Featured
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Nature Podcast |
Martian sounds reveal the secrets of the red planet's core
NASA's InSight mission recorded vibrations of Mars exposing a surprising layer of silicate around the core.
- Geoff Marsh
- & Nick Petrić Howe
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News Feature |
Staring at the Sun — close-up images from space rewrite solar science
Researchers have never had such detailed views of our nearest star.
- Alexandra Witze
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News |
This fast radio burst took 8 billion years to reach Earth
The bright flash has cosmologists adjusting their models on how such intergalactic energy behaves.
- Gemma Conroy
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Essay |
How would we know whether there is life on Earth? This bold experiment found out
Thirty years ago, astronomer Carl Sagan convinced NASA to turn a passing space probe’s instruments on Earth to look for life — with results that still reverberate today.
- Alexandra Witze
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News |
‘Immense relief’: Universe-mapping Euclid telescope fixes problem that threatened mission
The European Space Agency says a software patch restored stability to its new cosmic mapper — but slower operations could extend the mission.
- Davide Castelvecchi
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News |
Huge new satellite outshines nearly every star in the sky
At times, the enormous telecommunications spacecraft is brighter than some of the most iconic stars visible from Earth.
- Shannon Hall
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Article
| Open Access
The high optical brightness of the BlueWalker 3 satellite
We report the outcome of an international optical observation campaign of a prototype constellation satellite, AST SpaceMobile’s BlueWalker 3, which features a 64.3 m2 phased-array antenna and a launch vehicle adaptor.
- Sangeetha Nandakumar
- , Siegfried Eggl
- & Mario Soto
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News |
A new era for Arecibo: legendary observatory begins next phase
The US National Science Foundation announces plan to use the historic site for biology and computer science education.
- Anil Oza
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News |
China’s powerful new telescope will search for exploding stars
The Wide Field Survey Telescope is the largest facility of its kind in the Northern Hemisphere.
- Gemma Conroy
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News |
How worlds are born: JWST reveals exotic chemistry of planetary nurseries
The telescope is delivering a cascade of insights about the ‘protoplanetary’ disks where planets take shape.
- Alexandra Witze
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News Q&A |
UFO sightings: how NASA can bring science to the debate
An astrophysicist who advised the agency talks to Nature about ways to bring rigour to reports of ‘unidentified anomalous phenomena’.
- Alexandra Witze
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News |
Ancient-human fossils sent to space: scientists slam ‘publicity stunt’
The decision to send hominin bones on a commercial spaceflight has raised eyebrows among human-evolution researchers.
- Ewen Callaway
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News Explainer |
An ‘alien meteorite’ probably didn’t slam into Earth — how will we know if one does?
Nature looks at the detective work required to confirm a controversial claim of finding interstellar debris.
- Alexandra Witze
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News Explainer |
India’s first Sun mission will investigate the origins of space weather
Aditya-L1 will join other spacecraft from Europe and the United States in an attempt to understand our stormy star.
- T.V. Padma
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News |
Japan’s space observatory will measure X-rays in exquisite detail
XRISM’s precision measurements will unveil a Universe in motion.
- Davide Castelvecchi
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Editorial |
India’s Moon landing is a stellar achievement — and a win for science
When Chandrayaan-3 touched down, India pulled off a huge win for its own space programme and for international efforts to understand the Moon.
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News |
What powers the Sun’s mysterious wind? A daring spacecraft has some answers
Analysis shows that mini jets of gas help to generate the solar wind, a discovery that also illuminates how our star’s activity damages satellites.
- Alexandra Witze
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Article
| Open Access
Outflows from the youngest stars are mostly molecular
Near-infrared imagery and spectroscopy from JWST of the Herbig-Haro 211 system, an analogue of the young Sun, reveals supersonic jets of hot molecules that can explain the origin of the ‘green fuzzies’ phenomenon.
- T. P. Ray
- , M. J. McCaughrean
- & G. Wright
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News |
India lands on the Moon! Scientists celebrate as Chandrayaan-3 touches down
The craft has performed a technically challenging descent at the lunar south pole.
- T. V. Padma
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News |
Russian Moon lander crash — what happened, and what’s next?
The Luna 25 mission has ended in failure, raising major questions about the future of Russia’s space program.
- Jonathan O'Callaghan
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News |
Russia launches first Moon mission in half a century: what it means for science
The Luna 25 spacecraft will attempt to land at the lunar south pole for the first time in a hunt for valuable water ice.
- Jonathan O'Callaghan
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News |
Closing down an icon: will Arecibo Observatory ever do science again?
Although it is slated to become an education centre, astronomers hope research might one day return to the site.
- Anil Oza
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News |
‘It’s a dream’: JWST spies more black holes than astronomers predicted
The James Webb Space Telescope’s observations could help to answer questions about how the celestial objects formed early in the Universe.
- Alexandra Witze
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Nature Podcast |
Disrupting snail food-chain curbs parasitic disease in Senegal
Intervention against schistosomiasis also shows agricultural and economic benefits, and the successful launch of India’s Chandrayaan-3 lunar mission.
