Neptune has never had a dedicated space mission,but the Hubble Space Telescope is still shedding new light on the workings of the mysterious planet.
Driving the news: A new photo from the space telescope shows a long-lived storm — the dark spot in the upper center — first spotted in 2018 still going strong.
Scientists with the alien-searching Breakthrough Listen project are investigating a signal that may have come from Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the Sun, according to a report from The Guardian.
Why it matters: If confirmed as a true sign of life, it would be wildly exciting. However, in all likelihood, the radio signal — found in 2019 — has a much more mundane origin story.
2020 was the year the space industry started to prove itself — setting up big expectations for its maturity and growth in the coming year.
The big picture: From crewed commercial flights to startup space companies going public, this year — against the headwinds of a global pandemic — a maturing space industry emerged.
Jupiter and Saturn will appear as a double planet in the night sky Monday evening thanks to a rare planetary alignment.
Why it matters: A "great conjunction" where these two planets are seen this close togetheris exceedingly rare. According to NASA, the last time Jupiter and Saturn appeared this close together was 400 years ago, but it's been about 800 years since this kind of alignment happened at night.
Researchers are closely watching whether a newly discovered mutation in the SARS-CoV-2 virus is cause for alarm as parts of Europe limited international travel this week.
Why it matters: Despite the variant appearing to be moretransmissible, U.S. officials stressed in a call today thatit's no more deadly and the chances it will make vaccines less effective are "extremely low."
Suspicious behaviors from ships that may subject their crews to forced labor can be seen from space, according to a new study.
Why it matters: Forced labor is a known issue in the international fishing industry, but the scale and scope of it is difficult to quantify. The study could be the start of developing tools to better enforce laws to end these human rights abuses.
