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Category: space – Page 10

Diffuse interfilament gas is likely a key fuel source for massive star formation

Researchers from Kyushu University have discovered that diffuse gas surrounding dense filaments in a nearby stellar nursery plays a much larger role in star formation than previously recognized. By tracking the movement of gas in the Monoceros R2 hub–filament system, the team found that low-density gas contributes to hub growth both through direct inflow and by replenishing nearby dense filaments. Their findings show that overlooking this diffuse gas could substantially underestimate the amount of material available to build massive stars.

Stars form inside interstellar clouds of gas and dust, but the process is far from well understood. Within these clouds, long, threadlike structures known as filaments often converge into dense central regions called hubs, where clusters of stars and the most massive stars are born. Previous studies have shown that dense gas travels along these filaments into the hub. However, much less is known about the lower-density gas that fills the spaces between the filaments, leaving an incomplete picture of how these stellar nurseries gather enough material to sustain star formation.

Tracing gas beyond the filaments In the present study, published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters on June 10, 2026, a team led by assistant professor Jihye Hwang of Kyushu University’s Institute for Advanced Study worked with associate professor Doris Arzoumanian to investigate gas motions in the Monoceros R2 hub–filament system. Using observations of the carbon monoxide isotopes 13CO and C18O from the Nobeyama 45-m radio telescope, operated by Nobeyama Radio Observatory, a branch of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, the researchers identified three dense filaments and three inter-filament regions and measured gas motions toward the hub and neighboring filaments.

NASA’s James Webb Telescope Captures a Dying Star Sculpting a Cosmic Lion

The James Webb Space Telescope has captured new images of NGC 2,392, a planetary nebula commonly known as the Lion Nebula, revealing the cosmic object in striking infrared detail.

The Hubble Space Telescope previously observed the nebula in 2000, imaging the lion face-shaped target in visible light. Those observations highlighted its distinctive appearance, including a “mane” made up of hazy structures resembling comet tails. Webb’s high-resolution instruments now provide an even sharper look at the same object.

Next Generation of Planetary Scientists Learn Public Engagement Skills

The NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD) Community of Practice for Education (SCoPE) – part of the NASA Science Activation (SciAct) Program portfolio – enables Earth and Space Science and Engineering Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) – especially NASA-funded SMEs – to efficiently and effectively share their science with support from SciAct education experts.

In Summer 2026, NASA SCoPE partnered with Arizona State University’s Facility for Open Research in a Compressed Environment (FORCE) Summer School to help seven undergraduate student interns build the science communication skills needed to share their research with a variety of audiences. FORCE is a world-class laboratory that uses high-pressure experimental equipment to recreate the extreme conditions found deep within Earth and other planetary bodies, enabling researchers to better understand how planets form, evolve, and behave under immense pressures.

As part of the Summer School, SCoPE facilitated two hands-on workshops on June 25 and 26, followed by office hours the following week, to help interns translate their technical research into compelling stories for non-expert audiences. The training focused on identifying the central themes of their work, developing clear and engaging messages, planning effective visitor interactions, and thinking through the logistics of public engagement. Interns also received guidance on preparing both their research posters and individual outreach stations.

This Metal From Outer Space Could Radically Transform EverythingFrom Electric Vehicles to Nuclear Submarines

“When you’re faced with a critical material problem, you can do one of two things: You can find more, or you can use less,” says Tom Lograsso, director of the Critical Materials Institute, a mineral research laboratory within the U.S. Department of Energy.

The sheer quantity of rare earths required for magnet production is staggering when put into raw numbers. For example, a Virginia-class nuclear-powered attack submarine requires 9,200 pounds of permanent magnets made with rare earths. (Permanent magnets are always magnetic, unlike electrical magnets that require an electrical charge to work.) And a proposal by the U.S. Departments of Energy and Interior to generate 86 gigawatts of offshore wind power by 2050 would require more than 17,000 tons of neodymium.

“The biggest worry for the magnet industry is supply risk,” says Greer. That makes his breakthrough—a powerful magnet that doesn’t rely on rare earths—a potential game changer.

AI Cybersecurity Access Tiers: Who Gets The Best AI?

OpenAI’s new Daybreak Red tier gives approved defenders a model that completes 95% of advanced exploit-development requests, versus roughly 2% for the public version of the same base model. That gap is now the real story: AI cybersecurity access tiers decide who gets frontier defensive power and who doesn’t, and access runs through a partner list, not a price tag.

