Lithium Plume in Sky Traced to SpaceX Rocket

🚀 SpaceX lithium plume detected

🛰️ Rubin Observatory goes live

🌌 Milky Way chemistry unveiled

🔧 Artemis II rocket repairs

🧠 Webb examines Cranium Nebula

Leibniz Institute researchers, led by Robin Wing, studied atmospheric pollution by observing the re-entry of space debris, specifically identifying metals left behind by rockets burning up in the upper atmosphere.

Ground-based lasers detected a sudden enhancement in lithium ions on February 20, 2025, which atmospheric modeling traced directly to a discarded Falcon 9 upper stage re-entering over the Atlantic.

This provides the first direct evidence of specific debris polluting the mesosphere, highlighting an urgent need for regulation as analysts estimate tonnes of spacecraft material will re-enter daily by 2030.

The NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory team has officially launched its real-time discovery system, designed to automatically identify and report transient astronomical events as they happen across the southern sky.

On its first night, the system generated 800,000 alerts from its 3,200-megapixel camera, with plans to scale up and produce up to 7 million alerts per night.

This unprecedented data stream allows scientists to catch supernovae in their earliest moments and track asteroids, revolutionizing time-domain astronomy by enabling immediate follow-up observations, according to program director Luca Rizzi.

The ALMA CMZ Exploration Survey (ACES) collaboration unveiled the largest-ever image from the facility, mapping the complex network of cosmic gas filaments at the heart of the Milky Way galaxy.

This 650-light-year-wide mosaic from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) reveals cold molecular gas, detecting molecules like silicon monoxide and complex organics such as methanol and acetone.

According to researcher Ashley Barnes, this detailed view of star-forming material helps astronomers investigate why star formation is suppressed near the galactic center, a long-standing mystery in astrophysics research.

NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) engineers have returned the Artemis II rocket stack to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) to conduct critical troubleshooting and maintenance ahead of its lunar mission.

Technicians will troubleshoot the helium flow issue to the Space Launch System (SLS) upper stage, replace multiple flight batteries, and service the critical flight termination system inside the VAB.

This necessary rollback from Pad 39B ensures all systems are fully functional and safe for the four-person crew, representing a crucial step in preparing for humanity's return to the Moon.

NASA scientists operating the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have captured stunning new images of PMR 1, a planetary nebula nicknamed the "Exposed Cranium" for its unique brain-like appearance.

Using Webb’s NIRCam and MIRI instruments, the observatory revealed a dark central lane suggesting twin jets and an inner cloud of mixed gases, providing more detail than Spitzer's previous observations.

These observations offer a detailed snapshot of a dying star shedding its outer layers, a dynamic process that helps astronomers probe the final evolutionary stages leading to a white dwarf.