Astronomy and astrophysics articles from across Nature Portfolio

The Universe comprises clusters and voids of galaxies and has been shaped by gravity over 13 billion years. Hamiltonian Monte Carlo simulations constrained by observed positions and velocities of galaxies produce maps of the density and velocity field of matter in the local Universe, revealing immense gravitational wells, which can inform future theories of structure formation.

A magnetic halo featuring coherent magnetized ridges several kiloparsecs above and below the Galactic Disk, and a gamma-ray counterpart, are revealed. They probably arise from outflows that are driven by star-forming regions in the Galactic Disk, 3–5 kiloparsecs from the Galactic Centre.

JWST has opened a window on exoplanet imaging by observing the planet ε Indi Ab directly. The planet’s existence had been inferred, but its age and temperature made the discovery difficult to confirm — until now.

Evidence is found for a distant galaxy growing inside-out within the first 700 million years of the Universe. The galaxy has a dense central core comparable in mass density to local massive ellipticals, and an extended star-forming disc.

The Milky Way contains an extremely long-lived stellar disk component that formed, according to this study, more than 13 billion years ago. Such longevity is due to the exceptionally quiescent dynamical history of the Galaxy.

The detection and modelling of nine X-ray quasi-periodic eruptions from a nearby tidal disruption event shows that these eruptions arise in accretion disks around massive black holes, left behind by tidally disrupted stars, and that an orbiting body colliding with this disk is a plausible explanation for the X-ray variability.

An astrometric analysis of Gaia data identified two waves of massive runaway stars that have been dynamically ejected from the young cluster R136 in the Large Magellanic Cloud.

JWST observations of outflows from four young stars reveal in each case a molecular wind with a central cavity surrounding a fast jet. These results point to disk winds driving accretion, with implications for planet formation and evolution.

The Universe comprises clusters and voids of galaxies and has been shaped by gravity over 13 billion years. Hamiltonian Monte Carlo simulations constrained by observed positions and velocities of galaxies produce maps of the density and velocity field of matter in the local Universe, revealing immense gravitational wells, which can inform future theories of structure formation.

ESA’s Hera mission will study a rock called Dimorphos, which was blasted by NASA, to work out how successful that approach was in deflecting its course.