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The Spitzer Space Telescope made huge advances in the study of debris disks around main-sequence stars and white dwarfs, increasing their number by an order of magnitude, and leading the way for the next generation of space-based infrared missions.
Spitzer revolutionized studies of active galactic nuclei through its high sensitivity and mapping speed at mid-infrared wavelengths. This Review summarizes key Spitzer insights on active galactic nuclei, including the properties of their dust and shocked gas.
Spitzer revealed the power of astrophysical polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon molecules to probe the local physical and chemical conditions and processes, for example, establishing the relation between their abundance and galaxy metallicity for the first time.
Cosmochemical measurements reveal the existence of two distinct reservoirs of non-carbonaceous and carbonaceous materials, originating from the inner and outer protoplanetary disk, respectively, which separated after the first million years after the birth of the Solar System, possibly due to the rapid growth of Jupiter’s core.
Thermonuclear supernovae — those involving the explosion of a white dwarf — and particularly type-Ia supernovae, have become indispensable tools for observationally measuring the expansion of the Universe. However, we still do not fully understand these objects, especially the range of progenitor systems that give rise to them. Future observations will enable us to make headway.
The diversity of core-collapse supernovae — the explosions of massive stars — has increased greatly recently, driven by developments in observing facilities and techniques. Here Modjaz, Gutiérrez and Arcavi survey the current observational classifications, question whether the lines are starting to blur and look forward to the large samples of supernovae that are to come.
The latest observational developments in the fast-paced fields of superluminous supernovae and fast blue optical transients, both types of extreme supernovae, are reviewed. The next decade, with the advent of survey facilities such as the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, will deliver many more examples of such objects.
This article reviews radio emission mechanisms in radio-quiet active galactic nuclei (AGNs), from star formation and AGN winds, to free-free emission from photoionized gas and AGN disk coronal activity. These mechanisms can be probed by sensitive radio observatories.
Current black hole spin measurements, in X-rays, radio and gravitational waves, are already constraining models for the growth of black holes, the dynamics of stellar core-collapse and the physics of relativistic jet production.
Supermassive black holes are fed through galaxy interactions and mergers, chaotic cold accretion in galaxy clusters and secular processes that may include stellar bars. Observations constraining these mechanisms at different scales are reviewed.
The second decade of fast radio burst (FRB) astronomy has started at pace, with detections of tens of new FRBs from newly operational facilities such as ASKAP and CHIME. Evan Keane looks forward to the upcoming years and the discoveries they will bring.
General relativity underwent a conceptual transformation after World War II that can be used to understand the hitherto vaguely defined ‘renaissance of general relativity’, which led to the prediction and eventual discovery of gravitational waves.
A review of the various techniques to obtain photometric redshifts, from template-fitting to machine learning and hybrid schemes, and a description of the latest results on extragalactic samples and how survey strategy choices impact redshift accuracy.
The Antikythera Mechanism is the oldest known mechanical calculator. Imaging reveals its solar and lunar astronomical functions, and deciphering its extensive inscriptions shows that it displayed the shifting position of the planets in the zodiac.
The New Horizons spacecraft performed a flyby of Pluto and its system in July 2015, providing more than 50 Gb of high-resolution images and data that transformed our view and understanding of the dwarf planet. This Review summarizes its main discoveries.
The material surrounding accreting supermassive black holes connects them with their hosts. From studies in the infrared and X-rays, the structure of this material is found to be complex, clumpy and dynamic.
Radio astronomy will be transformed by future surveys that will study tens of millions of radio sources, providing new insights into a broad range of open questions in astronomy. This transformation, and the lead-up to it, is summarized in this Review.
Quantifying the effect of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) on their hosts requires knowledge of their life cycle. This review on AGN archaeology summarizes the main recent findings regarding the AGN life cycle from optical and radio observations.
Total solar eclipses are a unique opportunity to study the lower solar corona where the solar wind originates. This review presents the recent advancements in coronal science from eclipses and the scientific and outreach plans for this year's totality.
Feedback from actively accreting supermassive black holes is thought to be important in the evolution of galaxies. Theoretical and observational results are reviewed with regard to the impact of this feedback on star formation in galaxies.
