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The history of Venus has been substantially affected by the higher-velocity distribution of early impacts compared with Earth. The heating induced in the core by the impacts triggered long-term volcanism that can explain its young surface age.
Early JWST results on high-redshift galaxies have attracted a lot of press and much debate, but other areas of astronomy and astrophysics are also uncovering new understanding about the Universe with JWST, albeit with less of a fanfare.
In June 2022, the IXPE satellite observed a shock passing through the jet of active galaxy Markarian 421. The rotation of the X-ray-polarized radiation over a 5-day period revealed that the jet contains a helical magnetic field.
The application of physics-informed neural networks enables an estimation of the solar coronal magnetic field in quasi real time. A comparison with extreme-ultraviolet observations reveals that the model provides a realistic approximation and the modelled coronal field has a clear relationship with flaring activity.
The 21-cm absorption lines from neutral hydrogen at cosmic dawn are proposed as a probe to simultaneously study dark matter particle mass and cosmic heating history. By applying a statistical approach to simulated data this probe is shown to distinguish the effects of dark matter from those of cosmic heating.
The 21-cm absorption lines from atomic hydrogen, known as the 21-cm forest, are here proposed to probe simultaneously dark matter particle mass and cosmic heating history. With upcoming observational facilities, the statistical features of the 21-cm forest will constrain the nature of dark matter and the first galaxies at cosmic dawn.
A very cold and/or extremely reddened protoplanet in the disk around MWC 758 has been detected in images and with spectroscopy. MWC 758c is responsible for driving the disk’s spiral arm patterns. The protoplanet orbits at a projected separation of ~100 au and is one of the youngest giant planets known.
Trace gases CO and HCN are detected by ALMA in various locations of Jupiter’s disc. Contrary to CO, HCN is depleted in the auroral regions, indicative of the action of heterogeneous chemistry that bonds HCN to organic aerosol particles produced in the aurorae.
A Bayesian-based analysis of 190 cosmologically distant quasars, photometrically observed over two decades, has revealed the long-expected presence of cosmic time dilation owing to the expansion of space imprinted on their variability.
A statistical study of the variable X-ray flux from individual knots within jets supports a model that identifies a secondary population of electrons as the source of the synchrotron emission in active galactic nuclei jets.
Early-time multi-frequency radio observations of the exceptionally bright GRB 221009A show the detailed evolution of a reverse shock formed within the jet that was launched as the result of a stellar explosion.
Using the POSYDON population synthesis code, this study predicts the existence of massive, thirty-solar-mass black-hole binaries in Milky-Way-like galaxies, challenging previous theories.
A dedicated method for analysing moderately saturated measurements from Swift’s Ultraviolet and Optical Telescope is used to perform a time-resolved analysis for the initial white filter exposure of GRB 220101A. This analysis reveals a rapidly evolving ultraviolet and optical flare, distinguished by extremely high luminosity and unexpected temporal behaviour.
New detector technologies and upcoming facilities will revolutionize sub-millimetre astronomy over the next decade. Experts in instrument science, data processing, observations, and state-of-the-art simulations met at the Lorentz Center in Leiden to discuss the most pressing science questions in the field.