- Benjamin Thompson
- & Shamini Bundell
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News |
Stunning star nursery is latest JWST image to amaze astronomers
Powerful space telescope reveals star-forming region — image of the week.
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News |
India shoots for the Moon with Chandrayaan-3 lunar lander
The Moon’s south pole is in India’s sights as the nation prepares to launch a robotic lander and explorer.
- T.V. Padma
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News |
Euclid launch: dark-energy mapper poised to probe cosmic mysteries
The European craft could help to investigate why the Universe’s expansion is accelerating, along with other cosmic questions.
- Davide Castelvecchi
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News |
These six distant galaxies captured by JWST are wowing astronomers
See researchers’ favourites from a survey of the deep Universe by the James Webb Space Telescope.
- Alexandra Witze
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Nature Podcast |
A brain circuit for infanticide, in mice
Research reveals system underlying behaviour change towards young, and identifying the source of fast solar wind.
- Noah Baker
- & Nick Petrić Howe
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Article
| Open Access
Interchange reconnection as the source of the fast solar wind within coronal holes
Measurements of fast solar wind streams from the Parker Solar Probe spacecraft provide strong evidence for the interchange reconnection mechanism being responsible for accelerating the fast solar wind.
- S. D. Bale
- , J. F. Drake
- & J. C. Kasper
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News |
Lasers pierce the stunning dark skies of the Atacama Desert
One of the world’s most advanced telescopes, located in Chile, uses the beams to make artificial stars.
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News |
JWST spots the most distant ‘smoke’ molecules ever seen in space
The presence of the molecules in an early galaxy means it must have pumped out stars at a furious pace, researchers say.
- Alexandra Witze
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News |
Gravitational-wave detector LIGO is back — and can now spot more colliding black holes than ever
The twin gravitational-wave detectors have started a new observation run after a major upgrade.
- Davide Castelvecchi
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News |
Does the roar of rocket launches harm wildlife? These scientists seek answers
With rocket lift-offs set to increase drastically, a team will monitor the effects of noise pollution at a California spaceport.
- Nicola Jones
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News Explainer |
China’s mysterious spaceplane returns to Earth — what we know
Specialists speculate that it might be similar to a US spaceplane, and it could have research or military uses.
- Yvaine Ye
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Article
| Open Access
Resolved imaging confirms a radiation belt around an ultracool dwarf
This study presents high-resolution imaging of the ultracool dwarf LSR J1835 + 3259 at 8.4 GHz, demonstrating that its quiescent radio emission is spatially resolved and traces a double-lobed and axisymmetrical structure with properties consistent with radiation belt observations and modelling.
- Melodie M. Kao
- , Amy J. Mioduszewski
- & Evgenya L. Shkolnik
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Editorial |
In space, failure is an option — often the only one
Space companies should not lose heart when things go wrong. The first Moon missions failed repeatedly — and provided lessons on how to achieve success in space and beyond.
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Book Review |
Ethics in outer space: can we make interplanetary exploration just?
The prospect of settling the Moon, Mars and elsewhere requires urgent conversations about issues such as labour and reproductive rights far from Earth.
- Alexandra Witze
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News |
What Russia’s continued participation in the ISS means for science
The nation’s pledge to support the International Space Station until 2028 is a relief for international scientists who depend on the station for their research.
- Layal Liverpool
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News |
Hard feelings over mission change for NASA’s Pluto spacecraft
US space agency plans to shift the New Horizons planetary probe to studying heliophysics, and some scientists don’t agree.
- Alexandra Witze
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World View |
Every nation needs a space agency
As commercial firms transform the global space economy, each country’s space governance will shape its opportunities for decades to come.
- Carissa Bryce Christensen
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News |
Private ispace Moon landing fails: researchers are investigating
Mission control was unable to re-establish contact with the M1 spacecraft, and early signs suggest it crash-landed on the lunar surface.
- Gemma Conroy
- & Miryam Naddaf
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News |
Private Moon mission prepares for historic landing attempt
The Japanese-built ispace lander, carrying a rover from the United Arab Emirates, could be the first private venture to land on the lunar surface.
- Miryam Naddaf
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News |
SpaceX Starship: launch of biggest-ever rocket ends with explosion
The SpaceX rocket made it partially through its first full test. It could change astrophysics and astronomy, as well as ferry people to the Moon and Mars.
- Alexandra Witze
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News |
Mega rocket Starship could enable new types of astrophysics
SpaceX’s Starship is poised to launch. As well as ferrying astronauts to the Moon and one day Mars, it could launch heavy science payloads, such as telescopes.
- Alexandra Witze
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News |
JWST gets best view yet of planet in hotly pursued star system
Telescope didn’t spot an atmosphere on TRAPPIST-1b, but has kicked off a new era in understanding planetary evolution.
- Alexandra Witze
SpaceX Starship launch ends in explosion — what’s next for the mega-rocket?