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New images from the now-decommissioned Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) provide the most precise glimpse yet of the universe just 380,000 years after the Big Bang. These images of the cosmic microwave background (CMB), captured before ACT ceased operations in 2022, reveal how the first structures that would later form stars and galaxies began taking shape.

Breakthrough in Understanding Early Cosmic Structures

According to reports, the images depict the intensity and polarisation of the earliest light with unprecedented clarity, validating the standard model of cosmology. Researchers found that these findings align with previous observations, reinforcing current theories on the universe’s evolution. The data also reveal the movement of ancient gases under gravitational influence, tracing the formation of primordial hydrogen and helium clouds that later collapsed to birth the first stars.

ACT director and Princeton University researcher Suzanne Staggs said in a statement that they are seeing the first steps towards making the earliest stars and galaxies. They are seeing the polarisation of light in high resolution. It is a determining factor distinguishing ACT from Planck and other earlier telescopes, she added.

Imaging the Universe’s First Light

As per reports, before 380,000 years post-Big Bang, the universe was opaque due to a hot plasma of unbound electrons scattering photons. Once the universe cooled to approximately 3,000 Kelvin, electrons bound with protons to form neutral atoms, allowing light to travel freely. This event, known as the ‘last scattering,’ made the universe transparent, leaving behind the CMB—a fossil record of the first light.

ACT, positioned in the Chilean Andes, captured this ancient light, which has been traveling for over 13 billion years. Previous studies from the Planck space telescope provided a detailed image of the CMB, but ACT’s data offers five times the resolution and improved sensitivity.

Insights into Cosmic Evolution and Expansion

The high-resolution images also track how primordial hydrogen and helium gases moved in the universe’s infancy. According to reports, variations in the density and velocity of these gases indicate the presence of regions that eventually formed galaxies. These fluctuations, frozen in the CMB, serve as markers of the universe’s expansion history.

Using ACT data, researchers also estimated the universe’s total mass, which is equivalent to around 2 trillion trillion suns. Sources report that approximately 100 zetta-suns of this mass consist of ordinary matter, while 500 zetta-suns correspond to dark matter, and 1,300 zetta-suns are attributed to dark energy.

Addressing the Hubble Tension

One of the biggest challenges in cosmology is the discrepancy in measuring the universe’s expansion rate, known as the Hubble tension. Measurements from nearby galaxies suggest a Hubble constant of around 73-74 km/s/Mpc, while CMB observations, including those from ACT, yield a lower value of 67-68 km/s/Mpc.

Columbia University researcher Colin Hill, who studied the ACT data, told that they wanted to see if they could find a cosmological model that matched the data and also predicted a faster expansion rate. He further added that they have used the CMB as a detector for new particles or fields in the early universe, exploring previously uncharted terrain.
However, reports confirm that ACT findings align with prior CMB-based measurements, offering no evidence for alternative cosmic models that could explain the discrepancy.

Looking Ahead

ACT concluded its observations in 2022, and astronomers have now shifted focus to the Simons Observatory in Chile, which promises even more advanced studies of the universe’s early light. The new ACT data has been made publicly available through NASA’s LAMBDA archive, with related research published on Princeton’s Atacama Cosmology Telescope website.

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Astronomers Discover 3I/ATLAS, Largest Interstellar Comet Yet Detected

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July 6, 2025

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Astronomers Discover 3I/ATLAS, Largest Interstellar Comet Yet Detected

Astronomers have discovered the third interstellar comet to pass through our solar system. Named 3I/ATLAS (initially A11pl3Z), it was first spotted July 1 by the ATLAS telescope in Chile and confirmed the same day. Pre-discovery images show it in the sky as far back as mid-June. The object is racing toward the inner system at roughly 150,000 miles per hour on a near-straight trajectory, too fast for the Sun to capture. Estimates suggest its nucleus may be 10–20 km across. Now inside Jupiter’s orbit, 3I/ATLAS will swing closest to the Sun in October and should remain observable into late 2025.

Discovery and Classification

According to NASA, in early July the ATLAS survey telescope in Chile spotted a faint moving object first called A11pl3Z, and the IAU’s Minor Planet Center confirmed the next day that it was an interstellar visitor. The object was officially named 3I/ATLAS and noted as likely the largest interstellar body yet detected. At first it appeared to be an ordinary near-Earth asteroid, but precise orbit measurements showed it speeding at ~150,000 mph – far too fast for the Sun to capture. Astronomers estimate 3I/ATLAS spans roughly 10–20 km across. Signs of cometary activity – a faint coma and short tail – have emerged, earning it the additional comet designation C/2025 N1 (ATLAS).

