Featured
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News |
Renowned Arecibo telescope won’t be rebuilt — and astronomers are heartbroken
The US National Science Foundation has decided to instead open an educational centre at the site.
- Alexandra Witze
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News |
China’s first solar observatory aims to solve mysteries of the Sun’s eruptions
The mission, scheduled to launch on Sunday, will also help to improve forecasts of damaging space weather.
- Elizabeth Gibney
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News |
‘Bit of panic’: Astronomers forced to rethink early Webb telescope findings
Revised instrument calibrations are bedevilling work on the distant Universe.
- Alexandra Witze
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News Round-Up |
First exoplanet image, cancer deaths and pandemic preparation
The latest science news, in brief.
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News |
Webb telescope wows with first image of an exoplanet
Astronomers see it as the start of a bonanza of studies exploring planets outside the Solar System.
- Alexandra Witze
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News |
Webb telescope spots CO2 on exoplanet for first time: what it means for finding alien life
Report heralds what’s to come from the landmark observatory, which is set to explore 76 worlds during its first year.
- Shannon Hall
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News Round-Up |
Mild-COVID drugs, Omicron protection and disco-ball satellite
The latest science news, in brief.
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News |
‘Everybody is so excited’: South Korea set for first Moon mission
The Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter, or Danuri, has captivated scientists and the public.
- Smriti Mallapaty
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News |
Four revelations from the Webb telescope about distant galaxies
Astronomers are rapidly analysing spectacular snapshots of the faraway Universe.
- Alexandra Witze
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News |
Disco-ball satellite will put Einstein’s theory to strictest test yet
Scientists hope a laser-reflecting sphere will produce the most accurate measure so far of how Earth’s rotation warps space.
- Davide Castelvecchi
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News |
Hawaii law could break years-long astronomy impasse
A group including Native Hawaiians will now manage the mountain Maunakea, where Indigenous rights and astronomy have collided.
- Alexandra Witze
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Nature Podcast |
Ancient mud reveals the longest record of climate from the tropics
A sediment core from Peru unlocks thousands of years of climate data, and the first glimpses from the James Webb Space Telescope.
- Nick Petrić Howe
- & Shamini Bundell
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News |
Stunning new Webb images: baby stars, colliding galaxies and hot exoplanets
Anticipation of future science grows as NASA releases unprecedented glimpses of the night sky.
- Alexandra Witze
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News |
Landmark Webb telescope releases first science image — astronomers are in awe
Galaxies from near the dawn of time pepper the deepest-ever look into the night sky.
- Alexandra Witze
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News |
Surprising dust strike on Webb telescope has scientists on alert
Weeks after being hit by a micrometeoroid, the landmark observatory prepares to release its first scientific images.
- Alexandra Witze
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Review Article |
X-ray astronomy comes of age
The highlights of a wide range of studies using data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission (XMM-Newton) are reviewed.
- Belinda J. Wilkes
- , Wallace Tucker
- & Maria Santos-Lleo
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Article
| Open AccessSolar flare accelerates nearly all electrons in a large coronal volume
By evolving spatially resolved distributions of thermal and non-thermal electrons in a solar flare in a large coronal volume, it is shown that nearly all electrons experienced a prominent acceleration.
- Gregory D. Fleishman
- , Gelu M. Nita
- & Dale E. Gary
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Where I Work |
Pico pioneer: building tiny satellites for the Internet of Things
Julián Fernández Barcellona provides affordable, space-based connectivity for companies looking to monitor remote assets in real time.
- Virginia Gewin
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News |
‘Unsustainable’: how satellite swarms pose a rising threat to astronomy
SpaceX and other companies are still struggling to make their satellites darker in the night sky.
- Alexandra Witze
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Editorial |
NASA should lead humanity’s return to the Moon
The Artemis mission plans to send astronauts to the Moon in 2025 — a worthy goal for science and humanity in bleak times. The US Congress should cough up the cash.
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Costly SOFIA telescope faces termination after years of problems
NASA and the German space agency ground the telescope on a plane, citing the astronomy community’s concerns over cost and productivity.
- Alexandra Witze
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News |
Exclusive: Documents reveal NASA’s internal struggles over renaming Webb telescope
E-mails show agency’s controversial response to astronomers concerned about past LGBT+ discrimination.
- Alexandra Witze
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Research Highlight |
Astronomy’s carbon footprint is sky-high
Among the most intensive sources are the Hubble Space Telescope and, on Earth, the Very Large Telescope.
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Where I Work |
Campaign supernova: why I need a finely tuned antenna
Julia Casanueva enhances the sensitivity of the Virgo interferometer to better detect distant stellar explosions.
