Gadget

Astronomers have captured a groundbreaking sight: WISPIT 2b, a baby gas giant planet forming within a dusty, multi-ring protoplanetary disk around a young Sun-like star 430 light-years away. Infrared images from the Very Large Telescope show the planet carving a dark path in the rings as it feeds on gas and dust. This rare discovery provides the first direct evidence of a planet embedded in a multi-ring disk.

NASA is preparing for Artemis II, the first crewed mission to the Moon since Apollo, with a new control hub at Johnson Space Center. The Orion Mission Evaluation Room (MER) will support flight controllers by monitoring Orion’s systems in real time during the 10-day mission. Staffed 24/7, the MER will compare telemetry with expected performance, troubleshoot issues, and coordinate with NASA centers and industry partners. The room features 24 consoles, cutting-edge displays, and engineers from NASA, Lockheed Martin, ESA, and Airbus. This facility ensures astronaut safety while providing critical data for future Artemis lunar missions.

NASA is preparing for Artemis II, the first crewed mission to the Moon since Apollo, with a new control hub at Johnson Space Center. The Orion Mission Evaluation Room (MER) will support flight controllers by monitoring Orion’s systems in real time during the 10-day mission. Staffed 24/7, the MER will compare telemetry with expected performance, troubleshoot issues, and coordinate with NASA centers and industry partners. The room features 24 consoles, cutting-edge displays, and engineers from NASA, Lockheed Martin, ESA, and Airbus. This facility ensures astronaut safety while providing critical data for future Artemis lunar missions.

The James Webb Space Telescope has unveiled stunning new details of the Butterfly Nebula, a planetary nebula 3,400 light-years away. Using its infrared vision, Webb detected crystalline silicates, large dust grains, and carbon-rich PAH molecules within the nebula’s dusty torus. These discoveries reveal how dying stars recycle minerals and organic compounds, spreading raw materials that seed new stars, planets, and potentially life itself. Reported in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, the findings highlight planetary nebulae as vital factories for planet-building ingredients.

China has unveiled Darwin Monkey, the world’s largest neuromorphic supercomputer. With over 2 billion artificial neurons and 100 billion synapses, it mirrors a macaque brain’s complexity. Designed by Zhejiang University and Zhejiang Lab, the system could accelerate neuroscience simulations and advance artificial general intelligence while consuming only 2,000 watts of power.

Samsung’s latest SmartThings Family Care update enables even novice users to install and set up the app independently, with caregivers sharing guided invitation links. It balances convenience and privacy, letting care recipients control shared information while caregivers access relevant details. Other features include inactivity alerts for appliances, health monitoring via Samsung Health, location tracking with permission, and customisable reminders for appointments, medications, and events.

Tomb Raider studio Crystal Dynamics has announced a new round of layoffs, the second this year at the company. The developer is laying off an unspecified number of employees. The announcement comes after Microsoft cancelled the Perfect Dark reboot, which was being co-developed by Crystal Dynamics.

Samsung could unveil the Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra at its Galaxy event next week. Ahead of the launch, the tablet has reportedly appeared on benchmarking platforms, revealing key details including its model number and specifications.

The famous 1977 “Wow!” signal — a mysterious radio burst detected by Ohio’s Big Ear telescope — has been reanalyzed using modern computing techniques. Researchers digitized old telescope records, finding the signal was about four times stronger than first thought, peaking at 250 Janskys. The recalculations also refined its frequency and sky location, ruling out man-made interference. While the true source remains uncertain, dense hydrogen clouds emitting natural maser signals are now leading candidates. Nearly 50 years later, the Wow! signal continues to puzzle astronomers worldwide.

Astronomers have achieved a major breakthrough by capturing the sharpest images of a solar flare ever recorded, using the National Science Foundation’s Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST). Observed at the hydrogen-alpha wavelength during the decay of an X1.3-class solar flare, the images unveiled hundreds of ultra-fine coronal loops averaging just 48 kilometers wide, with some as narrow as 21 kilometers. Published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, the findings suggest these slender loops may be the fundamental structures behind magnetic reconnection, the process that drives solar flares. The discovery not only advances understanding of solar physics but also holds promise for better predicting space weather events that can impact satellites, communications, and power systems on Earth.