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Space & Planetary

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 20-Apr-2026 23:16 ET (21-Apr-2026 03:16 GMT/UTC)

UCSB researcher bridges the worlds of general relativity and supernova astrophysics

University of California - Santa Barbara
Peer-Reviewed Publication

For decades, astronomers have used distant supernovae as cosmic lighthouses to test fundamental physics and to measure the universe. For Joseph Farah, a fifth-year graduate student at UC Santa Barbara, one particular supernova began to signal something never seen before: a “chirp.”

Journal: Nature

Oval orbit casts new light on black hole - neutron star mergers

University of Birmingham
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Breakthrough discovery provides new clues about how these celestial bodies - that push the known laws of physics to their limits - find each other.

Journal: The Astrophysical Journal Letters

Press program now available for the world's largest physics meeting

American Physical Society
Meeting Announcement

Check out the press program for the American Physical Society’s Global Physics Summit today. The conference will be held in Denver and online everywhere March 15-20.

Meeting: Global Physics Summit 2026

A new model defines an upper limit to planetary radiation belt intensity

University of Helsinki
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Developed from recent observations, the model can be used to study exoplanets.

Journal: Science Advances

Shifting from biotic to abiotic drivers of urban microbial multifunctionality under drought and rehydration

Science China Press
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A research paper just published in Science China Life Sciences reveals how microbes and soil properties respond to drought stress and subsequent recovery in the urban green space. Researchers found that while drought significantly altered microbial communities and enhanced multifunctionality, the drivers of the multifunctionality shifted fundamentally during recovery. Regulation transits from biotic factors during drought to soil properties after rehydration. This insight is vital for managing urban ecosystem resilience against climate change.

Journal: Science China Life Sciences

Rice selected to lead US Space Force Strategic Technology Institute 4

Rice University
Grant and Award Announcement

Rice University has signed an $8.1 million cooperative agreement to lead the United States Space Force University Consortium/Space Strategic Technology Institute 4 (SSTI), called the Center for Advanced Space Sensing Technologies (CASST) at Rice.

New NASA DART mission data reveals that asteroids throw ‘cosmic snowballs’ at each other

University of Maryland
Peer-Reviewed Publication

University of Maryland-led astronomers found evidence that rocks continuously travel between Didymos and its smaller moon Dimorphos, reshaping our understanding of how near-Earth asteroids evolve over time—and how they can threaten our planet.

Journal: The Planetary Science Journal

Astronomer Chris Impey to receive 2026 Lewis Thomas Prize

Rockefeller University
Grant and Award Announcement

Impey, Distinguished Professor of Astronomy at the University of Arizona’s Steward Observatory, will receive the Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing about Science at The Rockefeller University on March 9, 2026. The annual international award recognizes scientists whose books bring clarity and literary depth to complex ideas while engaging a broad public audience.

Why GNSS-R soil moisture retrieval has relied on reference products—and how a physics-based approach is changing that

Journal of Remote Sensing
Peer-Reviewed Publication

For decades, global soil moisture monitoring from space has depended on reference datasets. Satellite observations, while indispensable, are rarely used alone; instead, their retrieval algorithms are typically calibrated or constrained using external soil moisture products derived from other satellites, models, or reanalysis systems.

Journal: Journal of Remote Sensing

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