraft to replace the Soyuz spacecraft approached Russia Orbital station. Credit: RoscosmosTV (screengrab)/Inside Outer Space" width="1280" height="720" /></p><p>Oleg Orlov, Director of the Institute of Biomedical Problems at the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), announced that the Russian Orbital Station (ROS) will include the modules that make up the Russian Orbital Segment of ISS.</p>]]></description>
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            <title><![CDATA[The Solar System Loses an Ocean World]]></title>
            <link>https://www.universetoday.com/articles/the-solar-system-loses-an-ocean-world</link>
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            <pubDate>Mon, 22 Dec 2025 16:41:15 +0000</pubDate>
            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Scott Johnston]]></dc:creator>
            <author>Scott Johnston (https://www.universetoday.com/authors/sajohnston1989)</author>
            <description><![CDATA[<p><img src="https://www.universetoday.com/article_images/1-PIA18410-cassini-titan-crop_20251222_163336.jpg" alt="Artist's impression of the Cassini spacecraft at Titan. NASA/JPL-Caltech." width="1280" height="720" /></p><p>Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, may not have a subsurface ocean after all.
That’s according to a re-examination of data captured by NASA’s Cassini mission, which flew by Titan dozens of times starting in 2004. By 2008, all the evidence suggested a subsurface ocean of liquid water waited beneath Titan’s geologically complex crust. But the latest analysis says the interior is more likely to be made of ice and slush, albeit with pockets of warm water that cycle from core to surface.</p>]]></description>
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            <title><![CDATA[Five New Planets and the Battle for Their Atmospheres]]></title>
            <link>https://www.universetoday.com/articles/five-new-planets-and-the-battle-for-their-atmospheres</link>
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            <pubDate>Mon, 22 Dec 2025 12:05:34 +0000</pubDate>
            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Andy Tomaswick]]></dc:creator>
            <author>Andy Tomaswick (https://www.universetoday.com/authors/andy-tomaswick)</author>
            <description><![CDATA[<p><img src="https://www.universetoday.com/article_images/STScI-01EVSZKC0K3NW943ZGXF2YZ979_20251222_120530.jpg" alt="A planet suffering from the flare of a red dwarf star. Credit - NASA/ESA/D. Player (STScI)" width="1280" height="720" /></p><p>One of the primary goals of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is to detect atmospheres around exoplanets, to try to suss out whether or not they could potentially support life. But, in order to do that, scientists have to know where to look, and the exoplanet has to actually have an atmosphere. While scientists know the location of about 6000 exoplanets currently, they also believe that many of them don’t have atmospheres and that, of the ones that do, many aren’t really Earth-sized. And of those, many are around stars that are too bright for our current crop of telescopes to see their atmosphere. All those restrictions mean, ultimately, even with 6000 potential candidates, the number of Earth-sized ones that we could find an atmosphere for is relatively small. So a new paper available on arXiv from Jonathan Barrientos of Cal Tech and his co-authors that describes five new exoplanets around M-dwarf stars - two of which may have an atmosphere - is big news for astrobiologists and exoplanet hunters alike.</p>]]></description>
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            <title><![CDATA[ESA's JUICE Mission Reveals More Activity from 3I/ATLAS]]></title>
            <link>https://www.universetoday.com/articles/esas-juice-mission-reveals-more-activity-from-3iatlas</link>
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            <pubDate>Sun, 21 Dec 2025 19:55:00 +0000</pubDate>
            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Matthew Williams]]></dc:creator>
            <author>Matthew Williams (https://www.universetoday.com/authors/houseofwilliams)</author>
            <description><![CDATA[<p><img src="https://www.universetoday.com/article_images/Comet_3I_ATLAS_shows_activity_in_Juice_navigation_camera_teaser-1_20251221_195506.png" alt="This image of 3I/ATLAS was snapped with the NavCam aboard the ESA's JUpiter Icy Moon Explorer (JUICE). Credit: ESA/Juice/NavCam" width="1280" height="720" /></p><p>During November 2025, ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) used five of its science instruments to observe 3I/ATLAS. The instruments collected information about how the comet is behaving and what it is made of.</p>]]></description>
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            <title><![CDATA[Engineering the First Reusable Launchpads on the Moon]]></title>
            <link>https://www.universetoday.com/articles/engineering-the-first-reusable-launchpads-on-the-moon</link>
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            <pubDate>Sun, 21 Dec 2025 12:25:46 +0000</pubDate>
            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Andy Tomaswick]]></dc:creator>
            <author>Andy Tomaswick (https://www.universetoday.com/authors/andy-tomaswick)</author>
            <description><![CDATA[<p><img src="https://www.universetoday.com/article_images/aerospace-12-00947-g001-550_20251221_122535.jpg" alt="Artist's conception of an autonomous robot constructing a lunar landing pad. Credit - Ketan Vasudeva &amp; M. Reza Emami" width="1280" height="720" /></p><p>Engineers need good data to build lasting things. Even the designers of the Great Pyramids knew the limestone they used to build these massive structures would be steady when stacked on top of one another, even if they didn’t have tables of the compressive strength of those stones. But when attempting to build structures on other worlds, such as the Moon, engineers don’t yet know much about the local materials. Still, due to the costs of getting large amounts of materials off of Earth, they will need to learn to use those materials even for critical applications like a landing pad to support the landing / ascent of massive rockets used in re-supply operations. A new paper published in Acta Astronautica from Shirley Dyke and her team at Purdue University describes how to build a lunar landing pad with just a minimal amount of prior knowledge of the material properties of the regolith used to build it.</p>]]></description>
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            <title><![CDATA[Astronomers Find the First Compelling Evidence of "Monster Stars" in the Early Universe]]></title>
            <link>https://www.universetoday.com/articles/astronomers-find-the-first-compelling-evidence-of-monster-stars-in-the-early-universe</link>
            <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.universetoday.com/articles/astronomers-find-the-first-compelling-evidence-of-monster-stars-in-the-early-universe</guid>
            <pubDate>Sun, 21 Dec 2025 00:00:33 +0000</pubDate>
            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Matthew Williams]]></dc:creator>
            <author>Matthew Williams (https://www.universetoday.com/authors/houseofwilliams)</author>
            <description><![CDATA[<p><img src="https://www.universetoday.com/article_images/STScI-01H1CTP0ZH56RH3HDG0HAZHYHM_20251220_235939.png" alt="Quasar SDSS J0100+2802, EIGER (Emission-line galaxies and Intergalactic Gas in the Epoch of Reionization) Survey. Credit: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI/ETH Zurich/NCSU" width="1280" height="720" /></p><p>Using the James Webb Space Telescope, a team of international researchers has discovered chemical fingerprints of gigantic primordial stars that were among the first to form after the Big Bang.</p>]]></description>
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