Here are today’s most important updates from the realm of Science and Space.
NEWS: An interstellar object has been spotted entering the solar system at high speed.
— Seekers Of The Cosmos (@SeekersCosmos) July 4, 2025
Named A11pl3Z and discovered July 1, 2025 by ATLAS in Chile, it’s now near Jupiter’s orbit.
It will pass Earth on October 30, no threat expected.
At 20 km wide with no visible tail. pic.twitter.com/HfQzbfV5Kj
@seekerscosmos/Instagram
Forget sci-fi movies – astronomers have spotted a genuine cosmic visitor! An object named 3I/ATLAS is rocketing through our solar system so fast and straight that it clearly came from another star. Currently near Jupiter, it'll swing closest to the Sun in October.
What makes this alien traveler special? Unlike previous fleeting interstellar visitors ('Oumuamua in 2017 and comet Borisov in 2019), scientists caught 3I/ATLAS early. "We discovered this on its way in," says astronomer Pamela Gay, meaning they can track its entire journey until 2026.
There's a real urgency, though. "We want to observe it before it heats up," explains Chris Lintott, eager to study it as a pristine "frozen relic" of its home system, not one altered by our Sun. This rare chance offers clues about how planets form across our galaxy. Lintott's reaction? Hearing the news just after waking up, he laughed out loud: "It felt like the astronomy gods were mocking us!" Pure cosmic luck.
Scientists just solved a cosmic game of hide-and-seek! Turns out, nearly half the universe's normal matter (the stuff making up stars, planets, and us) had been hiding in plain sight.
Two clever studies cracked the case. The first used fleeting bursts of radio waves (FRBs) from distant galaxies. Like cosmic rainbows slowed by fog, these signals revealed how this elusive gas is spread: 76% snakes between galaxies, 15% cloaks them in halos, and 9% hides within galaxies themselves.
The second study focused on a specific tendril of gas linking four galaxy clusters. Using X-rays, they found this scorching hot filament (over 10 million °C!) stretching 23 million light-years. Its properties perfectly matched predictions.
"It's fantastic, complementary detective work," said an uninvolved astrophysicist. While the FRBs mapped the where, the X-rays revealed how this hidden matter looks and behaves.
"Now the fun really begins," remarked one researcher. Finding this missing matter is key to solving bigger mysteries, like how galaxies form. It seems the universe's instruction manual just got a little clearer!
Astronomers used the James Webb Space Telescope to observe asteroid 2024 YR4, which earlier this year looked like it might hit Earth in 2032.
— Black Hole (@konstructivizm) July 3, 2025
Luckily, more detailed observations have shown that the odds of that happening are close to zero!
But now there is a small chance that… pic.twitter.com/TZglrWvOMe
(@konstructivizm/X
Astronomers got their first glimpse of asteroid 2024 YR4 late last year, spotting it after it had already zipped past Earth at twice the Moon's distance. This 60-meter space rock immediately stirred interest because its path suggested a tiny chance of hitting Earth in 2032. Thankfully, intense telescope scrutiny quickly ruled out an Earth impact. However, it left a lingering 4% chance of smacking into the Moon instead!
Why the uncertainty? Like many asteroids sneaking up from the sun's direction, 2024 YR4 vanished into the darkness before we could gather enough data to be sure. We won't get another clear look until its next close pass in 2028. If it does hit the Moon in 2032, it would be an incredible chance for scientists (and skywatchers!) to witness a lunar impact firsthand. So, mark your calendars for 2028 – that's when we'll finally know if we need to grab our binoculars for a cosmic show!
Mars’s thick clay layers, formed in low‑lying basins next to ancient lakes but away from raging rivers, likely amassed over long periods in calm, watery environments, ideal for potentially preserving evidence of life. pic.twitter.com/HYqytYBMn2
— Brian Roemmele (@BrianRoemmele) July 4, 2025
(@BriamRoemmele/X
Forget the dusty desert Mars is today! Scientists just found something exciting: incredibly thick layers of clay, packed with minerals. Here’s the cool part – clay only forms with liquid water. These layers, hundreds of feet deep and roughly 3.7 billion years old, scream that ancient Mars was way warmer and wetter, possibly for a long, long time.
Why does that matter? Well, stable, flat terrain where these clays settled likely kept any potentially habitable environments intact, not churned up by geological drama. Think of Earth’s thickest clay deposits forming in calm, humid spots with minimal erosion. Mars seems to have had similar stable zones back then. The big remaining puzzle? Exactly how Mars' unique landscapes and ancient climate teamed up to bake these watery, life-friendly conditions into the clay record we see now.
