Astronomers from the National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics (NRIAG) in Cairo, Egypt, have investigated a young open cluster known as Czernik 38. As a result, they found a new open cluster, which turns out to be a companion to Czernik 38. The discovery was detailed in a paper published Jan. 14 on the arXiv pre-print server.

Open clusters (OCs), formed from the same giant molecular cloud, are groups of stars loosely gravitationally bound to each other. So far, more than 1,000 of them have been discovered in the Milky Way, and scientists are still looking for more, hoping to find a variety of these stellar groupings.

How could life exist on Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa? This is what a recent study published in The Planetary Science Journal hopes to address as a pair | Space

The interstellar object, 3I/ATLAS, was first discovered in July 2025, and made its closest approach to the sun (perihelion) in late October. New observations of 3I/ATLAS were taken in December from the SPHEREx observatory—a near-infrared space observatory used for spectrophotometry. The analysis of these observations was recently discussed by a team of scientists in a paper on arXiv, and reveals some dramatic differences from the data taken before 3I/ATLAS reached perihelion.

SPHEREx first analyzed spectrographic data from 3I/ATLAS in August, shortly after its discovery. At the time, the interstellar object was moving inward, getting closer to the sun, but still between Jupiter and Mars.

At this time, spectrographic analysis showed “barely detectable” H₂O-gas, according to the study authors, along with a CO₂ coma. The CO₂ gas production was estimated in a prior study to be about 9.4 × 10²⁶ molecules/sec, with upper limits for H₂O and CO being much lower. Carbon-based organic compounds (collectively referred to as C-H), like methanol (CH₃OH), formaldehyde (H₂CO), methane (CH₄), and ethane (C₂H₆) were not detectable at the time.

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We have a very strong incentive to send a crew as quickly as we can safely do so.”

An international team from Kanazawa University (Japan), Tohoku University (Japan), LPP (France), and partners has demonstrated that chorus emissions, natural electromagnetic waves long studied in Earth’s magnetosphere, also occur in Mercury’s magnetosphere exhibiting similar chirping frequency changes.

Using the Plasma Wave Investigation instrument aboard BepiColombo’s Mercury orbiter Mio, six Mercury flybys between 2021 and 2025 detected plasma waves in the audible range. Comparison with decades of GEOTAIL data confirmed identical instantaneous frequency changes.

This provides the first reliable evidence of intense electron activity at Mercury, advancing understanding of auroral processes across the solar system.