Analysis: Science & Technology — 29 October 2026
Rubin Observatory finds dwarf planet candidate 2026 ED138 beyond Pluto
Matthew Holman of the Harvard & Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics spotted 2026 ED138 in early 2026 data from the Simonyi Survey Telescope at the NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile. Mario Jurić of the University of Washington recovered 20 further Rubin detections back to March 2026, and archival images extend the orbit to 2016. The object now sits near 46 astronomical units, beyond Pluto’s average 40 au; brightness and distance imply a diameter of about 600–1,500 km, large enough that an icy body is expected to be round.
The find came while Rubin was still commissioning, before and during the start of the decade-long Legacy Survey of Space and Time in June 2026. The 8.4-metre telescope and 3,200-megapixel camera repeatedly image the southern sky, then algorithms link faint moving sources among billions of detections. ED138 had been lost against the crowded Milky Way plane. Rubin’s solar-system team had already reported more than 11,000 new asteroids, including about 380 trans-Neptunian objects, from early data.
Fact: size is inferred from brightness and assumed reflectivity, so a smaller, brighter body could mimic a larger, darker one. Thermal measurements at longer wavelengths are still needed. Analysis: a ~25-degree orbital tilt is consistent with a past gravitational kick, likely from Neptune, but the object is too small and too close to be the hypothesized Planet Nine. Confirmation as a dwarf planet would add a sixth IAU member after Pluto, Ceres, Eris, Haumea and Makemake.
Sources: Phys.org; New Atlas; University of Washington/Rubin Observatory.
Artemis I lithium fluoride crystals map radiation near the Moon
Researchers at Poland’s Institute of Nuclear Physics (IFJ PAN) report new analysis of fluorescent lithium fluoride detectors flown on NASA’s uncrewed Artemis I Orion in late 2022. Dozens of millimetre-scale crystals sat inside two human-shaped mannequins in the MARE experiment, alongside nearly 600 thermoluminescent detectors. Charged particles create colour centres that glow red under blue light, so tracks can be read with a fluorescence microscope without the chemical etching used on plastic detectors.
After calibration software removed out-of-focus glow and mixed-angle tracks, results agreed to within 15% with conventional track detectors and also recorded energy deposits below older thresholds. Compared with the earlier MATROSHKA experiment on the International Space Station, lunar-orbit doses were more uniform through the mannequins: galactic cosmic rays punch through tissue, whereas low-Earth orbit includes many low-energy protons trapped in the Van Allen belts.
Fact: total dose near the Moon is higher than in low Earth orbit, but the gap is smaller than a simple “no magnetic shield” picture suggests, because belt protons dominate much of the ISS dose. Open questions remain about converting mixed galactic spectra into operational crew limits and about neutron sensitivity in lithium-6-enriched crystals. The devices are small enough to wear, which is the practical engineering claim.
Sources: ScienceDaily; Radiation Measurements (DOI: 10.1016/j.radmeas.2026.107806); IFJ PAN.
NMR maps how black widow silk dope turns into fibre
A San Diego State University team led by Gregory Holland used nuclear magnetic resonance on native black widow dragline dope and on condensates from the silk-gland ampulla, with solid-fibre structure mapped by Kevin Chalek. After phosphate was added, arginine and tyrosine side chains in disordered spidroin regions formed weak “sticker” contacts that displaced water and packed the proteins into gel-like condensates; those contacts persist in the solid thread. Simulations place the same residues at bends in the beta sheets that give silk its toughness.
The work, published in PNAS, supplies atomic-scale evidence that liquid–liquid phase separation is part of native spinning, not only of engineered spidroins. Independent researchers note that condensates, micelles and liquid-crystal alignment need not be mutually exclusive stages. The result matters because lab-made silk has lagged natural fibre: without the processing path, sequence alone has not reproduced Kevlar-beating toughness.
Fact: other amino-acid contacts and triggers besides phosphate are still unmapped. Analysis: if the sticker chemistry can be copied in recombinant proteins, it would be a materials recipe rather than a biological curiosity; that transfer has not been demonstrated.
Sources: Quanta Magazine; PNAS (DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2523198122).