New European exercise device begins testing with first rope-pulling workout in space
ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot has begun testing the European Enhanced Exploration Exercise Device (E4D) on the International Space Station.
Weekly digests · 6 Jul – 12 Jul 2026
Week 28, 2026
22 stories that week, most of them about galaxies & cosmology, stars & supernovae, comets & asteroids.
The week's biggest
Putting the Landing Site Before the Lander
How do you pick a landing site before you know how you're going to land? The scientists behind NASA's latest Moon missions…
Featured Image: A Mass Mystery in the Bullet Cluster
Using data from JWST and the Dark Energy Camera, researchers have revisited a long-standing issue with measurements of the famous Bullet Cluster.
Webb uncovers unusual galaxy shaped by cosmic collision
In new images from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope to celebrate its fourth science anniversary, a familiar galaxy transforms into something…
Physicists recreate black hole energy extraction in the lab
Researchers have recreated the physics of extracting energy from a spinning black hole using a stationary device that produces synthetic ultrafast rotation.
Older than the Sun: Astronomers find new clues to the origin of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS
Astronomers have used the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (ESO's VLT) to study the composition of 3I/ATLAS, the brightest interstellar object…
Frames from that week
Waxing Gibbous Moon
NASA ·
Centaurus A (NIRCam image)
ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA ·
Curiosity Sees Martian Sulfur Up Close
NASA ·
Everything else
01:14 UTC
Europe just unveiled a new rival to SpaceX’s Starship
A detailed independent study found that SpaceX's Starship is every bit as revolutionary as expected, while revealing both…
ScienceDaily
Launch
Launch
21:48 UTC
Gaia Data Show That the Initial Mass Function Is Not Universal
Do all clusters form stars with the same distribution of masses? Researchers have demonstrated that the initial mass…
AAS Nova
Stars
Stars
16:00 UTC
Traces of Helium Detected in Type Ic Supernova 2014L
Jing Lu et al 2026 ApJL 1002 L11 Though Type Ic supernovae are classified in part by the…
AAS Nova
Stars
Stars
16:00 UTC
Potential Interaction of 99942 Apophis with the High Earth Orbit Population During the 2029 Close Approach
Giulia Schettino and Alessandro Rossi 2026 Planet. Sci. J. 7 110 Though the asteroid Apophis will not collide…
AAS Nova
Small Bodies
Small Bodies
12:43 UTC
The hidden flow
Image: The hidden flow
ESA Exploration
Crewed
Crewed
16:00 UTC
Spectroscopic Confirmation of a Large and Luminous Galaxy with Weak Emission Lines at z = 13.53
Callum T. Donnan et al 2026 ApJ 1002 134 PAN-z14-1 is the fourth most distant galaxy known to…
AAS Nova
Cosmology
Cosmology
12:00 UTC
Revisit the Earth Explorer 12 User Consultation Meeting
Revisit the Earth Explorer 12 User Consultation Meeting Held on 7–8 July 2026 in Tallinn, Estonia
ESA Earth Observation
Orbit
Orbit
08:00 UTC
Powerful cosmic winds may have destroyed galaxies in the early universe
Astronomers discover a huge plume of gas streaming out of a galaxy during rapid star formation
Physics World
Cosmology
Cosmology
16:00 UTC
Distant Galaxies: Dead or in Disguise?
Astrobites reports on whether some of the most massive galaxies in the early universe are truly quenched, or…
AAS Nova
Cosmology
Cosmology
21:27 UTC
This alien planet never has sunrise or sunset. It may support life
A planet with one side permanently roasting and the other frozen in endless darkness might still have a…
ScienceDaily
Exoplanets
Exoplanets
06:04 UTC
The galaxy’s coldest “stars” may actually be alien megastructures
Scientists have identified new clues that could help astronomers spot one of the most famous hypothetical alien megastructures…
ScienceDaily
Stars
Stars
15:00 UTC
Does the Bullet Cluster contain a lot less dark matter than we thought?
New analysis of JWST observations suggests that the Bullet Cluster of galaxies might only have half as much…
Physics World
Cosmology
Cosmology
16:00 UTC
The First Systematic Survey of Stellar Halos in High-Inclination Galaxies Reveals Unusually Quiescent Merger Histories of Nearby Galaxies
Bojun Tao et al 2026 ApJS 284 31 Analysis of 93 stellar halos detected in a sample of…
AAS Nova
Cosmology
Cosmology
16:00 UTC
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Roman Sees Where You Are: Predicting Exoplanet Transit Yields in the Rosette Nebula with the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope
Ritvik Sai Narayan et al 2026 AJ 171 282 Simulations predict that the Roman Space Telescope will discover…
AAS Nova
Instruments
Instruments
20:39 UTC
Hayabusa2’s flyby of asteroid Torifune
On Sunday, July 5, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)'s Hayabusa2 probe performed a close flyby of the…
The Planetary Society
Solar System
Solar System
14:30 UTC
Say hello to our little friends
Hayabusa2 and Tianwen-2 get up close and personal with two asteroids.
The Planetary Society
Small Bodies
Small Bodies