Landmark papers, current discoveries and the far future of the cosmos, explained plainly and always linked to the original source.https://www.orbitalrecord.comen-ushttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/frb-20240304b-most-distant-fast-radio-bursthttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/frb-20240304b-most-distant-fast-radio-burstWebb traced FRB 20240304B to a young dwarf galaxy 3 billion years after the Big Bang, evidence that some fast radio bursts come from magnetars.Thu, 08 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMTstarshttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/lisa-engineering-test-telescopehttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/lisa-engineering-test-telescopeL3Harris will build a test telescope for LISA, the ESA-led space observatory designed to detect gravitational waves from merging giant black holes.Thu, 08 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMTgravitational-waveshttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/solar-orbiter-switchback-originhttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/solar-orbiter-switchback-originParticles inside a giant magnetic switchback point to reconnection in hot loops at the Sun's surface, Solar Orbiter data show, aiding space weather models.Thu, 08 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMTsolar-systemhttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/spherex-brown-dwarfs-atmosphereshttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/spherex-brown-dwarfs-atmospheresSPHEREx spectra of 37 nearby brown dwarfs reveal water, methane, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, a new lab for giant-planet atmospheres.Thu, 08 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMTstarshttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/nobel-physics-2026-halzen-icecubehttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/nobel-physics-2026-halzen-icecubeFrancis Halzen wins the 2026 physics Nobel for the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and the discovery of high-energy neutrinos from space.Tue, 06 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMTtelescopes-missionshttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/pa-30-sn-1181-pearl-knots-geminihttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/pa-30-sn-1181-pearl-knots-geminiNew Gemini North images show Pa 30, likely left by the supernova medieval astronomers saw in 1181, is threaded with chains of tiny knots.Tue, 06 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMTstarshttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/shapiro-dwarf-galaxies-backsplashhttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/shapiro-dwarf-galaxies-backsplashThree isolated dwarf galaxies that stopped making stars may have been flung out by the Pinwheel Galaxy, testing a prediction of cold dark matter.Tue, 06 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMTgalaxieshttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/hs-0209-0832-second-generation-planethttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/hs-0209-0832-second-generation-planetNiobium in Hubble spectra of white dwarf HS 0209+0832 hints at a gas giant built from a dying star's ejecta, a first of its kind if confirmed.Mon, 05 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMTexoplanetshttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/webb-extreme-debris-disks-planet-collisionshttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/webb-extreme-debris-disks-planet-collisionsWebb and Spitzer data on 21 dusty young systems show two kinds of crashes: rock-vaporizing hits between Mars-sized bodies and gentler grazing collisions.Thu, 01 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMTexoplanetshttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/nasa-selects-prima-far-infrared-probehttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/nasa-selects-prima-far-infrared-probePRIMA, a 1.8-meter far-infrared space telescope capped at $1.2 billion, moves into preliminary design as the first mission in NASA's Probe class.Wed, 23 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTtelescopes-missionshttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/fire-amoeba-record-heat-eukaryotehttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/fire-amoeba-record-heat-eukaryoteIncendiamoeba cascadensis divides at 63 °C (145 °F), a record for any eukaryote, widening where astrobiologists think complex cells could survive.Tue, 22 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTastrobiologyhttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/perseverance-margin-unit-water-episodeshttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/perseverance-margin-unit-water-episodesOlivine-rich rocks on Jezero Crater's rim reacted with water at least three separate times, Perseverance data show, reshaping the search for ancient life.Mon, 21 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTastrobiologyhttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/elias-2-24-b-youngest-exoplanethttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/elias-2-24-b-youngest-exoplanetAt about 1 million years old or less, Elias 2-24 b is the youngest known exoplanet, caught pulling in gas inside a gap in its star's disk.Wed, 16 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTexoplanetshttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/solar-system-terminal-instability-sun-deathhttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/solar-system-terminal-instability-sun-deathSimulations by Batygin, Fuller and Adams suggest uneven mass loss could scatter the giant planets a billion years after the Sun becomes a white dwarf.Fri, 11 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTfuture-of-the-universehttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/lbt-primordial-helium-most-precisehttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/lbt-primordial-helium-most-preciseThe LBT Yp