The Moon's surface undergoes extreme temperature shifts, ranging from over 100°C in daylight to minus 100°C in darkness. These fluctuations are due to the lack of atmosphere, which causes rapid temperature changes. The Moon's regolith, poor at conducting heat, leads to insulation at deeper levels. Shaded areas, particularly in lunar pits, maintain more stable temperatures, potentially crucial for future habitation. The poles, especially near the south, experience permanent shadows, making them ideal for ice trapping and human exploration

New research challenges the idea that 55 Cancri e, once dubbed a “diamond planet”, is rich in carbon. Re-analysing telescope data, scientists concluded that the host star has a lot more oxygen than originally believed, making the possibility that its planet formed with a carbon-dominant atmosphere less likely.

NASA’s Webb Telescope imaged the Lobster Nebula (NGC 6357), 5,500 light-years away. Its young star cluster, Pismis 24, contains giant stars carving glowing gas pillars. Pismis 24-1, once thought to be one supermassive star, is a triple system with stars up to 74 times the Sun’s mass.

Astronomers have discovered that planets can survive without stars, drifting as rogue or hypervelocity worlds. Some are flung into space by black holes, while others are displaced by gas giants. On some of these rogue worlds, the idea goes, there might be oceans beneath icy crusts, where life, at least life at a microbe level, could exist.

Exoplanets are planets orbiting stars outside our solar system, hidden by stellar glare and detected indirectly. Astronomers identify them by tracking star wobbles or dips in brightness during planetary transits. NASA’s Kepler mission revealed thousands, with TESS now expanding the search. These discoveries confirm that planetary systems are abundant throughout the Milky Way.

Scientists at Brookhaven’s RHIC have calibrated the sPHENIX detector, confirming it can track particle collisions with high precision. Now ready for full operations, sPHENIX will study quark-gluon plasma—the fleeting primordial matter from the Big Bang. By analyzing its “ashes,” physicists aim to reconstruct how the universe looked in its earliest microseconds.

UY Scuti, a red hypergiant about 1,700 times the Sun’s radius, is the universe’s largest known star. Nearly 5 billion suns could fit inside its volume, but rivals like NML Cygni and Westerlund 1-26 challenge its claim to the crown. Astronomers stress that size estimates carry large uncertainties, leaving the title of biggest star still contested.

Asteroids, comets, meteoroids, meteors, and meteorites may seem similar, but each plays a unique role in the Solar System. Asteroids are rocky remnants, comets are icy wanderers, meteors are shooting stars, and meteorites are fragments that survive the plunge to Earth.

Hubble’s observing program has revealed new details of NGC 7456, a spiral galaxy in the constellation Grus, over 51 million light-years away. The image shows star-forming regions, dust clouds, and the galaxy’s patchy spiral arms.

In a historic collaboration, scientists created the first comprehensive mammalian brain activity map. The project, led by the International Brain Laboratory, analyzed data from 600,000 cells across 139 mice. Findings revealed that decision-making and memory are spread across the brain, not confined to specific regions as previously believed.

NASA has named Amit Kshatriya as its new Associate Administrator, a role overseeing agency operations and strategy. A 20-year NASA veteran, Kshatriya has led Artemis Moon-to-Mars missions and brings engineering, leadership, and spaceflight expertise. His appointment signals NASA’s renewed focus on Artemis and a bold vision for lunar exploration and future Mars missions.

Astronomers using LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA detected 128 collisions of black holes and neutron stars, including two rare mixed mergers that double previous records. These findings reveal new details of stellar evolution, refine Hubble constant estimates, and test Einstein’s relativity in extreme conditions. The cosmic “graveyard” offers fresh insight into how stars die and black holes grow.

Scientists at the University of Tokyo have visualized gold nanoclusters in their earliest growth stage and discovered new elongated structures called gold quantum needles. These exhibit remarkable quantum properties, opening possibilities for sharper biomedical imaging and more efficient light-energy conversion in future applications.

