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Astronomers have detected the most promising signs yet of a possible biosignature outside the solar system, although they remain cautious.

Over 500 KS2 and KS3 students from as far away as Warrington got the chance to experience studying at the ̽»¨Ö±²¥ of Cambridge with a selection of lectures and workshops held as part of the Cambridge Festival. 

̽»¨Ö±²¥European Space Agency’s Gaia spacecraft has been powered down, after more than a decade spent gathering data that are now being used to unravel the secrets of our home galaxy.

For International Women’s Day (8 March), the Cambridge Festival (19 March – 4 April) is celebrating some of the remarkable contributions of women across diverse fields. From philosophy and music to AI and cosmology, the festival will highlight the pioneering work of women who have shaped our understanding of the world in profound ways.

Hiranya Peiris holds the Professorship of Astronomy (1909) at Cambridge, the first woman to do so in the 115-year history of this prestigious chair. As a cosmologist, she delves into cosmic mysteries at the edge of our understanding, reaching back to the very first moments of the Universe after the Big Bang, often treading the path of high risk and high reward.

Dr Matthew Bothwell is an astrophysicist, science communicator and author, and the current Public Astronomer at the Institute of Astronomy, ̽»¨Ö±²¥ of Cambridge. Part of Matt’s work is to deliver outreach to schools, run stargazing evenings, give public lectures, and write about all things astronomical. He is also a Bye-Fellow at Girton College, ̽»¨Ö±²¥ of Cambridge.

An international team of astrophysicists has imaged a large number of exocomet belts around nearby stars, and the tiny pebbles within them.

̽»¨Ö±²¥European Space Agency’s Milky Way-mapper Gaia has completed the sky-scanning phase of its mission, racking up more than three trillion observations of about two billion stars and other objects over the last decade to revolutionise the view of our home galaxy and cosmic neighbourhood.

It’s a key feature of a school nativity play, but what’s the science behind the Star of Bethlehem?

A team of astronomers has found that Venus has never been habitable, despite decades of speculation that our closest planetary neighbour was once much more like Earth than it is today.