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Thermal polarized emission observations of the molecular disk in Centaurus A detect that the magnetic field orientations in the plane of the sky tightly follow the kiloparsec-scale molecular warped disk and also suggest the presence of small-scale turbulent fields.
The dust in the dust coma of interstellar object 2I/Borisov is large (exceeding ~1 mm radius) and compact, differing from the fluffy aggregates typically found in Solar System comets. This compact dust is presumably a result of impacts in the comet’s home system, and suggests 2I/Borisov formed in a collapsing pebble cloud.
High-time-resolution observations of the repeating fast radio burst source FRB 20180916B reveal changes to the polarization properties of the emission on timescales of a few microseconds, indicating an origin in the source magnetosphere.
The tidal disruption event AT2019dsg is probably associated with a high-energy neutrino, suggesting that such events can contribute to the cosmic neutrino flux. The electromagnetic emission is explained in terms of a central engine, a photosphere and an extended synchrotron-emitting outflow.
A delayed radio flare six months after an optically discovered tidal disruption event, followed by a second and brighter flare, years later, may potentially be due to the delayed ejection of an outflow following a transition in accretion states.
Twenty-four X-ray bursts from a Galactic magnetar simultaneously observed with NICER and Fermi permit a direct comparison to a later X-ray burst that was coincident with a fast radio burst (FRB). The FRB-related burst is spectrally distinct, pointing to an unusual point of emission.
In April 2020, the AGILE satellite registered an X-ray burst temporally coincident with a radio burst from the Galactic magnetar SGR 1935+2154. As seen in hard X-rays, the burst was cut off above 80 keV and had an isotropically emitted energy of about 1040 erg.
A comparative analysis of weathered bedrock in the Mawrth Vallis region of Mars and on Hainan Island, China, provides geological evidence for a reduced greenhouse atmosphere on early Mars, as there was on early Earth.
Modelling of Mead Basin, the largest impact feature on Venus, shows that it could only have got its shape, with the two ring faults at the correct position, if Venus were in a stagnant lid regime at the time of Mead Basin formation, between 0.3 and 1 billion years ago.
Benzonitrile, a proxy for the aromatic ring molecule benzene, has now been detected at multiple locations in the Taurus and Serpens molecular clouds, suggesting a widespread aromatic chemistry in the interstellar medium. Chemical models underestimate the abundance of aromatic molecules, highlighting the need for further study.
A massive starburst galaxy at redshift 1.4 is ejecting 46 ± 13% of its molecular gas mass at a rate of ≥ 10,000 M⊙ yr−1, owing to a merger rather than feedback processes. The implied statistics suggest that similar events are potentially a major quenching channel.
The authors present a technique to detect (weak) molecular emission lines towards sources with sparse line spectra. This method supports the current GOTHAM survey of TMC-1, and is applied to the detection of the cyanopolyyne species HC11N.
