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The new record was set when China’s three-person Shenzhou 16 mission took to the skies on May 29.

We have a new record for the highest number of people orbiting Earth at any one time. For a short time, the number of people in orbit totaled 17 off-world explorers from a total of five different countries.

The new record was set after the launch of China’s three-person Shenzhou 16 mission on Monday, May 29 at 9:31 p.m. EDT. The previous record was 14 people in orbit, set when the private Inspiration 4 mission took to the skies in September 2021.

Continue reading “For the first time ever, 17 people were in Earth orbit at the same time” »

An international team of scientists led by Professor Abhijit Chakraborty of the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) in Ahmedabad identified the densest alien planet, 13 times the size of Jupiter.

This is the third exoplanet identified by PRL scientists. The discovery was detailed in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics Letters.

Scientists from India, Germany, Switzerland, and the United States utilised the indigenous PRL Advanced Radial-velocity Abu-sky Search spectrograph (PARAS) at Mt. Abu’s Gurushikhar Observatory to precisely determine the planet’s mass. The exoplanet weighs 14 g/cm3.

“Generative” systems such as ChatGPT promise to generate rich profits for those who harness the technology’s potential — and is already minting fortunes for the sellers of the requisite picks and shovels.

A grey rectangular building on the outskirts of San Jose houses rows upon rows of blinking machines. Tangles of colourful wires connect high-end servers, networking gear and data-storage systems. Bulky air-conditioning units whirr overhead. The noise forces visitors to shout.

The building belongs to Equinix, a company that leases data-centre space.

This Tuesday, the crew of the second ever all-private mission to the International Space Station will be returning to Earth. Here’s how to watch the departure.

The sunspots in the images are dark and cooler regions on the sun’s surface, known as the photosphere, where strong magnetic fields are found, according to the National Solar Observatory.

And while sunspots can be a variety of sizes, the NSO says many are the size of Earth or larger. Groups of sunspots can be the source of explosive events, like solar flares and coronal mass ejections that generate solar storms significantly impacting Earth, including disruptions to critical infrastructure or leading to vibrant northern lights displays.

India’s space agency, ISRO, successfully launched a satellite crucial to the country’s satellite navigation system using the GSLV rocket.

Congratulations, @isro, on the successful launch of GSLV-F12/NVS-01 Mission 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/cr2195goNk

Although the sun is becoming increasingly active as the July 2025 solar maximum — the peak of the sun’s 11-year cycle — draws closer, the photos showcase the quieter aspects of the solar surface.

When Thomas Hertog was first summoned to Stephen Hawking’s office in the late 1990s, there was an instant connection between the young Belgian researcher and the legendary British theoretical physicist.

“Something clicked between us,” Hertog said.

That connection would continue even as Hawking’s debilitating disease ALS robbed him of his last ways to communicate, allowing the pair to complete a new theory that aims to turn how science looks at the universe on its head.

A planetary physicist at The University of Texas at Arlington is the lead author of a study that catalogs all known planet-hosting, triple-stellar systems—those having three or more stars with planets.

Manfred Cuntz, professor of physics, led the project, titled “An Early Catalog of Planet-hosting Multiple-star Systems of Order Three and Higher.” This study provides a thorough bibliographic assessment of planet-hosting, triple-stellar systems.

It was recently published in The Astrophysical Journal Supplements Series. Co-authors include UTA alumni G.E. Luke, Matthew Millard and Lindsey Boyle, as well as Shaan D. Patel, a doctoral-bound graduate student.