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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