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Star DMPP-1 hosts a compact, four-planet system comprising three irradiated super-Earth-mass planets and one Neptune-mass planet, discovered through radial velocity measurements and the star’s anomalously low chromospheric emission.
The long-term evolution and stratigraphy of the CO2 ice residual southern polar cap of Mars can be explained by a model that includes the active coupling of near-surface CO2 with the atmosphere through the permeable H2O ice layers.
This Article provides an overview of the Dispersed Matter Planet Project, a programme to discover close-in exoplanets being ablated by their host stars by means of the stars’ anomalously low chromospheric emission. One example is presented here: DMPP-2 hosts a sub-Jupiter-mass planet around a γ Doradus pulsator.
The third target of the Dispersed Matter Planet Project, DMPP-3, is an unusual binary system containing a solar-type star ablating a super-Earth-mass planet, along with a very low mass secondary.
Most stars in the Galactic nuclear disk formed at least 8 Gyr ago, with a starburst event about 1 Gyr ago that formed roughly 5% of its mass. This long quiescence has implications on when the Galactic bar was formed and its gas transport efficiency.
A detailed study of young stellar populations from high-quality stacked spectra of 28,663 massive early-type galaxies reveals ubiquitous residual star formation, measuring average mass fractions of 0.5% in young stars in the last 2 Gyr of their evolution.
Dust in the Solar System originates primarily in two locations: the interstellar medium and stellar outflows. On the basis of measurements of palladium isotopes in iron meteorites, Ek et al. suggest that the interstellar component was destroyed in the inner Solar System, revealing an enhancement of s-process isotopes from stardust.
Enceladus’s tiger stripes at the south pole formed in cascade and spaced equally after the first fracture—probably Baghdad Sulcus—was created by the release of accumulated tensile stress, caused in turn by secular cooling.
Coupling a global surface hydrology model to an existing atmospheric model of Titan reproduces the observed variable climate and distribution of surface liquid, with possible implications for an unobserved methane reservoir on Titan.
The large-scale spatial distribution of local active galactic nuclei can constrain the black hole–stellar mass relation and their mean radiative efficiency to 10–20%, suggesting moderate to high spins for the vast majority of supermassive black holes.
Spectropolarimetric data combined with high-resolution numerical simulations reveal a resonance cavity above a highly magnetic sunspot. This technique conclusively determines the three-dimensional structure of solar active regions from relatively commonplace two-dimensional data.
Protonated buckminsterfullerene (C60H+) may be the most abundant interstellar analogue of C60, and its gas-phase laboratory infrared spectrum is presented here. C60H+ has more infrared active modes than C60, giving it a richer spectrum that may be detectable with future infrared space missions.
Nineteen dwarf galaxies from the ALFALFA catalogue support previous observations of dwarf galaxies that suggested a deficiency in dark matter, challenging the formation theory of low-mass galaxies within the standard cold dark matter model.
Multi-frequency observations by the upgraded LIGO/Virgo and the proposed LISA space gravitational wave detector will be used to detect intermediate-mass black hole binaries in their inspiral, merger and ring-down phases out to cosmological distances.
16 out of 17 spectral observations of Europa, spanning from February 2016 to May 2017, did not see anything, but the one on 26 April 2016 shows evidence of a direct detection of water vapour, compatible with a column density of 1.4 ± 0.4 × 1019 H2O m−2. Whatever water activity there is on Europa, it is very sporadic.
The global geological map of Saturn’s moon Titan, created using radar observations from Cassini, shows a clear latitudinal dependence, with young dune fields dominant at the equator, plains at mid-latitudes and lakes and old dissected terrains at the poles. Titan’s geomorphology is controlled mostly by climate and topography.
On its departure from the heliosphere, the plasma experiment on Voyager 2 observed changes corresponding to a 1.5-au-wide boundary region, followed by a much thinner boundary layer, before reaching the heliopause. Outside the heliopause, the very local interstellar medium is found to be hotter than expected. [The summary that originally appeared was incorrect and has been updated.]
This paper reports measurements of the magnetic fields and energetic particles detected by the Voyager 2 spacecraft as it passed from the heliosphere, through the heliosheath and heliopause, to the interstellar medium. As predicted by models, Voyager 2 encountered a ‘magnetic barrier’ before reaching the heliopause.
This Article reports measurements from the plasma wave instruments of the Voyager spacecraft as they passed from the heliosphere into interstellar space. The Voyager 2 instrument recorded an electron density jump of a factor of 20, similar to that from Voyager 1 several years previously.
As it crossed the heliopause, Voyager 2 observed a sharp decrease in measurements of the low-energy ions that originate within the heliosphere, and an increase in the cosmic rays from the Milky Way, without any of the precursor flux tubes that Voyager 1 experienced. Outside the heliopause, a boundary layer exists.
