SAN ANTONIO — April 28, 2025 —The NASA New Horizons spacecraft’s extensive observations of Lyman-alpha emissions have resulted in the first-ever map from the galaxy at this important ultraviolet wavelength, providing a new look at the galactic region surrounding our solar system. The findings are described in a new study authored by the SwRI-led New Horizons team.

Scientists at the University of Leicester and NASA’s Glenn Research Center have combined cutting edge radioisotope power system technology with high efficiency power convertor technology

The successful test results demonstrate robustness and reliability for potential future spaceflight missions, and a pathway for applications in space

The Space Nuclear Power team based at Space Park Leicester travelled to NASA Glenn in January 2025 to support the project

An international team of scientists led by a Rutgers University-New Brunswick astrophysicist has discovered a potentially star-forming cloud that is one of the largest single structures in the sky and among the closest to the sun and Earth ever to be detected. The scientists have named the molecular hydrogen cloud “Eos,” after the Greek goddess of mythology who is the personification of dawn. Their discovery is outlined in a study published in Nature Astronomy.

The SETI Institute and the Maldives Space Research Organisation (MSRO) will collaborate on astronomy research, space science education and public outreach. This initiative, established through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), provides a framework for projects that combine cutting-edge scientific research with the rich cultural heritage of Maldivian celestial navigation.  

The collaboration began during the 2024 Space for Island Nations Conference (SIN2024), where the SETI Institute first learned about MSRO’s efforts to engage students and the public in astronomy. MSRO recently acquired a Unistellar telescope to provide students and tourists with hands-on experience in astronomy. Additionally, they published a cultural star map highlighting significant constellations and patterns based on ancestral Maldivian navigation traditions.

“We saw the incredible work MSRO was doing at SIN2024, inspiring this exciting collaboration,” said Dr. Franck Marchis, Director of Citizen Science at the SETI Institute and Chief Science Officer at Unistellar. “The Maldives, with its unique location and cultural connection to the stars, is an ideal place to develop new astronomy initiatives. We look forward to working with MSRO to bring science and traditional Maldivian wisdom together."

The first study to examine the relationship between the greenness of an area and police violence found that areas with a greater amount of green space had fewer fatal police shootings. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign landscape architecture professor William Sullivan was part of the research team.

The world's largest solar telescope, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope in Hawaii, has reached an important milestone. After almost 15 years of preparation, the German instrument for the Inouye Solar Telescope, the Visible Tunable Filtergraph (VTF), has now taken its first images. The imaging spectro-polarimeter was developed and built at the Institute for Solar Physics (KIS) in Freiburg (Germany). The Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Göttingen (Germany) is a partner in the project. The data published now were obtained during the technical commissioning of the instrument. VTF analyzes the sunlight captured by the Inouye Solar Telescope in more detail than ever before and, among other things, extracts information on the flow velocity of the solar plasma and the magnetic field strength at the visible surface of the Sun and in the directly adjacent gas layers above. Even in the current technical test phase, VTF is making smallest structures visible. In later scientific operation, when the data is extensively post-processed, the resolution will improve further. With a primary mirror diameter of four meters, the Inouye Solar Telescope is the largest in the world. Thanks to the optimal observational conditions on the Hawaiian volcano