- Virginia Gewin
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News |
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is redrawing the geopolitics of space
The International Space Station is operating as normal, but other partnerships are unravelling.
- Alexandra Witze
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Nature Index |
Leading lights in strongest science nations make their mark
From solving planetary mysteries to unravelling the manifestation of memories, these five scientists stand out in their fields.
- Gemma Conroy
- & Benjamin Plackett
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News |
Ukraine conflict jeopardizes launch of Europe’s first Mars rover
Sanctions mean joint Russian–European ExoMars mission is likely to be postponed for a third time.
- Elizabeth Gibney
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News |
Earth-like planet spotted orbiting Sun’s closest star
Shifts in starlight from Proxima Centauri, observed over more than 2 years, reveal its third planet.
- Davide Castelvecchi
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Nature Podcast |
RNA test detects deadly pregnancy disorder early
RNA in blood reveals signs of pre-eclampsia before symptoms occur, and the issue of urine in our sewage and what can be done about it.
- Nick Petrić Howe
- & Shamini Bundell
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News |
Major African radio telescope will help to image black holes
US$25-million facility in Namibia will be Africa’s first millimetre-range radio telescope.
- Sarah Wild
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News |
Omicron’s origins, where’s Webb — the week in infographics
Nature highlights three key graphics from the week in science and research.
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Editorial |
NASA’s Webb telescope is an initial success — despite formidable odds
Science stands to make huge gains from the James Webb Space Telescope, but there are also lessons to learn from the epic management failures that beset the project.
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News |
Webb telescope reaches its final destination far from Earth
The ambitious observatory has arrived at its home — near a gravitationally special spot called L2 — for a premier view of the Universe.
- Alexandra Witze
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News Round-Up |
Webb telescope success, WHO chief and Omicron versus antibody therapies
The latest science news, in brief.
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Nature Podcast |
Webb Space Telescope makes history after tense launch
We highlight some recent stories from the Nature Briefing, including the latest on the James Webb Space Telescope, an ichthyosaur fossil find, and more.
- Benjamin Thompson
- , Noah Baker
- & Flora Graham
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News |
Landmark Webb observatory is now officially a telescope
The observatory has flawlessly unfurled its mirrors and sunshield — although more steps are needed before the science can begin.
- Alexandra Witze
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News |
Webb telescope blasts off successfully — launching a new era in astronomy
Hundreds of engineering steps must now take place as the observatory unfurls and travels to its new home.
- Alexandra Witze
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News Q&A |
Mars mission is China’s ‘first step’ in planetary exploration
Nature talks to Zhang Rongqiao, architect of the China National Space Administration’s Tianwen-1 mission, which landed the Zhurong rover on Mars.
- Smriti Mallapaty
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News |
COVID evolution and the Webb telescope — the week in infographics
Nature highlights three key infographics from the week in science and research.
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News Round-Up |
Metal planet, COVID pact and Hubble telescope time
The latest science news, in brief.
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Nature Podcast |
How 'megastudies' are changing behavioural science
Speeding up comparisons of behavioural interventions, and what to expect from the James Webb Space Telescope.
- Benjamin Thompson
- & Shamini Bundell
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News Feature |
The $11-billion Webb telescope aims to probe the early Universe
Three decades after it was conceived, Hubble’s successor is set for launch. Here’s why astronomers around the world can’t wait.
- Alexandra Witze
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News |
China’s Mars rover has amassed reams of novel geological data
Data collected by the Tianwen-1 mission and Zhurong Mars rover are offering insights into a previously unexplored region of Mars’s northern hemisphere.
- Smriti Mallapaty
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News |
Record number of first-time observers get Hubble telescope time
Since NASA introduced a double-blind review system to reduce bias, more successful proposals are coming from astronomers who haven’t been awarded observation time before.
- Dalmeet Singh Chawla
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News & Views |
Iodine powers low-cost engines for satellites
Solid iodine transforms directly into gas when heated — a property that has been used to create cheap, compact engines that could make large networks of small satellites commercially viable.
- Igor Levchenko
- & Kateryna Bazaka
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Nature Podcast |
Sea squirts teach new lessons in evolution
Spineless sea squirts shed light on vertebrate evolution, and an iodine-fuelled engine powering a satellite in space.
- Shamini Bundell
- & Benjamin Thompson
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News |
US astronomy's 10-year plan is super-ambitious
Its ‘decadal survey’ pitches big new space observatories, funding for large telescopes and a reckoning over social issues plaguing the field.
- Alexandra Witze
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News |
BepiColombo gets first close-up look at Mercury
The European and Japanese mission performed the first of six slingshot manoeuvres around the planet. It will ultimately insert two probes into orbit in 2025.
- Davide Castelvecchi