Studying a Pristine Comet

3I/ATLAS was spotted well before its closest approach, giving astronomers time to prepare detailed observations. It will pass within about 1.4 AU of the Sun in late October. Importantly, researchers can study it while it is still a pristine frozen relic before solar heating alters it. As Pamela Gay notes, discovering the object on its inbound leg leaves “ample time” to analyze its trajectory. Astronomers are now racing to obtain spectra and images – as Chris Lintott warns, the comet will be “baked” by sunlight as it nears perihelion.

Determining its composition and activity is considered “a rare chance” to learn how planets form in other star systems. With new facilities like the Vera C. Rubin Observatory coming online, researchers expect more such visitors in the years ahead. 3I/ATLAS offers a rare chance to study material from another star system.

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NASA’s New Horizons Proves Deep-Space Navigation via Stellar Parallax



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NASA’s New Horizons Proves Deep-Space Navigation via Stellar Parallax

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July 6, 2025

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NASA's New Horizons Proves Deep-Space Navigation via Stellar Parallax

NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft carried out an unprecedented deep-space star navigation test while 438 million miles from Earth. Using its long-range camera in April 2020, it captured images of Proxima Centauri and Wolf 359, which appeared slightly shifted in the sky compared to Earth’s view – a striking demonstration of stellar parallax. It was the first-ever demonstration of deep-space stellar navigation. By comparing these images to Earth-based observations and a 3D star chart, scientists calculated New Horizons’ position to within about 4.1 million miles, only about 26 inches across the United States.

Stellar Parallax Test

According to the paper describing the results, accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journal, New Horizons’ camera imaged Proxima Centauri (4.2 light-years away) and Wolf 359 (7.86 light-years) on April 23, 2020. From the spacecraft’s distant vantage point, the two stars appear in different positions than seen from Earth – the essence of stellar parallax. By comparing those images with Earth-based data and a three-dimensional map of nearby stars, the team worked out the probe’s location to within about 4.1 million miles.

As lead author Tod Lauer explained, “Taking simultaneous Earth/Spacecraft images we hoped would make the concept of stellar parallaxes instantly and vividly clear”. He added, “It’s one thing to know something, but another to say ‘Hey, look! This really works!’”.

New Horizons and Future Missions

New Horizons, the fifth spacecraft to leave Earth and reach interstellar space, flew past Pluto and its moon Charon in 2015, sending home the first close-up images of those distant icy worlds. Now on an extended mission, the probe is studying the heliosphere.

New Horizons’ principal investigator Alan Stern called the parallax test “a pioneering interstellar navigation demonstration” that shows a spacecraft can use onboard cameras “to find its way among the stars”, in a statement. He also noted it “could be highly useful for future deep space missions in the far reaches of the Solar System and in interstellar space”

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AI Designs Ocean Gliders Inspired by Sea Creatures to Boost Underwater Research Efficiency

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July 6, 2025

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AI Designs Ocean Gliders Inspired by Sea Creatures to Boost Underwater Research Efficiency

Marine animals like fish and seals have long inspired ocean engineers due to their fluid, energy-efficient movements. Now, researchers are turning to these sea animals to create a new class of underwater gliders that requires very little energy, according to a team led by researchers from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. They used artificial intelligence to design forms that slide through the water with less resistance, making long-term ocean exploration more efficient. These gliders, fabricated via 3D printing, promise better data collection on currents, salt levels, and climate impacts.

AI-Powered 3D Designs Create Energy-Efficient Underwater Gliders Inspired by Marine Life Forms

As per a study published on the arXiv preprint server, the team used machine learning to create and simulate numerous novel 3D glider shapes. By comparing traditional models—like submarines and sharks—with digitally altered versions, their algorithm learnt how different designs behaved at various “angles-of-attack.” A neural network then evaluated the lift-to-drag ratio of each shape, identifying those most likely to glide efficiently through water. These shapes were then fabricated using lightweight materials that minimised energy use.

In tests, two AI-generated prototypes—one shaped like a two-winged plane and the other like a four-finned flatfish—were built and tested both in wind tunnels and underwater. Key hardware was integrated with the gliders, including buoyancy control by a pump and a mass shifter to move the angle during displacements. The new gliders, with better shapes and lift-to-drag ratios, could travel farther on less power than traditional torpedo-shaped types.

The team added that what they are doing not only makes new types of designs possible but also reduces design times and cuts the cost since it doesn’t require physical prototyping. “This high degree of shape diversity hasn’t been investigated before,” Peter Yichen Chen, an MIT postdoc and co-lead author on the project, mentioned. He also noted that their AI pipeline allows testing forms that would be “very taxing” for humans to manually design.

The future plans are to produce slimmer and more manoeuvrable gliders and to improve the AI system with more configurable options. Intelligent bioinspired vehicles like these, the researchers say, will be essential in studying dynamic ocean environments that are changing quickly with the intensifying demands of industrial activity, ultimately offering more flexible and efficient ways for us to explore Earth’s last frontier.

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Hubble Observations Give Forgotten Globular Cluster Its Moment to Shine



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