Scientists calculate that last year was one of the three hottest on record, along with 2024 and 2023. Several climate monitoring teams say these last three years approach the warming limit set by the 2015 Paris climate agreement. Scientists say those last three years pushed global temperatures up to a new level beyond the way it was trending. The last 11 years have been the hottest on record. Experts say human-caused warming is the main driver and call it a warning shot about the world's shifting climate. Rising temperatures have intensified heat waves and extreme weather events, impacting millions worldwide.

The year’s first supermoon and meteor shower will compete for dominance in January skies. The Quadrantid meteor shower peaks Friday night into Saturday morning, but fewer than 10 meteors will be visible per hour due to light from Saturday's supermoon. To spot the Quadrantids, venture out in the early evening away from city lights and glimpse the fireballs before the moon crashes the party. Wait for your eyes to get used to the darkness, and don’t look at your phone. Saturday's supermoon ends a four-month streak that started in October. There won’t be another until the end of 2026.

The moon and sun share top billing in 2026. Kicking off the year's cosmic wonders is the moon, drawing the first astronauts to visit in more than 50 years. A caravan of robotic lunar landers also will be launched, including Jeff Bezos' new supersized Blue Moon. The sun will generate buzz, too, with a ring-of-fire eclipse at the bottom of the world in February and a total solar eclipse at the top of the world in August. Each of those will be followed closely by lunar eclipses. The stargazing fun begins with a supermoon on Jan. 3.

NATO-nation intelligence services believe Russia is developing a weapon to target Starlink satellites. Intelligence findings seen by The Associated Press say the weapon could release pellets to disable multiple satellites. Analysts have doubts, saying such a weapon could create chaos in space and risk other vital orbiting systems. But a Canadian space commander has told the AP that such a weapon is “not implausible.” Starlink's services are used by Ukraine. Russia views the constellation as a threat. The intelligence findings say the destructive pellets could be small enough to evade detection. Analysts say Russia might want to have such a weapon only as a deterrent or it may be no more than a research project for now.

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has gotten a rare peek at the aftermath of two cosmic collisions — and helped scientists solve a decades-old mystery. Many years ago, scientists saw a dense, bright spot near a young star and thought it could be a planet. After finding a second one, they realized it was actually the dusty debris from two cosmic crashes. Massive space rocks had slammed together to create clouds of dust that were thick enough to masquerade as planets. The new study was published Thursday in the journal Science.

Saturn's giant moon Titan may not have a vast underground ocean after all. New research suggests Titan instead may hold deep layers of ice and slush more akin to Earth's polar seas instead of a buried ocean as long suspected. In a study published Wednesday, scientists said there may also be pockets of melted water beneath the moon's surface where life could possibly survive and even thrive. They're basing their findings on observations made by NASA's Cassini spacecraft years ago, but with a fresh look. Titan is the second largest moon in the solar system.