Articles in 2022

The galactic black hole binary GRS 1915+105 shows highly variable yet correlated X-ray and radio emission, implying that the corona and jet share an energy reservoir. This observation supports the idea that the corona may be a form of the jet.

The newly discovered eROSITA X-ray bubbles in the Milky Way’s centre, together with the Fermi bubbles and microwave haze, may be explained by a single episode of central supermassive-black-hole jet activity a few million years ago.

The EDGES team reported a measurement of the redshifted 21 cm absorption line of neutral hydrogen from the cosmic dawn. However, the SARAS 3 measurement of the radio sky spectrum now suggests that the EDGES detection might not have a cosmological source.

The range of timescales and luminosities measured from the nearby fast radio burst FRB 20200120E observationally connects these extreme extragalactic transients with studies of Galactic neutron stars.

Very early observations of a type Ia supernova—from within one hour of explosion—show a red colour that develops and rapidly disappears. These data provide information on the initial explosion mechanism: surface nuclear burning on the white dwarf or extreme mixing of the nuclear burning process.

A cosmological simulation shows that low-mass galaxies can form with far less dark matter than expected, with results matching some observed characteristics. Roughly one-third of massive central galaxies may host at least one such dark-matter-deficient satellite.

Using common interstellar chemical species (CO, C and NH₃), the authors show that peptides can be experimentally synthesized on a solid surface under interstellar conditions. The formation route circumvents the creation of amino acids in the pathway towards proteins.

A young and low-energy radio jet has cleared a substantial amount of gas from the central region of galaxy B2 0258+35, demonstrating the effectiveness of kiloparsec-scale feedback from radio-loud active galactic nuclei and supporting the predictions of simulations.

The distribution of the slowly rotating, blue fraction of main-sequence stars in the colour–magnitude diagram of young star clusters, and their peculiar mass function, imply that they may originate from binary star mergers.

A method to measure the complexity of planetary signals from remote-sensing observations is presented. Tests using Earth observations point to a correlation between increasing complexity and the presence of an extensive biosphere, showing the potential of this agnostic method to identify promising targets for life.

A 4.8σ exomoon candidate is found around gas giant Kepler-1708 b, which orbits at 1.6 au around its star. It is the only candidate from a dedicated survey that analysed 70 cool giant exoplanets discovered by Kepler. Kepler-1708 b-i has a radius of 2.6 Earth radii and orbits its planet at 12 planetary radii.