In Sept. 2025, NASA and NOAA will launch three spacecraft aboard a Falcon 9 to the Sun–Earth L1 point. IMAP will map the heliosphere’s edge, the Carruthers Geocorona Observatory will study Earth’s exosphere, and SWFO-L1 will deliver real-time solar storm warnings. Together, they aim to improve space-weather science and safeguard technology on Earth.

The James Webb Space Telescope has spotted a bizarre planet-forming disk dominated by carbon dioxide where water is almost absent. This rare finding, in star system XUE 10 within NGC 6357, challenges current models of planetary formation and may reshape our understanding of habitable worlds.

ISRO has successfully tested drogue parachutes for the Gaganyaan crew module at its Chandigarh facility. The rocket-sled trials simulated high-speed re-entry conditions, ensuring parachutes deploy and stabilize the capsule. This achievement marks a critical milestone as India prepares for its first crewed space mission, aiming to join the US, Russia, and China in human spaceflight.

RRI’s PRATUSH—a credit-card-sized computer payload—will detect faint radio signals from hydrogen to study the “Cosmic Dawn”. Designed for deployment on the Moon’s far side, the system offers noise-free, efficient data handling using an SBC and FPGA combo. If successful, it could help determine when the first stars formed and expand our cosmic understanding.

A newly discovered asteroid, 2025 QV5, about the size of a school bus, will safely pass Earth today at a distance of 500,000 miles, roughly twice as far as the moon. NASA’s JPL notes it will not return this close again until September 2125. Scientists are tracking its path to refine orbital predictions and future flybys.

On October 3, 2025, interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS will pass just 30 million km from Mars — nine times closer than from Earth. ESA’s Mars Express and TGO, along with NASA and China’s orbiters, will attempt to image its coma, analyze gases, and study this rare visitor from beyond the solar system.

Astronomers using JWST and Hubble have discovered JWST’s Quintet, a system of at least five merging galaxies just 800 million years after the Big Bang. This rare find shows how galaxies grew rapidly in the early universe and may explain how some became inactive so soon.

On September 7–8, 2025, a total lunar eclipse will turn the Moon deep red for 82 minutes. Visible to 70–85% of Earth’s population, it will be the longest such event since 2022. Skywatchers in Asia, Africa, Australia, and parts of Europe will enjoy the full celestial show.

Scientists at Peking University have developed a stretchable elastomer that converts body heat into electricity, detailed in Nature. The breakthrough uses thermoelectricity to power wearable and implantable devices without batteries. Enhanced with a doping agent for higher conductivity, the material combines flexibility with efficiency, marking a leap for self-powered electronics and medical technologies.

Scientists using NASA’s InSight lander data have uncovered dozens of dense blobs hidden in Mars’ mantle, possibly remnants of failed protoplanets from the early solar system. Preserved for billions of years, these structures reveal Mars’ mantle evolved sluggishly compared with Earth, offering a unique window into planetary formation and the violent impacts that shaped the Red Planet.

NASA’s Juno spacecraft has captured Callisto’s elusive auroral footprint, completing the “family portrait” of Jupiter’s Galilean moons. Each moon carves its own aurora into the gas giant’s poles, revealing how they interact with Jupiter’s powerful magnetosphere. Callisto’s faint arc appeared during a 2019 flyby, finally confirming its mark.

Astronomers have discovered Calvera, a pulsar speeding 6,500 light-years above the Milky Way’s disk. Formed from a supernova in a nearly empty region, Calvera challenges long-held ideas of star birth and death. Its discovery reveals that extreme stellar events can occur even in the galaxy’s sparse outer halo.

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission has found presolar stardust grains inside Bennu’s samples. These tiny particles, older than the Sun, carry chemical fingerprints of ancient stars and interstellar space. Bennu thus serves as a pristine time capsule, preserving the earliest clues to the birth of our solar system.

For decades, geologists believed the Himalayas were built on a double layer of continental crust. New research overturns that view, revealing that a dense slab of mantle rock actually wedges between India’s and Asia’s crusts beneath the range. This “mantle sandwich” better explains seismic data and how the mountains remain so stable while rising by about 1 cm each year.