AI cybersecurity access tiers stopped being a theoretical debate this month. OpenAI expanded its Daybreak program into two levels, Blue and Red, and released GPT-5.6-Cyber, a specialized model built specifically for vulnerability research and exploit-chain development, according to SecurityBrief’s coverage of the launch. In an internal OpenAI evaluation, the new model completed 95.0% of advanced cyber requests covering authentication bypass, privilege escalation, and exploit-chain development, compared with 1.5% for the general-release model and 2.0% for that same model through the safeguarded Daybreak Blue tier.

GPT-5.6-Cyber is only available through Daybreak Red, gated behind identity verification, monitoring, legal attestations, and approved-use restrictions, per Cyberpress’s reporting. Under OpenAI’s own Preparedness Framework, the model was rated “High” for cybersecurity capability, one step below the “Critical” threshold that recently triggered an internal suspension of a different unreleased model, Astra, on August 7. These AI cybersecurity access tiers exist because the underlying capability is real: a general-purpose model built to refuse exploit-writing requests is far less useful to a security team validating a patch than one built to complete them.

Miniaturized Laser System Enables Record Flux in Microgravity

Scientists produce atomic quantum gas mixtures with unprecedented particle flux to test fundamental physics in space.

NASA’s IXPE May Have Proven 90-Year-Old Theory

Scientists using NASA’s IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer) conducted more than 140 hours of observations of the magnetar 1E 1547–5408 between March and April 2025 alongside NASA’s NICER (Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer) and Murriyang, CSIRO’s Parkes radio telescope, owned and operated by Australia’s national science agency. This was the first-ever coordinated radio and X-ray polarization measurement of a magnetar.

1E 1547–5408, spinning in a full rotation every 2 seconds, is a unique magnetar that consistently emits bright radio energy and X-ray light, for reasons scientists are still trying to understand.

Observations showed the polarization, or the orientation and level of alignment of the incoming photons, is nearly three times greater than seen in similar sources. This high level of polarization was surprising, since the geometry of the magnetar’s magnetic fields suggest that the measurements we see should be close to zero at certain points in the star. Standard surface emission models do not explain this large value either, indicating that another effect must be boosting the polarization.

Perseverance rover captures Mars vista as clear as day

The imaging team of NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover has taken advantage of clear skies on the red planet to capture one of the sharpest panoramas of its mission so far. Visible in the mosaic, which was stitched together from 96 images taken at a location the science team calls “Falbreen,” are a rock that appears to lie on top of a sand ripple, a boundary line between two geologic units, and hills as distant as 40 miles (65 kilometers) away. The enhanced-color version shows the Martian sky to be remarkably clear and deceptively blue, while in the natural-color version, it’s reddish.

“Our bold push for human space exploration will send astronauts back to the moon,” said Sean Duffy, acting NASA administrator. “Stunning vistas like that of Falbreen, captured by our Perseverance rover, are just a glimpse of what we’ll soon witness with our own eyes. NASA’s groundbreaking missions, starting with Artemis, will propel our unstoppable journey to take human space exploration to the Martian surface. NASA is continuing to get bolder and stronger.”

The rover’s Mastcam-Z instrument captured the images on May 26, 2025, the 1,516th Martian day, or sol, of Perseverance’s mission, which began in February 2021 on the floor of Jezero Crater. Perseverance reached the top of the crater rim late last year.

Decoding the History Recorded in Lunar Soil

A model that captures how crater-forming impacts redistribute lunar dirt will help researchers read the cosmic timeline found in samples returned from the Moon.

The Moon’s soil preserves signatures of the solar wind, cosmic rays, and episodic stellar events, but frequent meteorite strikes scramble what would otherwise be a neatly layered record of cosmic history. Researchers have now developed a mathematical model that accounts for this scrambling effect in lunar soil [1]. The model can predict the depths and concentrations of radioactive isotopes originating from astrophysical events hundreds of light-years away. It provides a guide for future lunar sampling missions that will search for evidence of specific events in our Solar System’s history.

Samples returned from the Apollo missions suggest that irradiation and the solar wind alter the lunar surface soil’s chemistry and physical appearance as it ages. In addition, nearby supernovae emit radioactive isotopes, including short-lived ones such as iron-60. Meanwhile, meteorite impacts mix all this surface material and gradually transport it deep into the soil or upward from below in a process known as impact gardening. But models of this transport often fail to capture key features observed in the Apollo samples. For example, analysis of core samples (long, vertical cylinders of soil) suggest that, in some cases, the concentrations of certain isotopes have much steeper depth dependence than models predict.

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