Space & Physics: Did we just find an exomoon?

Plus, announcing math’s “Nobel Prizes”                    

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July 23—This week, our top story is the once-every-four-years announcement of “math’s Nobel Prizes,” the Fields Medals, which this time around honor four mathematicians for their breakthroughs in knot theory, fluid motions and other arcane numerical realms. Elsewhere, we have stories on what may be the best-yet candidate for an exomoon, the science of how to see the “best” total solar eclipse, a SpaceX rocket about to crash into the moon and more. Enjoy! Thoughts? Questions? Let me know via e-mail (lbillings@sciam.com), X or Bluesky. —Lee Billings, Senior Editor, Physical Sciences

Top Stories

Four young mathematicians awarded the 2026 Fields Medals The 2026 Fields Medals recognize breakthroughs in the math of messy fluids, tangled knots, spinning pencils, and more Joseph Howlett

A huge cosmic object could force astronomers to rethink what a moon is This almost Jupiter-sized object is orbiting a brown dwarf, which, in turn, is circling around a small star Adam Kovac

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A SpaceX rocket is about to crash into the moon—scientists will be watching Astronomers have a plan to observe an errant piece of a SpaceX rocket as it hits the moon to better understand impact events Claire Cameron

Is there a ‘best’ solar eclipse? Duration, location, aviation: What makes the best possible view of a total solar eclipse? Phil Plait

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Do animals act weirdly during a solar eclipse? Or do we? There are many observations of animals behaving oddly during eclipses, but the reason may have nothing to do with the sun and moon Jackie Flynn Mogensen

Celebrate summer with two back-to-back meteor shower bonanzas These meteor showers occur around the same time every year, with their peaks taking place over four days at the end of July Claire Cameron

The Jellyfish Nebula has been hiding a big cosmic secret For the first time ever, astronomers have found two sibling stars that each exploded as a supernova, giving us a new view of these epochal cosmic cataclysms Damien Pine

How a Futurama writer’s plot problem led to a totally new math proof In an episode of the cartoon, a machine lets characters swap bodies, but they can’t switch back with the same person. Math helps all the characters return to their original bodies Manon Bischoff

What We're Reading

India’s first privately developed rocket reaches orbit on dramatic debut launch | Ars Technica He’s the Last Great Land Artist You’ve Never Heard Of | The New York Times Canadarm2 is the Hardest Working Robot in Space | Supercluster

From the Archive

Have Astronomers Finally Found an Exomoon? Data from the James Webb Space Telescope and other observatories suggests a supervolcanic exomoon may lurk around the giant exoplanet WASP-39b Nola Taylor Tillman

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Meet the 2026 Fields and Abacus Medal Winners

Read our exclusive profiles of math and theoretical computer science’s finest minds.

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View this email in your browser SPECIAL SERIES Every four years, the math world’s preeminent awards are given to the finest minds of a generation. The young winners — all under 40 on the first day of the year — have reshaped mathematics and theoretical computer science. Read our exclusive profiles of this year’s Fields and Abacus Medal winners. EXPLORE THE SERIES Living Fully in the Math World Means Threading the Needle By NATALIE WOLCHOVER Focus, commitment, and insight resulted in a “once in a century” proof. Hong Wang is now just the third woman to win a Fields Medal. Read the article Sometimes Being First Means Seeing the End Before Anyone Else By KEVIN HARTNETT Determination and effort propelled Jacob Tsimerman to the top of the math world. But now that he’s won a Fields Medal, he worries that the field is in jeopardy. Read the article The Quietest Mathematician Has Always Been Worth Listening To By KONSTANTIN KAKAES John Pardon sees connections between different areas of math that others don’t. For that, he’s now been awarded a Fields Medal. Read the article Amid Life’s Chaos, a Meticulous Mathematician Finds Stability By JORDANA CEPELEWICZ Before he won a Fields Medal for his pioneering work balancing randomness and order, Yu Deng first had to achieve equilibrium in his own life. Read the article A Master of the Traveling Salesperson Problem Finds His Own Path By BEN BRUBAKER Shayan Oveis Gharan has won the Abacus Medal for using tools from across mathematics to boost the power of algorithms. Read the article Unsubscribe | About Quanta | My Bookmarks Privacy Policy | Terms | Contact Us Copyright © 2026 Quanta Magazine, an editorially independent publication supported by the Simons Foundation 160 5th Avenue, 7th Floor New York, NY 10010