Astronomers are exploring a revolutionary space telescope design with a long, narrow primary mirror instead of a traditional circular one. A 20×1 m rectangular mirror concentrates resolution along its length, enabling it to separate Earth-like planets from their stars at ~30 light-years in infrared light. Rotating the telescope 90° captures planets in all orbital orientations.

Between Sept. 1–2, Earth will be struck by a powerful geomagnetic storm caused by a rare “cannibal” solar eruption. The event formed when a fast coronal mass ejection (CME) overtook and consumed an earlier one, creating a stronger, chaotic cloud. As this storm interacts with Earth’s magnetic field, it may produce vivid auroras visible far beyond their usual range.

Portugal has faced devastating earthquakes for centuries, including the 1755 Lisbon disaster. Scientists now link these events to oceanic plate delamination beneath the Horseshoe Abyssal Plain. This surprising discovery, published in Nature Geoscience, explains why quakes strike far from fault lines and improves future preparedness in Portugal and Spain.

SpaceX successfully launched 28 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit on August 31, 2025, aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral. The deployment will be expanding Starlink’s growing constellation, now totaling more than 8,200 active satellites providing global internet coverage.

A spectacular total lunar eclipse, also called the Blood Moon, will occur on Sept. 7–8, 2025. Viewers in India, Europe, Africa, and Asia can enjoy the event, while the Americas will miss it. Totality lasts 82 minutes, with livestreams available for those with cloudy skies.

At Semicon India 2025 on Tuesday, Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw showcased the 32-bit microprocessor ‘Vikram’. It is developed by ISRO and is India's first fully indigenous 32-bit microprocessor. As per ISRO, Vikram is designed for launch vehicle operations and can withstand harsh environmental conditions. As per Vaishnaw, two other fabrication plants will also release their chips in the coming months.

Scientists have created a washable fibre computer that integrates sensors, processors, and communication modules into a single strand. Tested in garments, the fibres achieved up to 95% accuracy in detecting human movements. Researchers say the breakthrough could lead to practical smart clothing, though challenges like energy use and communication speed remain.

NASA astronaut Megan McArthur, the first woman to pilot a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, retires after 20 years. She logged 213 days in space, flew two missions, and was the last to handle the Hubble Telescope. Her contributions to ISS science and leadership roles shaped future lunar and Mars exploration, leaving a lasting mark on NASA’s mission

Astronauts aboard the ISS concluded a week of research on bone health, brain adaptation, and eye function while servicing spacesuits and systems. The crew also captured Earth imagery and prepared for the upcoming Cygnus cargo mission launching on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket this September.

The European Space Agency’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) successfully executed a Venus flyby on August 31, 2025, using the planet’s gravity to speed toward Jupiter. Engineers overcame a brief antenna glitch before the maneuver, and the spacecraft endured Venus’s intense heat by shielding itself with its high-gain antenna.

NASA plans to build a 100-kilowatt nuclear fission reactor on the Moon’s south pole by 2030 to power Artemis missions and future lunar bases. The site offers access to water ice but raises legal and diplomatic concerns under the Outer Space Treaty. With China and Russia advancing their own lunar power plants, the move from the US.

The NISAR satellite, developed by NASA and ISRO, is ready to begin full science operations. Using dual-band radar, it will provide high-precision data on land movement, ice dynamics, vegetation, and natural hazards, supporting global research and disaster management efforts.

NASA’s Perseverance rover has discovered striking megaripples — giant Martian sand waves — at a site called Kerrlaguna in Jezero Crater. These formations, about a meter tall, are larger than Earth’s beach ripples but smaller than the biggest dunes. Scientists say they formed when Mars had a thicker atmosphere and stronger winds, and many now appear frozen in time, shifting only about a meter every nine Earth years.

Chinese researchers have created succulents that glow in the dark using special afterglow particles. The plants can shine for up to two hours and may provide a sustainable, low-carbon alternative to traditional electric lighting in the future.