Project pins down helium made in the first minutes at Yp = 0.2458, the most precise value yet, in line with Big Bang nucleosynthesis.Wed, 09 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTcosmologyhttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/cosmos-z3-1-a-proto-superclusterhttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/cosmos-z3-1-a-proto-superclusterCOSMOS-z3.1-A, seen when the universe was 2.1 billion years old, is the earliest proto-supercluster known, with about 5,000 times the Milky Way's mass.Tue, 08 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTgalaxieshttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/bepicolombo-arrival-phase-mercuryhttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/bepicolombo-arrival-phase-mercuryThe ESA-JAXA mission shed its transfer module on September 3, 2026, starting the final approach to Mercury orbit insertion on November 21.Thu, 03 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTsolar-systemhttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/south-pole-telescope-cmb-lensing-mass-maphttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/south-pole-telescope-cmb-lensing-mass-mapSPT-3G mapped the matter between us and the Big Bang's afterglow by measuring how gravity bends that light, the most sensitive such map to date.Thu, 03 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTcosmologyhttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/saturn-south-pole-decagon-hubblehttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/saturn-south-pole-decagon-hubbleA giant ten-sided jet pattern is growing around Saturn's south pole, a southern cousin of its famous hexagon, Hubble images going back to 2023 confirm.Wed, 02 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTsolar-systemhttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/lz-dark-matter-single-event-hinthttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/lz-dark-matter-single-event-hintLUX-ZEPLIN saw one event where WIMP dark matter would appear, at 2.6 sigma. Intriguing, but well short of the 5 sigma needed to claim a discovery.Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTdark-matterhttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/roman-space-telescope-launcheshttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/roman-space-telescope-launchesRoman lifted off on August 30, 2026, bound for the Sun-Earth L2 point to survey dark energy, dark matter and planets around other stars.Sun, 30 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTtelescopes-missionshttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/s301-fastest-star-sagittarius-a-spinhttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/s301-fastest-star-sagittarius-a-spinVLTI's GRAVITY found S301 whipping around Sagittarius A* at over 8% of light speed, close enough to measure the black hole's spin within a decade.Wed, 19 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTblack-holeshttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/milky-way-earliest-merger-lkh-hubblehttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/milky-way-earliest-merger-lkh-hubbleGlobular clusters reveal LKH, a dwarf galaxy that merged with the Milky Way 11.8 billion years ago, the earliest merger known in our galaxy.Mon, 17 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTgalaxieshttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/first-extragalactic-globular-cluster-streamhttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/first-extragalactic-globular-cluster-streamA thin arc of stars around galaxy UGC 9050-Dw1, 115 million light-years away, is the first such stream found outside our galaxy and traces its dark matter.Wed, 12 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTdark-matterhttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/webb-irs3-dust-water-near-sagittarius-ahttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/webb-irs3-dust-water-near-sagittarius-aWebb's MIRI detected water and oxygen-rich dust around IRS 3, an aging star just 0.55 light-years from the Milky Way's central black hole.Tue, 11 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTgalaxieshttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/desi-legacy-surveys-biggest-2d-maphttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/desi-legacy-surveys-biggest-2d-mapA public, 5.6-trillion-pixel map covering 75% of the sky catalogs nearly four billion stars, galaxies, black holes and asteroids after 13 years of work.Mon, 10 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTcosmologyhttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/sn-2026gzf-shock-breakout-ep260321ahttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/sn-2026gzf-shock-breakout-ep260321aAn X-ray flash, EP260321a, was the first light of supernova SN 2026gzf, a rare catch that may link ordinary supernovae to gamma-ray bursts.Wed, 05 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTstarshttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/desi-dr2-lyman-alpha-full-shapehttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/desi-dr2-lyman-alpha-full-shapeA full-shape analysis of DESI quasar light measures early-universe geometry to 1%. Evolving dark energy is still preferred, below discovery level.Thu, 30 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTdark-energyhttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/betelgeuse-companion-imaged-vlthttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/betelgeuse-companion-imaged-vltSPHERE images of Betelgeuse B, taken in December 2024, suggest the long-suspected companion has two to three times the mass of the Sun.Tue, 28 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTstarshttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/cd-35-2722-exosatellitehttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/cd-35-2722-exosatelliteCRIRES+ radial velocities reveal a planet-mass object circling a brown dwarf companion of the star CD-35 2722, the first