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A Bayesian approach to comparing the effects of accretion disks, dark matter or clouds of ultra-light bosons on gravitational waveforms from a black hole binary system concludes that detectors such as LISA can distinguish between these environments.
A rare case of a quasar acting as a gravitational lens allows a precise determination of the mass of the quasar’s host galaxy and offers a new path to studying the connections between supermassive black holes and their host galaxies.
Strong X-ray emission from a population of radio jets shows variability that supports a model of synchrotron emission by a secondary population of electrons boosted to teraelectronvolt energies within a small volume of a jet.
An analysis of 1,055 planets around main sequence stars identifies three subsamples of star–planet synchronization: subsynchronized, dominant for periods shorter than 6.2 days; supersynchronized, for periods longer than 13.5 days; and a transitional regime in between. Synchronized systems are a minority, contrary to eclipsing binaries.
Torsional waves extend into the deep interior of Jupiter where they can modulate the outgoing heat flux and couple with Jupiter’s weather layer to generate the observed quasi-periodic oscillations in the cloud deck. Such waves can be used to explore the interior structure of gas giants.
High-resolution simulations of the small-scale dynamo (SSD) mechanism, with close-to-realistic parameters of deep stellar convection zones, indicate that SSDs are possible in the Sun and other cool stars, in contrast to previous theoretical expectations.
Isotopic and petrological analysis of nine angrite meteorites shows evidence of impact mixing between the angrite parent body and a 17O-rich body that occurred 2–3 Myr after Solar System formation, supporting a Grand Tack-like scenario.
Measurements by the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter reveal a depletion of heavy CO isotopes in Mars’s atmosphere caused by photochemistry-induced fractionation. The observed depletion in heavy C has implications for our understanding of C escape to space and the formation of organic material on Mars’s surface.
Highly abundant hydrocarbons in a very low-mass star’s disk are detected using the JWST. This unique chemical composition is probably due to the destruction of carbon grains, and the resulting high gaseous C/O ratio may have a profound impact on the composition of growing exoplanets.
A luminous optical flash from GRB 210619B was captured rapidly by robotic telescopes and attributed to an extremely fast, narrow and magnetized jet shocked by propagating into the surrounding medium.
JWST mid-infrared images of the nearby star Fomalhaut reveal a complex system of dusty rings and disks, created as debris from planetesimal collisions. These structures suggest the presence of a complex and probably dynamically active planetary system.
An observed magnetic flux rope builds and erupts by completely restructuring its magnetic field lines, resulting in marked footpoint migration. This configuration is not predicted by standard flux rope evolution models, highlighting the three-dimensional nature of magnetic reconnection behind these phenomena.
The eROSITA bubbles and their surrounding regions are best described by the same two-temperature model, implying that the shells are bright because they are denser, not hotter. Also reported are non-solar Mg/O and Ne/O ratios, which support the stellar-feedback origin of the bubbles.
Superluminous supernova SN 2017egm has a complex light curve that is well modelled by successive collisions of a shockwave with dense circumstellar shells ejected by its massive progenitor star during the pair-instability pulsation stage. Such a scenario might be responsible for providing a power source for superluminous supernovae in general.
JWST detections of low-mass young stellar objects with infrared excesses in the Small Magellanic Cloud provide indications that the circumstellar material used in planet formation is available in low-metallicity environments.
Modelling of the gravitationally lensed system HS 0810+2554 with wavelike dark matter resolves brightness and position anomalies remaining after the standard massive-particle dark matter treatment.
A method for measuring oxygen abundances using optical and far-infrared emission lines provides absolute metallicities of the interstellar gas in Markarian 71 and could be applied across cosmic history.
ALMA observations of the protoplanetary disk around HD 100546 reveal an unexpected C/O variation with azimuth. The carbon-dominated wedge of the disk can be reproduced via a model with a shadowing mechanism.
Signatures of impact-induced shocks are found on Ryugu returned particles. Observations show that they happened at moderate temperatures (~500 °C) and pressures (~2 GPa) and did not dehydrate the particles substantially, suggesting that bigger meteoroids, rather than micrometeoroids, provide Earth with hydrated minerals.