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The inner four planets of the TRAPPIST-1 system experienced induction heating due to magnetic interaction with their host star. This led them to experience increased volcanic activity, outgassing and potentially a subsurface magma ocean.
The 2010–2011 storm that appeared at Saturn’s northern mid-latitudes significantly altered the wind structure and atmospheric temperature even far away from the storm, by disrupting the quasi-periodic atmospheric oscillations at the equator for more than 3 years.
A double neutron star merger gave rise to the gravitational-wave event GW 170817, with counterpart electromagnetic radiation in the optical and gamma-ray spectra. Polarization measurements of the optical emission reveal a lanthanide-rich macronova.
The authors detect hard X-ray emission produced by plasma heated at ≥10 million kelvin from a quiescent active region of the Sun, providing clear observational evidence of plasma heating by nanoflares, and hinting at their important role in coronal heating.
Mapping the optical emission of a galaxy cluster to its mass is challenging. Lensing of the cosmic microwave background by massive clusters is used to calibrate the optical richness of clusters to their total baryonic mass at the ten per cent level.
The origin of the broad-line emission from type-1 active galactic nuclei is unclear. Calculations of emission lines from dusty clumps that are tidally disrupted by the central black hole suggest that these clumps give rise to the broad-line emission.
Experiments are presented that indicate that methane can be produced abiotically on Mars through the photocatalytic reaction of CO2, in a process called methanogenesis. Methane can then be shocked (through impacts) to form RNA nucleobases and glycine.
The relatively unexplored southwestern region of the Large Magellanic Cloud is host to a massive, embedded star-forming complex that rivals the star-forming efficiency of 30 Doradus. Its most luminous object could be a super star cluster in formation.
Chloromethane (CH3Cl) has been observed towards a low-mass protostar and comet 67P, making it the first organohalogen detected in space. The species was previously considered to be a biomarker, but the authors suggest viable alternative abiotic formation routes.
Optical pulsations from a millisecond pulsar that had transitioned from a rotationally powered regime to an accretion disk state have been detected. The optical emission is likely to be due to electron synchrotron emission in a rotation-powered magnetosphere.
By assessing the ionization fraction of the environment around Tycho’s (type Ia) supernova, the authors have constrained the properties of its progenitor enough to rule out a hot, luminous white dwarf. A double white dwarf binary merger is allowed.
A candidate dual supermassive black hole system with a projected separation of 0.35 pc is found in the gas-rich interacting spiral galaxy NGC 7674, evidenced by a ∼0.7 kpc Z-shaped radio jet and two, possibly inverted-spectrum, compact radio cores.
The authors present a spectrophotometric and hydrodynamical study of supernova OGLE-2014-SN-073, which had remarkably high inferred ejecta mass and energy, potentially higher than can be explained with canonical core-collapse neutrino-driven explosions.
The polarization resulting from electron scattering in a stellar atmosphere has been detected towards the rapidly spinning star Regulus. Deformation of the star from spherical allows this effect to be seen, fulfilling a prediction from around 50 years ago.
A candidate intermediate-mass black hole is reported within a molecular cloud near Sgr A*, the centre of our Galaxy. High-resolution observations with ALMA reveal extreme gas kinematics and a compact source consistent with a quiescent black hole.
A tight correlation between gamma rays and optical emission in nova ASASSN-16ma indicates that the optical light comes from reprocessed emission from shocks in the ejecta, rather than an energy release near the hot white dwarf, as in the standard model.
The detection and characterization of a large-scale ordered magnetic field through a gravitational lens in a galaxy beyond the local volume allows us to elucidate how such magnetic fields come about, supporting a mean-field dynamo origin.
Rotation of the Galactic bar at the centre of the Milky Way can explain gaps and asymmetries in stellar stream Palomar 5. Similar streams close to the Galactic Centre are therefore unfit for probing the dark matter subhalo interactions in our Galaxy.
Recent observations reveal tension between various cosmological probes. Assuming dark energy to be non-constant, depending on redshift, may relieve this tension. The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument survey will be able to confirm this result.
Brightness changes of the Sun over timescales from minutes to decades, relevant to Earth’s climate and the detection of exoplanets around Sun-like stars, can be fully and precisely explained by the magnetic field and granulation of the Sun’s surface.