Caltech scientists developed a hybrid quantum memory that stores qubit states 30 times longer by converting them into sound waves. The method, using mechanical oscillators at gigahertz frequencies, reduces energy loss and shows scalability potential. Published in Nature Physics, the breakthrough marks a step toward practical, long-term storage for superconducting quantum computers.

SpaceX’s Starship rocket has scored a landmark success on its 10th test flight. On Aug. 26, 2025, the 400-foot booster launched flawlessly, completed hot-stage separation, and deployed eight dummy Starlink satellites — its first-ever payload. The upper stage then re-entered Earth’s atmosphere, surviving long enough to reignite an engine and splash down in the Indian Ocean, despite shedding some debris.

Astronomers have captured a groundbreaking sight: WISPIT 2b, a baby gas giant planet forming within a dusty, multi-ring protoplanetary disk around a young Sun-like star 430 light-years away. Infrared images from the Very Large Telescope show the planet carving a dark path in the rings as it feeds on gas and dust. This rare discovery provides the first direct evidence of a planet embedded in a multi-ring disk.

Almost 200 years after the Carnot limit defined the maximum efficiency of heat engines, scientists have introduced a microscopic design that seems to break the rule. Called the “Gambling Carnot Engine,” it works by monitoring a single trapped particle and stepping in at just the right instant. This clever feedback process allows the engine to convert nearly all absorbed heat into usable work.

NASA’s Perseverance rover has photographed a helmet-shaped rock on Mars. Nicknamed “Horneflya,” the unusual spherule-covered formation intrigues scientists exploring how water, volcanic activity, or chemical processes shaped the Martian surface. Captured by Mastcam-Z, the discovery adds to Perseverance’s catalogue of strange formations and offers vital insights into the Red Planet’s geological history.

NASA has unveiled the Orion Mission Evaluation Room at Johnson Space Center to support Artemis II. Staffed by engineers from NASA, Lockheed Martin, ESA, and Airbus, the facility will provide round-the-clock oversight of Orion’s performance as it carries astronauts around the Moon. The new center ensures real-time monitoring, rapid problem-solving, and data analysis to secure crew safety and guide future missions

NASA is preparing for Artemis II, the first crewed mission to the Moon since Apollo, with a new control hub at Johnson Space Center. The Orion Mission Evaluation Room (MER) will support flight controllers by monitoring Orion’s systems in real time during the 10-day mission. Staffed 24/7, the MER will compare telemetry with expected performance, troubleshoot issues, and coordinate with NASA centers and industry partners. The room features 24 consoles, cutting-edge displays, and engineers from NASA, Lockheed Martin, ESA, and Airbus. This facility ensures astronaut safety while providing critical data for future Artemis lunar missions.

The James Webb Space Telescope has unveiled stunning new details of the Butterfly Nebula, a planetary nebula 3,400 light-years away. Using its infrared vision, Webb detected crystalline silicates, large dust grains, and carbon-rich PAH molecules within the nebula’s dusty torus. These discoveries reveal how dying stars recycle minerals and organic compounds, spreading raw materials that seed new stars, planets, and potentially life itself. Reported in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, the findings highlight planetary nebulae as vital factories for planet-building ingredients.

China has unveiled Darwin Monkey, the world’s largest neuromorphic supercomputer. With over 2 billion artificial neurons and 100 billion synapses, it mirrors a macaque brain’s complexity. Designed by Zhejiang University and Zhejiang Lab, the system could accelerate neuroscience simulations and advance artificial general intelligence while consuming only 2,000 watts of power.

The famous 1977 “Wow!” signal — a mysterious radio burst detected by Ohio’s Big Ear telescope — has been reanalyzed using modern computing techniques. Researchers digitized old telescope records, finding the signal was about four times stronger than first thought, peaking at 250 Janskys. The recalculations also refined its frequency and sky location, ruling out man-made interference. While the true source remains uncertain, dense hydrogen clouds emitting natural maser signals are now leading candidates. Nearly 50 years later, the Wow! signal continues to puzzle astronomers worldwide.