the Solar System

The Tampa Bay Lightning have reassigned goaltender Harrison Meneghin from the Syracuse Crunch of the AHL to the Orlando Solar Bears, their ECHL affiliate. The move gives the young netminder a chance for more consistent playing time at the ECHL level as he continues his development within the Lightning organization.

A new podcast episode presented by pikarl turns to Mercury, the smallest planet in the solar system. The episode describes the planet as a genuine oddity: an unusually high mass for its size, a strong magnetic field and a chemical composition that does not fit existing models. According to the discussion, every space probe sent to Mercury has so far deepened rather than solved its mysteries.

Astronomers have published a revised estimate of how long the Solar System will endure, cutting the figure dramatically from previous expectations. The claim, highlighted by AAS Nova, frames the new life expectancy as vastly shorter than the old one, on the order of a billionfold. Details of the underlying research and what the new timeline actually means for Earth and the planets remain limited in the available coverage.

The Iowa Farmers Union has joined a lawsuit against the US Department of Agriculture challenging cuts to solar funding for farmers. The case contests reductions to federal programs that help farmers install solar energy systems, a key rural renewable energy support.

Comet 161P/Hartley-IRAS is being monitored as it moves toward the inner solar system. Its barycentric speed has ticked up to 32.82 km/s, with perihelion about 57 days away. Current brightness sits around magnitude 14.2, meaning it remains a small-telescope target from dark-sky sites, currently in the constellation Aquarius and visible from both hemispheres. Amateur astronomers are following its gradual brightening as the approach continues.

Farmers are pushing back against the USDA's decision to cut federal assistance for rural solar projects. The reductions affect programs that help farms and rural communities install renewable energy systems, and growers say the loss of support could stall clean energy adoption and raise costs. The dispute highlights growing tension between agricultural interests and federal energy policy.

NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission brought samples of asteroid Bennu back to Earth, and analyses show the space rock contains material from both the inner and outer reaches of the Solar System. Researchers describe Bennu as a kind of 'Frankenstein' asteroid, assembled from fragments with very different origins, offering new clues about how the Solar System formed.

A discussion is under way about which biological organisms would make the best candidates for humanity's first missions beyond the solar system, arguing that humans themselves are unlikely to be the first biological astronauts sent that far. The piece points to research on hardy life forms suited to long-duration interstellar conditions, prompting debate about what future deep-space exploration might actually look like.

Rooftop solar adoption in New England has grown so large that a major gas-fired power plant is being considered obsolete, according to pv magazine USA. The region has now recorded its 500th 'duck curve' day, when midday solar generation suppresses grid demand, reshaping how the power system is run and undermining the economics of large conventional plants.

A Texas court ruling has tightened oversight of how residential solar systems are sold in the state, imposing stricter scrutiny on sales practices in the rooftop solar industry. The decision comes amid ongoing complaints about misleading marketing and aggressive door-to-door tactics by solar installers, and it could influence how other states regulate residential solar sales.

Astronomers may have picked up radio emissions from Beta Pictoris b, a young gas giant orbiting a star about 63 light-years from Earth. If confirmed, it would be the first time radio waves have been detected from an exoplanet, offering a new way to study planets beyond the solar system. Scientists are urging caution until independent observations verify the signal.

NASA reports that Comet PanSTARRS has developed a growing anti-tail, an optical effect that makes the comet appear to point toward the Sun. Observations from May 2013 show the feature lengthening as the comet recedes after its pass through the inner solar system. Skywatchers and astronomers are following the comet's changing appearance and discussing what the anti-tail reveals about its dust trail.

Blacksburg Transit in Virginia is installing an 867-kilowatt solar system at its facility. The project, reported by the Roanoke Times, would put solar power on the agency's buildings and support its operations with renewable energy. Further details on cost, contractors and timelines were not included in the initial report.

Schneider Electric's Frédéric Godelmel has given an interview explaining how the rapid growth of solar power is reshaping the global energy transition. He discusses solar's expanding share of energy systems and the implications for electrification and energy management as countries scale up renewable capacity.

A developer has spent the past year building a computation engine for BaZi, the Chinese Four Pillars birth-chart system, reverse-engineering its rules as a technical rather than mystical exercise. The tricky part: when a birth time falls within the hour a solar term changes, even a 30-minute error can swap an entire chart pillar, changing the whole reading.