Space & Physics: Should Pluto be a planet again?

Top stories in space and physics news                    

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April 30—This week, our top stories include new revelations about the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, death by primordial black hole, the discovery of a mysteriously mature “red monster” galaxy, rekindling the Pluto planetary debate and much more. Enjoy! Thoughts? Questions? Let me know via e-mail (lbillings@sciam.com), X or Bluesky. —Lee Billings, Senior Editor, Physical Sciences

Top Stories

Alien comet reveals our solar system is the oddball Measurements of this interstellar comet’s molecular makeup show an excess of heavy water molecules that is dramatically different from anything known to have ever formed around our sun Lee Billings, Joseph Howlett

NASA chief Jared Isaacman hints at campaign to make Pluto a planet again The NASA administrator’s latest remarks in support of reexamining Pluto’s status come 20 years after the orb was downgraded to a dwarf planet by the International Astronomical Union Adam Kovac

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Astronomers puzzle over early origins of mysterious ‘red monster’ galaxy Researchers are perplexed by a galaxy that seems too large and too dusty for its place in cosmic history, less than a half-billion years after the big bang Jenna Ahart

Death by primordial black hole is hard to come by Subatomic black holes from ancient cosmic history could, in principle, make you have a very bad day. But chances are you’ll never encounter one Phil Plait

An amateur just solved a 60-year-old math problem—by asking AI A ChatGPT AI has proved a conjecture with a method no human had thought of. Experts believe it may have further uses Joseph Howlett

One scientist’s 10-year quest to calculate the strength of gravity Earth’s gravitational force, g, has been known for centuries. But the exact value of G, the universal gravitational constant, is elusive Emma Gometz

Nuclear war may keep humanity from finding a ‘theory of everything,’ top physicist says After winning a Breakthrough Prize, the world’s most lucrative science award, theoretical physicist David Gross is using the moment to warn of nuclear war’s existential threat—and how we can escape it Lee Billings

See Astrobotic pull off a major test of its ‘ring of fire’ rocket engine Rotating detonation rocket engines work differently than traditional rockets to maximize thrust while using less fuel—an advantage that could help spacecraft explore farther in the solar system Adam Kovac

See the iconic Sombrero Galaxy in stunning new images that reveal its enormous glowing halo This galaxy, also known as Messier 104, gets its nickname from its central bulge and outer dust trail, which give it a sombrerolike appearance from our vantage point Adam Kovac

What’s faster than light? Darkness A recent experiment revealed that individual dark points on a light wave can move faster than the wave itself Adam Kovac

What We're Reading

The Caves That Could Help Us Find, or Become, Aliens | WIRED A Falcon 9 rocket will hit the Moon this summer at seven times the speed of sound | Ars Technica Why is Pakistan Sending an Astronaut to China's Space Station? | Supercluster

From the Archive

Dark Matter Could Be Hiding Out as Atom-Sized Black Holes The universe’s hidden mass may be made of black holes, which could wobble the planets of the solar system when they pass by Clara Moskowitz

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