Volume 1 Issue 6, June 2017

There is an ongoing discussion about the participation of women in science and particularly astronomy. Demographic data from NASA's robotic planetary spacecraft missions show women scientists to be consistently under-represented.

We all harbour subconscious expectations about people based on their apparent membership of groups, such as gender, ethnicity or age. Research shows that these expectations can lead us to undervalue some people's contributions, inhibiting their success and thus negatively impacting our entire field.

Over the last decade, significant attention has been drawn to the gender ratio of speakers at conferences, with ongoing efforts for meetings to better reflect the gender representation in the field. We find that women are significantly under-represented, however, among the astronomers asking questions after talks.

Choreographer Alexander Whitley, scientist Hugh Mortimer and educator Rachel Evans discuss the dance work 8 Minutes with Nature Astronomy.

Considerable progress has been made in the past decade to increase diversity in astronomy, and in particular to reach a ‘critical mass’ of women. It is however important to realize that this progress has mainly been the result of the selective inclusion of women from more privileged backgrounds.

The story behind the supernova remnant RCW 86 might be one of the most wondrous ever told.

Positron annihilation in the Galaxy has been observed for half a century now, but the positron sources have not been identified yet. A rare class of supernovae is now suggested to be the main positron producer.

Using a sample of more than 200,000 publications over a 65-year period, it is found that astronomy papers led by women receive 10% fewer citations than those led by men, consistent with studies in other related disciplines.

A gravitationally lensed type Ia supernova may yield a precise and accurate measurement of the Hubble constant.

The detection of a metal-polluted G star in a binary system with an invisible X-ray source offset from the centre of a supernova remnant leads to the suggestion that this was the progenitor pair behind a core-collapse supernova in RCW 86.

ALMA observations of TW Hydrae in the 13C18O J = 3–2 molecular line probe the mid-plane of the circumstellar disk where giant planets are expected to form. With other lines, the gas mass distribution, temperature and the gas-to-dust ratio are determined.

A magnetohydrodynamic model is able to explain the peak brightness point offset variations in the atmosphere of the hot giant exoplanet HAT-P-7 b with wind variability. A minimum field strength of 6 G is required to reproduce the observations.

Orbital parameters for the seventh Earth-sized transiting planet around star TRAPPIST-1 are reported, along with an investigation into the complex three-body resonances linking every member of this planetary system.

The origin of Galactic positrons that produce gamma ray emission when annihilated is still debated. Mergers of two white dwarfs are likely to be the main source of these positrons. Such mergers produce sub-luminous, thermonuclear supernovae.

Gender discrimination is very much an issue in academia generally and in astronomy specifically. Through machine learning techniques, astronomy papers authored by women are shown to have 10% systematically fewer citations than those authored by men.

ALMA's Band 1 receivers will open up the 7 mm window to the 66 antennas on Chajnantor Plateau. Oscar Morata and Ted Huang relate the expected delivery schedule and science goals for these instruments.