plausible exosatellite.Wed, 22 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTexoplanetshttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/juno-io-subsurface-temperaturehttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/juno-io-subsurface-temperatureJuno's microwave radiometer found Io warms by more than 22 °C just a few feet down, pointing to strong internal heat or buried cooling lava.Wed, 22 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTsolar-systemhttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/beta-pictoris-d-faintest-planet-imagedhttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/beta-pictoris-d-faintest-planet-imagedSpotted with ESO's VLT and found in 11 years of archives, Beta Pictoris d is 100 times fainter than its sibling b and weighs about 2.4 Jupiters.Wed, 15 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTexoplanetshttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/omega-centauri-first-stellar-black-holehttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/omega-centauri-first-stellar-black-holeA star circling an unseen 4.46-solar-mass companion every 94 years reveals Omega Centauri's first stellar black hole, where models predict thousands.Mon, 13 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTblack-holeshttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/3i-atlas-older-than-the-sunhttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/3i-atlas-older-than-the-sunCarbon and nitrogen isotopes measured with ESO's VLT suggest 3I/ATLAS formed in an old, metal-poor star system, possibly more than twice the Sun's age.Mon, 06 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTsolar-systemhttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/euclid-keck-most-distant-quasarshttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/euclid-keck-most-distant-quasarsEuclid found 12 new quasars beyond redshift 7, more than doubling the known number, including two record holders at redshifts 7.77 and 7.69.Mon, 06 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTblack-holeshttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/wd-1856-b-planet-survived-star-deathhttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/wd-1856-b-planet-survived-star-deathA Jupiter-sized planet seven times wider than its white dwarf likely survived the red giant phase far out, then moved inward billions of years later.Wed, 01 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTfuture-of-the-universehttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/rubin-observatory-begins-lssthttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/rubin-observatory-begins-lsstThe Vera C. Rubin Observatory has begun the Legacy Survey of Space and Time, imaging the whole southern sky every few nights for the next decade.Tue, 30 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTtelescopes-missionshttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/shadow-blaster-neutrino-source-galaxyhttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/shadow-blaster-neutrino-source-galaxyA dusty galaxy 11 billion light-years away, magnified by a gravitational lens, is the proposed source of the IceCube neutrino event IC 210922A.Wed, 17 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTgalaxieshttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/df9-third-galaxy-without-dark-matterhttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/df9-third-galaxy-without-dark-matterStar motions show DF9 weighs about 100 million Suns, matching its visible matter. It joins DF2 and DF4 in a line of faint galaxies near NGC 1052.Tue, 16 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTdark-matterhttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/exoplanet-magnetic-fields-windshttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/exoplanet-magnetic-fields-windsWind speeds on seven hot Jupiters drop as the planets get hotter, a pattern best explained by planet-wide magnetic fields acting as brakes.Tue, 02 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTexoplanetshttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/gwtc-5-gravitational-wave-catalog-390-eventshttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/gwtc-5-gravitational-wave-catalog-390-eventsThe new catalog adds 161 events from 2024 and early 2025, including the clearest signal ever recorded and a record-precise sky position.Tue, 26 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTgravitational-waveshttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/ligo-india-breaks-groundhttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/ligo-india-breaks-groundConstruction began April 23, 2026 in Maharashtra on a detector identical to LIGO's, which will sharpen sky positions for merging black holes.Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTgravitational-waveshttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/curiosity-most-diverse-organic-molecules-marshttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/curiosity-most-diverse-organic-molecules-marsThe Mary Anning 3 sample holds 21 carbon-bearing molecules, seven new to Mars, including a nitrogen ring linked to the chemistry of RNA and DNA.Tue, 21 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTastrobiologyhttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/desi-completes-planned-3d-maphttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/desi-completes-planned-3d-mapDESI observed more than 47 million galaxies and quasars, well past its 34 million goal. Dark energy results from the full data are expected in 2027.Wed, 15 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTdark-energyhttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/artemis-ii-crew-returnshttps://www.orbitalrecord.com/news/artemis-ii-crew-returnsWiseman, Glover, Koch and Hansen splashed down April 10, 2026 after nearly 10 days, reaching 252,756 miles from Earth, a new human distance record.Fri, 10 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTtelescopes-missions