Berlin, Germany (SPX) Jan 26, 2026
Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, working with colleagues at the Centro de Astrobiologia in Spain, have identified the largest sulfur-bearing molecule yet seen in interstellar space. The compound, 2,5-cyclohexadiene-1-thione (C6H6S), was detected in the molecular cloud G+0.693-0.027 near the center of the Milky Way, about 27,000 light years from Earth. With a

Paris, France (SPX) Jan 26, 2026
Just as avalanches on snowy mountains begin with the motion of a small amount of snow, Solar Orbiter has revealed that a powerful solar flare can start from initially weak magnetic disturbances that rapidly escalate into a large-scale eruption. During a close approach to the Sun on 30 September 2024, the ESA-led Solar Orbiter spacecraft captured one of its most detailed views yet of a larg

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jan 26, 2026
Space debris, the thousands of fragments of human made hardware abandoned in Earth orbit, can threaten people and infrastructure when it falls out of the sky and reaches the ground. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University and Imperial College London have now shown that existing networks of earthquake detecting seismometers can also detect and track falling space junk in near real time, offering

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jan 26, 2026
Sweeping winds of vaporized metals have been detected in a massive cloud of gas and dust that dimmed the light of a distant star for nearly nine months, offering a rare view of late stage planetary system evolution. Astronomers obtained the observations with the Gemini South telescope in Chile, one half of the International Gemini Observatory, which is partly funded by the U.S. National Science

Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Jan 26, 2026
Modern cells rely on intricate molecular machinery and genetic programs to grow and divide, but the earliest protocells were likely simple lipid-bound compartments whose behavior depended mainly on their physical and chemical properties. A new experimental study suggests that subtle differences in membrane composition could have helped these primitive compartments grow, fuse, and hold on to gene

Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Jan 26, 2026
China is preparing to bring into operation its first offshore platform purpose built for testing, launching and recovering reusable liquid propellant rockets, with the goal of lowering access costs to orbit and expanding commercial launch capacity. The new facility is located at the Oriental Aerospace Port in Haiyang in east China s Shandong province, currently the country s only dedicated

Week in images: 19-23 January 2026

Discover our week through the lens

Video: 00:09:35

ESA project astronaut Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski captured these stunning timelapse videos during his 20-day stay aboard the International Space Station as part of Axiom Mission 4, known as Ignis. Filmed from the Cupola – the Space Station’s iconic seven-windowed observation module – the footage showcases breathtaking views of Earth and the Moon from orbit.

Launched on 25 June 2025 aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, Sławosz conducted 13 experiments proposed by Polish institutions in collaboration with ESA, plus three ESA-led investigations. These spanned human research, materials science, biology, biotechnology and technology demonstrations.

The Ax-4 mission marks the second commercial human spaceflight

Image: The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission takes us at the Brazilian-Bolivian border over part of the Pantanal region, a unique ecosystem, home to an impressive variety of plants and wildlife.