Featured
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Where I Work |
Serving science and the Church as the Pope’s astronomer
Around 100 active scientists have collaborated with the Vatican Observatory, says Brother Guy Consolmagno, its director.
- Chris Woolston
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News |
China’s Moon trip reveals surprisingly recent volcanic activity
The Chang’e-5 mission returned the first lunar samples since the 1970s, with bits of lava dated at two billion years old.
- Jonathan O'Callaghan
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Article |
Fine-regolith production on asteroids controlled by rock porosity
The absence of fine regolith on the asteroid Bennu is due to the high porosity of its rocks, which compress rather than fragment after impacts and exhibit slow thermal cracking.
- S. Cambioni
- , M. Delbo
- & D. S. Lauretta
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Research Highlight |
Deal-making in the early Universe: galaxies merged to grow
Galaxies were busy joining forces one billion years after the birth of the Universe.
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News |
BepiColombo gets first close-up look at Mercury
The European and Japanese mission performed the first of six slingshot manoeuvres around the planet. It will ultimately insert two probes into orbit in 2025.
- Davide Castelvecchi
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News |
NASA won’t rename James Webb telescope — and astronomers are angry
The agency found no evidence that the flagship observatory’s namesake was involved in anti-LGBT+ activities, but some say that Webb bears responsibility.
- Alexandra Witze
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News Round-Up |
Moon ice, research imbalance and a new science minister
The latest science news, in brief.
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News & Views |
From the archive
Nature’s pages feature a report from a conference about the search for extraterrestrial life, and a reflection on scientific books.
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Obituary |
Antony Hewish (1924–2021)
Radioastronomer who won share of Nobel for role in discovering pulsars.
- Malcolm Longair
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Article |
Normal, dust-obscured galaxies in the epoch of reionization
Two serendipitously detected dust-obscured galaxies are reported at z = 6.7 and 7.4, with estimates that such galaxies provide an additional 10–25% contribution to the total star formation rate density at z > 6.
- Y. Fudamoto
- , P. A. Oesch
- & C. White
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Article |
Quenching of star formation from a lack of inflowing gas to galaxies
The authors report 1.3 mm observations of dust emission from strongly lensed galaxies where star formation is quenched, demonstrating that gas depletion is responsible for the cessation of star formation in some high-redshift galaxies.
- Katherine E. Whitaker
- , Christina C. Williams
- & Francesco Valentino
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Book Review |
Who is allowed to have wild ideas in physics?
A cosmologist reflects on barriers to diversity of thought in dark-matter and dark-energy research.
- Anil Ananthaswamy
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News |
New type of dark energy could solve Universe expansion mystery
Hints of a previously unknown, primordial form of the substance could explain why the cosmos now seems to be expanding faster than theory predicts.
- Davide Castelvecchi
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Article |
The diffuse γ-ray background is dominated by star-forming galaxies
The diffuse, isotropic background of gamma rays comes mainly from star-forming galaxies, according to a physical model of gamma-ray emission.
- Matt A. Roth
- , Mark R. Krumholz
- & Silvia Celli
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Article |
Large metallicity variations in the Galactic interstellar medium
The metallicity of the interstellar medium measured towards 25 stars relatively near the Sun shows large variations, suggesting that infalling pristine gas is not efficiently mixed in the interstellar medium.
- Annalisa De Cia
- , Edward B. Jenkins
- & Jens-Kristian Krogager
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Research Highlight |
A stellar explosion moves from theory to reality
Radio signals help to provide evidence for a type of supernova triggered by a black hole or neutron star on the rampage.
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Article
| Open AccessMeasuring the density structure of an accretion hot spot
An observed one-day difference between the peaks of emission of ultraviolet and optical light from the hot spot on GM Aurigae indicates that the hot spot has a radial density gradient.
- C. C. Espaillat
- , C. E. Robinson
- & J. Muzerolle
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Where I Work |
Using sound to explore events of the Universe
Wanda Diaz Merced analyses gravitational waves from explosions of massive stars by converting them into ‘chirps’.
- Davide Castelvecchi
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Obituary |
Carolyn S. Shoemaker (1929–2021)
Co-discoverer of first comet known to collide with a planet in modern times.
- David H. Levy
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Research Highlight |
Why gassy planets are bigger around more-massive stars
During formation, the planets can draw a greater amount of hydrogen and helium around themselves, causing them to increase in size.
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Article |
Chromatic periodic activity down to 120 megahertz in a fast radio burst
The fast radio burst FRB 20180916B repeats with a periodicity of 16 days, and is now found to emit down to a frequency of 120 MHz, much lower than previously observed.
- Inés Pastor-Marazuela
- , Liam Connor
- & Stefan J. Wijnholds
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Article
| Open AccessLenghu on the Tibetan Plateau as an astronomical observing site
The results of site testing at a local summit near Lenghu Town in Qinghai Province on the Tibetan Plateau indicate that the site is suitable as an astronomical observing site.
- Licai Deng
- , Fan Yang
- & Jun Pan
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Research Highlight |
How to weigh a black hole: monitor its fireworks
The dusty disk around a black hole flashes on a characteristic schedule, offering a clue to its mass.
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Editorial |
The world must cooperate to avoid a catastrophic space collision
Governments and companies urgently need to share data on the mounting volume of satellites and debris orbiting Earth.
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Obituary |
Steven Weinberg (1933–2021)
Theoretical physicist whose electroweak theory won the Nobel prize.
