News & Comment

We are still in the early days of open science, with implementation lagging ideation. But the benefits are clear and progress is picking up.

The GHOST spectrograph will shortly be available on the Gemini South Telescope for studies of stellar and galactic abundances and, in time, exoplanets.

A vital part of future planetary science missions will be the development of more inclusive teams. As NASA’s InSight mission comes to its end on Mars, we share some strategies that have helped us to work toward this goal.

At a Lorentz Center workshop, Chiara Caprini, Antoine Petiteau and Elena Maria Rossi gave a series of presentations about the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) mission, the instrument, and the associated science in cosmology and astrophysics.

For blind and visually impaired astronomers, sonification of data creates opportunities for research and outreach. But for everyone, this Focus issue lays out the benefits of complementing vision-based data analysis tools with data sonification.

The 2019 carbon footprint of the W. M. Keck Observatory is estimated at 3.0 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent per science night and that figure will move towards net zero over the next decade or so by decarbonizing the Observatory’s vehicle fleet, aviation footprint reductions and other measures.

The development and use of research infrastructures accounts for more than 70% of the carbon footprint of the Institute for Research in Astrophysics and Planetology. Our community needs to rethink this crucial facet of astronomical research to engage in effective and perennial reduction strategies.

How does one maintain a personal professional identity while part of a large collaboration in which everything is a team effort? Tensions will undoubtedly arise, but among the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration, at least, they are resolved as one would handle family dynamics.

Although space debris has been a problem for decades, recent investment in active debris clearing shows a wider commitment to sustainable space development.

SPRITE will map ionized gas emission from supernova remnants and ionizing radiation escape from local galaxies.

In-person and online conferences each have their benefits, with hybrid conferences intended to blend the best of both worlds. But do hybrid conferences fulfil the promise? Fifteen attendees across three global conferences share their collective experiences.

Gamma-ray bursts are linked to the most distant objects in the Universe, but detecting them is a rare event. With a dedicated near-infrared telescope to observe in tandem with the optical Vera Rubin Observatory, ten or so high-redshift (z ≳ 6) gamma-ray bursts could potentially be detected every year.