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Sunday, October 4, 2026 · UTC
Missions & Exploration

New exoplanet, white dwarf and lunar cave findings released this week

Observations from Webb and the Very Large Telescope, plus a NASA mission selection, were published over the first three days of October 2026.

Luisa Marconi
Senior Space Correspondent
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Astronomers uncover new secrets of the universe
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Four separate astronomy findings and mission selections have been published by research teams this week. Astronomers using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope imaged a shock wave around white dwarf RXJ0528+2838, located 730 light-years away[1]. The James Webb Space Telescope was used to identify HD 3167 b, a rocky exoplanet approximately 154 light-years from Earth[2]. Webb also formed the core of new work on extreme debris discs around young stars, with teams cross-referencing data against observations from the retired Spitzer Space Telescope[4]. NASA has selected a Planetary Science Institute-led proposal to map whether a large underground cave extends beyond the visible opening of the Marius Hills pit on the Moon[3].
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  1. Astronomers using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope imaged a shock wave around the white dwarf RXJ0528+2838, located 730 light-years away. · The Times Of IndiaIndia
  2. Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope identified HD 3167 b, a rocky exoplanet located approximately 154 light-years from Earth. · El Universo
  3. NASA selected a Planetary Science Institute-led proposal to investigate whether a potentially large underground cave extends beyond the opening of the Marius Hills pit on the Moon. · Phys.org
  4. A team led by Kate Su of the Space Science Institute compiled data from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope and the retired Spitzer Space Telescope to study extreme debris disks. · The Debrief
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