- Frank Wilczek
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Article
| Open AccessGlobal upper-atmospheric heating on Jupiter by the polar aurorae
High-resolution observations confirm that Jupiter’s global upper atmosphere is heated by transport of energy from the polar aurora.
- J. O’Donoghue
- , L. Moore
- & C. Tao
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News Round-Up |
COVID vaccine enthusiasm, astronomy bullies and an enzyme chip
The latest science news, in brief.
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Comment |
Test quantum mechanics in space — invest US$1 billion
Shooting glass beads across the inside of a satellite could probe the limits of quantum wave behaviour. Here’s how.
- Alessio Belenchia
- , Matteo Carlesso
- & Mauro Paternostro
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Article |
Light bending and X-ray echoes from behind a supermassive black hole
One of the key predictions of general relativity, the bending of light around massive, compact objects, is observed for a supermassive black hole in the galaxy I Zwicky 1.
- D. R. Wilkins
- , L. C. Gallo
- & R. D. Blandford
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News Round-Up |
Delta’s success, satellite swarms and a ‘super’ COVID antibody
The latest science news, in brief.
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News |
NASA investigates renaming James Webb telescope after anti-LGBT+ claims
Some astronomers argue the flagship observatory — successor to the Hubble Space Telescope — will memorialize discrimination. Others are waiting for more evidence.
- Alexandra Witze
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News |
China’s space station is preparing to host 1,000 scientific experiments
Researchers around the world are eagerly awaiting the completion of Tiangong, to study topics from dark matter and gravitational waves to the growth of cancer and pathogenic bacteria.
- Smriti Mallapaty
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News |
Bullying and harassment are rife in astronomy, poll suggests
Nearly half of researchers surveyed in the United Kingdom and elsewhere reported problems, with people from marginalized groups most likely to be mistreated.
- Philip Ball
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Research Highlight |
A telescope watches as a black hole spews stuff into space
The trailblazing collaboration that first imaged a black hole turns its sights on a nearby black-hole jet.
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Article |
The nightside cloud-top circulation of the atmosphere of Venus
Cloud-top thermal images obtained by the Akatsuki orbiter show that Venus has almost null mean meridional circulation at the cloud top, because poleward circulation on the dayside is offset by equatorward circulation on the nightside.
- Kiichi Fukuya
- , Takeshi Imamura
- & Masato Nakamura
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News & Views |
From the archive
Nature’s pages feature a discussion of global warming in 1971 and report that astronomy captured the imagination of world leaders in 1871.
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News |
Astronomers push for global debate on giant satellite swarms
Working with the United Nations, scientists hope to establish standards for satellite ‘megaconstellations’ and reduce disruption of astronomical observations.
- Alexandra Witze
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Article |
The 13CO-rich atmosphere of a young accreting super-Jupiter
Observations of 13CO in the atmosphere of a young, accreting super-Jupiter indicate a 13C-rich atmosphere, which is attributed to the accretion of carbon from ices enriched in 13C through fractionation.
- Yapeng Zhang
- , Ignas A. G. Snellen
- & Frans Snik
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News & Views |
From the archive
Nature’s pages feature a 1971 report of ancient rock carvings indicating astronomical knowledge, and an 1871 look at alpine mountaineering and glaciers.
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Research Highlight |
A swarm of black holes could explain Galactic fluffiness
Diffuse Milky Way formation might have been depleted by star-hurling black holes.
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Article |
r-Process elements from magnetorotational hypernovae
Observations of an extremely metal-poor star suggest that rapidly rotating massive stars with large magnetic fields were a source of r-process elements in the early Universe.
- D. Yong
- , C. Kobayashi
- & B. P. Schmidt
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Article |
A highly magnetized and rapidly rotating white dwarf as small as the Moon
A binary star merger has produced a white dwarf with a spin period of under 7 minutes, a magnetic field of 600 to 900 million gauss and a radius only slightly larger than that of our Moon.
- Ilaria Caiazzo
- , Kevin B. Burdge
- & Maayane T. Soumagnac
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News Round-Up |
Alien view of Earth and deleted coronavirus sequences
The latest science news, in brief.
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Research Highlight |
When was cosmic dawn? Some of the most distant galaxies known hold a clue
Light from the early days of the Universe helps to pin-point when the stars switched on after the Big Bang.
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News |
First video and sounds from China’s Mars rover intrigue scientists
Several videos, one with sound, hint at the chance of comparing audio data with that collected by NASA’s Perseverance rover.
- Smriti Mallapaty
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News |
The 2,000 stars where aliens would catch a glimpse of Earth
Scientists searching for extraterrestrial life should narrow their hunt to stars and planetary systems that have an occasional view of Earth as it passes in front of the Sun.
- Alexandra Witze
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Article |
Past, present and future stars that can see Earth as a transiting exoplanet
The Gaia database is used to identify stars from which astronomers on orbiting planets could see Earth transiting the Sun in the past, present and future.
- L. Kaltenegger
- & J. K. Faherty
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News Round-Up |
Mars selfie, Betelgeuse mystery and the impact of journal closure
The latest science news, in brief.
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Nature Podcast |
Quantum compass might help birds 'see' magnetic fields
Researchers isolate the protein thought to help migratory birds navigate, and astronomers pinpoint the stars that could view Earth as an exoplanet.
- Benjamin Thompson
- & Nick Petrić Howe