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More than 500 participants from around the globe registered for the first Astronomers for Planet Earth Symposium, to discuss and push for more sustainability in the field of astronomy as well as opportunities for astronomers to contribute to climate communication.
Over the last ten billion years, star formation in the Universe has been on the decline. Astronomers met at the University of Cambridge to discuss causes and themes of galaxy quenching.
Near-infrared observations of large dark asteroids in the main belt reveal that they have spectral characteristics similar to those of the dwarf planet Ceres. Thermal evolution models suggest that these asteroids accreted at large orbital distances and may have been implanted into the main belt by the dynamic instability of the giant planets.
Forty-year monitoring of Jupiter reveals long-term oscillations and teleconnections across the north–south hemispheres and upper–lower atmospheres. This discovery has important implications for the atmospheres of exoplanets and brown dwarfs.
The transformations of energy that accompany solar magnetic activity have far-reaching ramifications beyond heliophysics. Understanding the dynamical chain is fundamental to assess habitability and the capacity for life elsewhere.
A device combining a pulsed laser system with an Orbitrap mass analyser is well-suited for in situ exploration of prime astrobiological targets, such as Enceladus. Here a prototype of this instrument that is optimized for spaceflight applications demonstrates that this device could be used to characterize chemical biosignatures in future missions.
