The first high-resolution images have been received from Copernicus Sentinel-1D and were shared publicly for the first time at the European Space Agency’s Ministerial Council, held today in Bremen, Germany. Glaciers in Antarctica, the tip of South America, as well as the city of Bremen, are visible in these stunning radar images.

Launched just a little over three months ago, Copernicus Sentinel-5A has returned its first images – including a global map of ozone, maps of nitrogen dioxide over the Middle East and South Africa, formaldehyde over parts of Africa, and emissions of sulphur dioxide from an active volcano in Russia – showcasing the mission’s powerful capability to monitor atmospheric gases worldwide.

Image: Ministers and high-level representatives gather for ESA's Ministerial Council

Cambridge, MA (SPX) Nov 21, 2025
Some 200 light years from Earth, the core of a dead star is circling a larger star in a macabre cosmic dance. The dead star is a type of white dwarf that exerts a powerful magnetic field as it pulls material from the larger star into a swirling, accreting disk. The spiraling pair is what's known as an "intermediate polar" - a type of star system that gives off a complex pattern of intense radiat

Dubendorf, Switzerland (SPX) Nov 25 2025
Empa specialists carried out a comprehensive study of the EURECA European satellite, employing non-destructive X-ray imaging to investigate its internal features after the spacecraft's return from orbit. EURECA, launched in 1992 aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis by Swiss astronaut Claude Nicollier, completed eleven months in orbit before its recovery by Space Shuttle Endeavour and return to Earth in

Pasadena CA (JPL) Nov 21, 2025
Two orbiters and a rover captured images of the interstellar object - from the closest location any of the agency's spacecraft may get - that could reveal new details. At the start of October, three of NASA's Mars spacecraft had front row seats to view 3I/ATLAS, only the third interstellar object so far discovered in our solar system. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) snapped a close-u

Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Nov 26, 2025
In the 1930s, astronomer Fritz Zwicky noted that galaxies moved faster than expected for their visible mass, suggesting an unseen matter now known as dark matter. Since then, dark matter remained unobserved except through its gravitational effect on visible matter. Researchers have targeted areas dense in dark matter to find signals predicted by theoretical models. A leading hypothesis hol

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Nov 26, 2025
Astronomers at the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy analyzed the vibrations of a distant red giant star now orbiting a quiet black hole in the Gaia BH2 system. Using NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), the team observed patterns of faint starquakes, providing a detailed look at the star's core via its oscillations. Lead author Daniel Hey explained, "Just like s

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Nov 26, 2025
NASA's OSIRIS-APEX spacecraft flew within 2,136 miles of Earth on Tuesday, Sept. 23, as part of its mission to study the near-Earth asteroid Apophis. During its close approach, the spacecraft recorded images and data of Earth. These observations are being used to calibrate its science instruments. Approximately nine hours after passing by, OSIRIS-APEX was 142,000 miles from Earth and trave