QUICK TAKES

THE TENSION IS REAL

JWST has confirmed the Hubble Space Telescope’s measurement of the rate of expansion of the modern universe by observing Cepheid variable stars, whose pulsations are linked to their intrinsic brightness and can be used to gauge cosmic distances. The result differs from models and data of the early universe, deepening the so-called Hubble tension.

TELESCOPE TROUBLE

In February, the National Science Foundation’s board recommended capping U.S. funding of next-gen extremely large telescopes at $1.6 billion. This could mean one of two planned observatories — the Giant Magellan Telescope in Chile and the Thirty Meter Telescope on the island of Hawaiʻi — may lose out on funds needed for construction.

NEW MOONS

Ground-based telescopes have discovered three new moons in our solar system — one around Uranus and two around Neptune. All are between 5 and 14 miles (8 to 23 km) in diameter.

EPOCH ROW

By a 12–4 vote, a committee of geologists rejected a proposal to declare 1952 the start of a new, human-dominated geological epoch, the Anthropocene. Some proposal critics argued that its sole defining geological feature — the appearance of nuclear testing fallout — does not fully capture how humans have altered Earth.

OBERPFAFFENHOFEN, HOW DO YOU READ?

Future European astronauts exploring the Moon will communicate with a new ESA crewed lunar mission control center to be established in the German city of Oberpfaffenhofen, near Munich, according to a letter of intent signed March 13.