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Using evolving observing strategies and technologies we are catching supernovae closer and closer to the ‘b’ of the ‘bang’, thus unveiling new types of explosion mechanism that have not been studied in depth before.
A peak in the infrared phase curve occurring after eclipse suggests a westward shift in the dayside hotspot of hot giant exoplanet CoRoT-2b, calling into question our understanding of atmospheric dynamics on hot gas giants.
A new geochemical study shows that short-lived warm and wet episodes during a globally cold early Mars could have formed the clay deposits detected on the Martian surface. This model can reconcile climate models with mineralogical and geomorphological evidence.
One of the astrophysical sources that gives rise to the mysterious transients known as fast radio bursts is embedded in a highly magnetized environment, such as the vicinity of an accreting massive black hole or the birth nebula of a highly magnetized neutron star.
Observations and thermal models of the first interstellar visitor 1I/‘Oumuamua show that ices could have survived a long interstellar journey, suggesting the possibility that ‘Oumuamua could be a comet.
Newly measured proper motions of a dozen stars in the Sculptor dwarf galaxy provide important insight into its distribution of dark matter. This result was made possible by combining measurements of star positions from Hubble Space Telescope and Gaia data.
New spacecraft measurements show that the dust cycle plays a key role in driving upward transport of water vapour in the atmosphere of Mars and, consequently, Martian water loss to space.
A study suggests that the gas clouds in the vicinity of rapidly accreting supermassive black holes are distributed in a planar distribution, impacting the estimation of the mass of the black hole based on the motion of these clouds.
Long-term multi-wavelength monitoring of a jet from a supermassive black hole reveals that more intense periods of variability in brightness occur when the jet is pointed more directly at Earth, thereby strengthening the geometric interpretation of long-term changes in brightness.
Orbiting supermassive black holes in the centres of nearby galaxies contribute to a gravitational-wave background over the whole sky. Networks of millisecond pulsars are sensitive to this signal. Creating maps of this background using information from known galaxies can help us to project when (and how) we may observe it.
More than 20 GW of power are necessary to balance the heat emitted by Enceladus and avoid the freezing of its internal ocean. A very porous core undergoing tidal heating can generate the required power to maintain a liquid ocean and drive hydrothermal activity.
Black holes absorb everything and emit nothing, yet relativistic jets of plasma are observed to emanate from systems hosting accreting black holes. We now know exactly how far from the black hole these processes take place.
The tropical stratospheric temperature and wind field of several planets oscillate quasi-periodically. Recent Cassini observations show that Saturn’s oscillations were disturbed for more than three years by the year-long giant storm that appeared in 2010.
The first detection of electromagnetic emission from a gravitational wave source bridges the gap between one of the most energetic phenomena in the Universe and their dark, difficult to detect progenitors.
The discovery of Jupiter’s southern X-ray aurora reveals that it is tellingly different from the northern one, providing important clues to how Jupiter’s polar aurorae are generated.
