Kim Jong Un supervises test of new air defence missiles
State media KCNA reported on Sunday that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw the launch of new air defence missiles, showcasing their ability to c...
NASA is preparing to launch its groundbreaking SPHEREx space telescope on Friday aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
Designed to shed light on the cosmic dawn and the immediate aftermath of the Big Bang, SPHEREx - short for Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer - will map the cosmos in unprecedented detail.
Over the course of its planned two-year mission, SPHEREx will collect data on more than 450 million galaxies and over 100 million stars within the Milky Way, creating a comprehensive three-dimensional map of the universe in 102 distinct colors. This spectral mapping will allow scientists to study the distribution of galaxies across vast cosmic scales and directly investigate the rapid expansion known as cosmic inflation - a phenomenon believed to have occurred in a fraction of a second after the Big Bang roughly 13.8 billion years ago.
“By mapping the distribution of galaxies over the whole sky, we can directly constrain unique properties of inflation,” said cosmologist Olivier Doré of Caltech and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “The fact that we can connect these large-scale structures to the physics of inflation is very powerful, almost magical.”
In addition to probing the early universe, SPHEREx will search for reservoirs of water and other key molecules such as carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide on the surface of interstellar dust grains. These molecular clouds - dense regions of gas and dust that give rise to new stars and planets - are thought to be the primary sites for water formation in the universe, a crucial ingredient for life.
SPHEREx will employ its innovative spectro-photometry techniques to split the light from billions of cosmic sources into their component wavelengths, determining their composition and distance. The telescope will also measure the collective glow from the vast space between galaxies, offering new insights into the cosmic web that binds the universe.
Jim Fanson, SPHEREx project manager at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, emphasized the mission’s transformative potential: “Cosmic inflation is the consensus framework for explaining the universe’s large-scale structure. SPHEREx will provide an unprecedented dataset to mine, and there is no doubt we will discover new cosmic phenomena.”
Launched alongside a constellation of satellites for NASA’s PUNCH mission - aimed at studying the sun’s corona and solar wind - SPHEREx represents a major step forward in astronomical research. As it prepares to look at the sky in entirely new ways, scientists are optimistic that the mission will uncover hidden chapters of our universe’s history and enhance our understanding of the forces that shaped the cosmos.
With its innovative design and ambitious goals, SPHEREx is poised to open a new window on the early universe, promising discoveries that could reshape our understanding of cosmic origins and the potential for life beyond Earth.
A powerful eruption at Japan’s Shinmoedake volcano sent an ash plume more than 3,000 metres high on Sunday morning, prompting safety warnings from authorities.
According to the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ), a magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck the Oaxaca region of Mexico on Saturday.
The UK is gearing up for Exercise Pegasus 2025, its largest pandemic readiness test since COVID-19. Running from September to November, this full-scale simulation will challenge the country's response to a fast-moving respiratory outbreak.
Kuwait says oil prices will likely stay below $72 per barrel as OPEC monitors global supply trends and U.S. policy signals. The remarks come during market uncertainty fueled by new U.S. tariffs on India and possible sanctions on Russia.
Honduras has brought back mask mandates as COVID-19 cases and a new variant surge nationwide.
NASA is preparing for its second year-long Mars analog mission inside the 1,700-square-foot 3D-printed CHAPEA habitat at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
President Donald Trump said he has American buyers ready for TikTok and could extend ByteDance’s divestment deadline, emphasizing he has no privacy or security concerns.
For more than 4,000 years, Egypt’s pyramids have stood as marvels of human ambition, but new research raises a tantalising question: did humans really build them alone, or did ancient engineers wield technologies we are only beginning to understand?
Off the southern coast of Japan, beneath the turquoise waters of the East China Sea, lies a structure that has puzzled researchers for decades. Known as the Yonaguni Monument, this underwater formation resembles a giant step pyramid and is the centre of one of archaeology’s most fascinating debates.
Finnish firm IQM will supply Oak Ridge National Laboratory with its first on-site 20-qubit quantum computer in 2025.
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