Story Archive
All dispatches from the beach
Browse the complete collection of stories from the shoreline.
Oct 06, 2026
Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Is Leaking Gas in Slow Motion — and Scientists Aren't Sure Why
New spectroscopy of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS shows its gas is escaping at only about half the speed of typical solar system comets, alongside unusually strong iron and nickel signatures — a puzzle for astronomers studying this rare visitor from another star system.
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Sep 24, 2026
Roman Space Telescope Opens Its Eyes: Camera and Coronagraph Power Up
NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope has switched on its two main instruments en route to its observing post a million miles from Earth, with first science images expected in early 2027.
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Sep 18, 2026
Webb Images a Rocky World
Webb's MIRI instrument has directly read the surface chemistry of exoplanet LHS 3844 b, a scorched super-Earth 50 light-years away — and found a barren basalt world with no atmosphere.
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Mar 31, 2026
Carbon Skies
A Jupiter-mass world holds an atmosphere made almost entirely of carbon and helium.
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Mar 31, 2026
Commercialization of the Moon
NASA is paying private companies to deliver its payloads to the Moon—and the race is already underway. Discover which commercial space firms are leading the charge to open lunar exploration to American enterprise.
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Mar 30, 2026
Light Sculpting
Researchers have transformed light into a remote control for building crystals, enabling them to grow, dissolve, and reshape microscopic structures on demand. This breakthrough could revolutionize everything from adaptive optical coatings to next-generation computing technologies.
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Mar 29, 2026
Artemis II Mission Insignia
Discover how the Artemis II mission insignia encodes a powerful message of universal exploration in its clever "AII" design, uniting an international crew on humanity's first lunar voyage in over 50 years. Plus, learn about the deeply personal Seven Sacred Laws patch that Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen will carry, created by an Anishinaabe artist to honour Indigenous wisdom on the journey around "Grandmother Moon."
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