EurekAlert! News by Subject: Space & Planetary

Space & Planetary

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 18-Jun-2026 06:16 ET (18-Jun-2026 10:16 GMT/UTC)

11-Mar-2026

UW astronomers collect rare evidence of two planets colliding

University of Washington
Peer-Reviewed Publication

An oddly-behaving star led two UW astronomers to capture rare evidence of a collision between two planets in a distant solar system. The discovery could aid scientists in their search for worlds similar to our own.

Journal: The Astrophysical Journal Letters

11-Mar-2026

New photonic device, developed by MIT researchers, efficiently beams light into free space

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new class of photonic devices enables the precise broadcasting of light from the chip into free space in a scalable way, which could lead to advanced displays, high-speed optical communications, and larger-scale quantum computers.

Journal: Nature
Funder: MITRE Quantum Moonshot Program, U.S. Department of Energy, Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies

11-Mar-2026

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

11-Mar-2026

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

10-Mar-2026

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

10-Mar-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

9-Mar-2026

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

6-Mar-2026

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.

6-Mar-2026

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