Volume 3 Issue 12, December 2019

The fundamental aim of inclusive astronomy is to bring astronomy to diverse groups of people while at the same time broadening the viewpoints of astronomy communicators. Building domestic and international networks is essential to disseminate inclusive activities and resources.

Astronomy across world cultures is rooted in indigenous knowledge. We share models of partnering with indigenous communities involving collaboration with integrity to co-create an inclusive scientific enterprise on Earth and in space.

The struggles of marginalized students, mentees and peers in astronomy and physics can be amplified by negative ‘fixed’ mindsets. Here are ways we can address mindset in our labs, our classrooms and ourselves.

Good intentions are not enough to advance diversity. This case study of a 2019 postdoctoral fellowship competition in astronomy illustrates how incorporating lessons from social science research into the evaluation process mitigates bias, identifies outstanding scientists, and improves diversity.

The International Astronomical Youth Camp has benefited thousands of lives during its 50 year history. We explore the pedagogy behind this success, review a survey taken by more than 300 previous participants and discuss some of the challenges the camp faces in the future.

Careful measurements taken over 15 years have revealed a new planetary companion to the famous young star, Beta Pictoris, thereby unveiling one of the most massive extrasolar planetary systems yet discovered.

After George Gamow first proposed the idea of a hot Big Bang in 1948, it took 15 years for the burgeoning cosmology community to recognize his contribution for what it was.

A pair of seminal papers developed key numerical methods and made the first predictions for the non-linear evolution of cold dark matter, ushering in the era of hierarchical cosmology and modern computational galaxy formation.

The convoluted challenges that stifle equity in academia can be understood in terms of dynamical systems descriptions of conflict developed in the social sciences, explaining the persistence of exclusive cultures and the inadequacy of simple fixes.

An overview of the nationwide programmes that are making an impact on diversity, culture and climate in Australia is presented, along with the most promising and innovative initiatives in Australian universities and institutions.

Years of dedicated efforts to tackle gender inequality in Europe show positive trends, but equality has not yet been achieved. This Perspective reports on the most recent initiatives in science and technology, with a special focus on the field of astronomy.

PhD bridge programmes provide an asset-based model to improve access and inclusion for students from underrepresented groups. Several well-known PhD bridge programmes in the United States are described and lessons learned from their experiences are discussed.

K2-18 b is a planet with a mass around eight times that of the Earth that lies within the standard habitable zone of its star. Hubble spectra show the presence of an atmosphere around K2-18 b containing significant amounts of water vapour (up to a few tens of per cent, depending on the spectral model), but also a non-negligible amount of H₂–He.

Phase curves from a sample of 12 hot Jupiters show that this type of planet keeps the same nightside temperature (~1,100 K) regardless of the irradiation they receive from their star. This effect is due to an optically thick layer of the same species of clouds on the nightside hemisphere.

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has identified a nearby, bright, quiescent M dwarf star that hosts two sub-Neptune-sized planets and one super-Earth-sized planet. The system is eminently suitable for follow-up studies of transit timing variations, radial velocity measurements and transmission spectroscopy.

Pinte et al. report the kinematic detection of a few-Jupiter-mass planet orbiting at 130 au from the young star HD 97048. The radial position of the planet coincides with a gap in both the gas and dust components of the protoplanetary disk, showing that at least some gaps can be linked to the presence of planets.

Seventeen molecular clouds are identified in a Milky Way progenitor at z = 1.036, with higher masses, surface densities and supersonic turbulence than present-day analogues. Their properties reflect the hostile ambient interstellar conditions prevalent in distant galaxies and suggest they formed by fragmentation of a turbulent galactic gas disk.

The X-ray pulsar wind nebula around PSR B0540–69 brightened by about a third after a change in the pulsar’s spin-down rate. This phenomenon, which has not previously been seen in this way in other pulsars, is likely to be due to a sudden change in the pulsar’s magnetosphere.

The measured magnetic field strengths of four close-in gas giant planets are reported, using a technique based on magnetic star–planet interactions. Values range from 20 G to 120 G, close to estimates based on planetary internal heat flux, but ~10–100 times larger than predicted by dynamo scaling laws.

Radial velocity data of the young β Pictoris system acquired by HARPS and spanning 15 years show evidence of β Pic c, a gas giant of ~9 Jupiter masses orbiting on an eccentric orbit at ~2.4 au from the star, near the theoretical snowline. Both β Pic b and c, located close to the star, may have formed in situ by core accretion.

A glitch experienced by the Vela pulsar in 2016 has been studied in detail, revealing a curious slowdown of the neutron star’s rotation immediately before the event, and confirming some theoretical predictions of neutron-star physics.

The range of sizes of old star clusters in the LMC does not necessarily imply the presence of binary black holes within them; the spread can be explained as a consequence of internal dynamical evolution and formation conditions. Looking at five old LMC clusters, Ferraro et al. find signs of dynamical youth.

The BlackGEM project brings a wide-field robotic optical telescope array with outstanding image quality, sensitivity and field-of view to the Southern Hemisphere to explore the multi-colour explosive Universe, explains Principal Investigator Paul Groot.