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Earth-mass planets in the classical habitable zone of M dwarfs span a range of water content higher than previously computed, according to a planetary population model that includes the effects of water enrichment in the primordial atmosphere.
Spectropolarimetric observations of three tidal disruption events reveal that they are optically polarized at the 1–2% level by a cloud of electrons surrounding the black hole (in good agreement with theory).
A neutron star candidate in a close binary has been discovered using a radial velocity method and characterized with a variety of ground- and space-based telescopes. The system probably represents an underexplored population of non-accreting and/or non-beaming neutron stars.
The extraction of the wind pattern, vorticity and divergence down to a scale of 200 km from the cluster of cyclones at Jupiter’s north pole shows evidence of an anticyclonic ring, which is needed to keep the system stable, around the central cyclone. No signatures of convection are observed at 200 km scales.
Benchmark testing of many opacity models of exoplanetary transmission spectra, simulating representative spectra to be obtained with the James Webb Space Telescope, highlights the presence of biases that would significantly reduce the accuracy on the retrieval of atmospheric parameters. Mitigation strategies are presented.
A bright patch in the Fermi bubbles, previously attributed to a jet launched by the Galaxy’s central black hole, is actually due to gamma-ray emission by millisecond pulsars in a background, satellite galaxy of the Milky Way.
A close look at microcraters on a lunar grain from a Chang’e-5 returned sample shows evidence of the formation of nanophase metallic iron (np-Fe0) via disproportionation of Fe2+ triggered by secondary impacts, with no space weathering contribution from the solar wind.
About 0.5% by volume of the Ryugu particle C0009 is made up of anhydrous silicates, mostly olivines, despite the extensive aqueous alteration of its parent body. Such aggregates, rich in 16O, were present in Ryugu’s protolith and survived fluid activity.
A new selection method is used to obtain a sample of dual/lensed active galactic nuclei (AGN) candidates with sub-arcsec separations from Gaia data. This substantially increases the known number of dual AGNs, with implications for studies of in-spiralling supermassive black holes.
The Galactic Centre should host up to 10% of the newest stars in the Galaxy, but the only two known young star clusters in the Galactic Centre account for less than 10% of this expected mass. A high-angular-resolution near-infrared survey of the Sgr B1 region finds another 25% of the expected mass of very young stars.
A model of CO ice formation in protoplanetary disks shows that surface energy effects, such as the Kelvin effect, in ice nucleation and condensation must be considered to reproduce the observed distribution, abundances and evolution of gaseous CO.
The sample taken from carbonaceous asteroid Ryugu and brought back to Earth by the Hayabusa2 spacecraft contains outer Solar System-derived materials uncontaminated by terrestrial processes. Even CI carbonaceous chondrites, despite their closeness to solar abundances, are not pristine.
The direct observation of the velocity field of a disk wind around a forming massive star has been achieved with high-spatial-resolution (0.05 au) observations of water masers.
Some fragments of the Aguas Zarcas carbonaceous meteorite have been shocked before being redeposited over an unshocked lithology. As their size distribution is similar to that of the ejecta observed at Bennu, they might be the signature of activity of the Aguas Zarcas parent body. Alternatively, they might be the result of a large-scale impact.
Modelling of the gas excitation along the path of black hole jets suggests a more complex picture than previously expected, with the jet passage effecting pressure changes that could enhance or suppress star formation.
The Radio Experiment for the Analysis of Cosmic Hydrogen (REACH) aims to detect the sky-averaged 21-cm neutral hydrogen line from the early Universe by jointly analysing the cosmological signal, foreground emission and systematic effects.
An inactive black hole has been found in the Large Magellanic Cloud, bound into a binary star system. Having experienced a negligible ‘kick’ during formation, the existence of this black hole has strong implications for black hole-–black hole mergers.
A metallicity survey of Fermi bubble clouds reveals a wide range of metallicities, challenging the theory that all of these clouds launch from the Milky Way’s disk and instead suggesting that they originate in both the disk and halo.
Each uncontrolled rocket body in orbit poses a low casualty risk on reentry. But the cumulative risk is unacceptable and disproportionately borne by the Global South. Spacefaring states must stop exporting these risks and plan for safer reentries.