Earth's largest particle accelerator opens new window into the early universe just after the Big Bang: 'A culmination of a decades-long quest'

• NASA is utilizing the SPHEREx mission to conduct an all-sky spectral survey of the galaxy to better understand the origins of the universe. • The mission aims to collect extensive data on over 450 million galaxies and 100 million stars located within the Milky Way.

• Researchers at the Southwest Research Institute discovered that a massive asteroid shattered near Jupiter's gravitational gateway approximately 800 million years ago. • The fragmentation event released a vast amount of rocky debris that likely bombarded Earth, the Moon, and Mars for an estimated 150 million years.

• Scientists have identified a potentially habitable planet located 48 light-years away that possesses three critical requirements for life: a rocky composition, an atmosphere, and a suitable temperature. • This discovery is being highlighted as one of the closest approximations humans have found to a planet capable of supporting biological life.

• NASA's Psyche spacecraft successfully completed a flyby of Mars, capturing a significant trove of data and a time-lapse video of the encounter. • Mission scientists used the flyby to calibrate instruments under dynamic conditions and study the physics of planetary magnetism.

• Astronomers have discovered an atmosphere containing helium on LHS 1140b, a rocky planet located 48 light-years away. • The planet is situated within its star's habitable zone, suggesting the potential for liquid water to exist on its surface.

• Scientists have solved the "reverse sprinkler problem," a long-standing physics puzzle regarding the rotation direction of a sprinkler that sucks fluid inward. • Through extensive testing, researchers determined that a reverse sprinkler rotates in the opposite direction of a standard sprinkler due to centrifugal forces creating asymmetric flow.

• NASA is conducting crew swap activities aboard the International Space Station (ISS), welcoming three new crew members while a trio from Expedition 74 prepares for their return to Earth. • The incoming crew is currently undergoing orientation to adapt to living and working in a microgravity environment.

• A New Jersey couple discovered a rare asteroid after it crashed through their bedroom roof, leading to a detailed recovery of the space debris. • The homeowners meticulously itemized and preserved the fragments, allowing researchers to identify the rock as a CM chondrite.

• Researchers have uncovered new details regarding the asteroid impact that occurred 66 million years ago, leading to the extinction of the dinosaurs. • The findings emphasize the extreme misfortune of the dinosaurs, though scientists continue to investigate the precise mechanisms that wiped out life on Earth.

• Astronomers have discovered a rocky exoplanet located 18,000 light-years away that may possess an Earth-like atmosphere capable of regulating climate. • Published in the journal Science, the study marks a significant breakthrough as researchers have previously only observed airless worlds or faint atmospheric remnants.

• A roughly 2-pound meteorite that crashed through a home in Hillsborough, New Jersey, in 2024 has been identified as a rare CM1/2 carbonaceous chondrite. • Researchers publishing in Science Advances noted the sample is exceptionally pristine because the homeowner immediately preserved the fragments in glass jars using gloves and foil.