A new distance record has been set with the help of the JWST, spotting the distant (and therefore ancient) galaxy that produced an enigmatic fast radio burst or FURBY, detected by radio telescopes in 2024. This opens a new frontier for probing the early universe as those radio waves travel across and interact with galaxies, clusters, and the intergalactic medium before reaching us. Closer to home, new observations reveal baffling large-scale changes in the already baffling narrow rings around the small Centaur object Chariklo. Catch up on the mysteries of the universe with your friendly neighborhood astroquarks.

An exoplanet has been discovered orbiting its star in the opposite direction of its star's rotation, a phenomenon that previously has only been observed in the presence of another star or massive sub-stellar object that can rotate the plane of planet's orbit. In this case, no such obvious explanation exists, suggesting that after the star formed an entire new planet formation disk accreted around the star of unknown origin. Planets close to home also continue to surprise, with a new gas escape mechanism observed at Jupiter and our friend Mercury appears to have shrunk even more than previously thought.

An intriguing detection from a dark matter experiment may be the first direct detection of a dark matter particle. This detection would mean dark matter is made of WIMPs: Weakly-Interacting Massive Particles. There's a non-negligible chance that this is an odd background detection and not dark matter, but if it is, we'll see more like it in the next few years. We also take a look at a study of what might have happened to a moon of Venus if it had formed one like Earth did, plus trivia and space news galore.