The Chandra X-ray Observatory has provided a high-energy view of objects and processes throughout the Universe. This Review discusses many of the key results from Chandra’s 25 years of data.

Four cosmologists discuss the prospects for the concordance cosmological model — made up of 70% dark energy in the form of a cosmological constant Λ, 25% cold dark matter and 5% baryonic matter in the present day — in the light of multiple tensions between existing datasets.

Fresh ice grains from Enceladus’s plume were analysed during the highest-speed fly-by of the Cassini spacecraft. Organic compounds with a range of chemical structures were discovered, suggesting comprehensive subsurface chemistry on Enceladus.

JWST reveals 253 YSO candidates in the Pillars of Creation, concentrated along the pillar edges with tentative age gradients and an enhanced star formation rate within 1 Myr. These findings suggest that some may have formed via triggered star formation.

The origin of water is one biggest unknowns in the field of star and planet formation: is it inherited or created in situ? Through the detection of heavy water (D₂O) in a protoplanetary disk, it is shown that this water must be older than the central star.

Simulations of Milky Way-like star clusters show that most (>57%) stars form in multiples. Approximately 75% of binaries are gravitationally bound from the birth of the secondary, and ~40% of (eventual) single stars originated in a multiple system.

Perturbations to strongly lensed galaxy light in very long baseline interferometric imaging reveal a dark and unusually low-mass object at redshift z ≈ 0.9.

Large language models can describe and classify changing objects in astronomical images with high accuracy. This enables searches for visual features using text and introduces a new way to interact with sky survey data.

High-resolution ALMA observations reveal a gravitationally bound septuple protostar system in NGC 6334IN, formed through disk fragmentation. This discovery sheds light on the formation of extreme high-order multiplicity in massive stellar clusters.

The importance of small bodies in Solar System studies is not proportional to their size. Due to their variety of types, scope, and link to Solar System formation, they are one of the most active fields in planetary science.

Eugene Vasiliev started developing Agama to support both personal research and the growing needs of the stellar and galactic dynamics community. Looking ahead, Agama is set to become an all-rounder for dynamical modelling.

Measuring the impact or the ‘value-for-money’ of a research infrastructure can be challenging, but here lessons from Europlanet demonstrate the worth of embedding an Impact Evaluation Officer within the project to document returns beyond the standard evaluation metrics.

Astrophysicist, artist and author Nia Imara shares insights from her latest book, Painting the Cosmos, which interweaves visual art from across cultures with current scientific narratives to tell the story of the Universe.

Four cosmologists discuss the prospects for the concordance cosmological model — made up of 70% dark energy in the form of a cosmological constant Λ, 25% cold dark matter and 5% baryonic matter in the present day — in the light of multiple tensions between existing datasets.

Lunar construction is advancing rapidly, yet its environmental implications on Earth remain largely overlooked. Emissions, material scarcity, and supply chain impacts associated with lunar development indicate the need for early evaluation within the frameworks of Earth’s planetary boundaries.