JWST Early Release Observations with the NIRCam and MIRI instruments reveal that the Southern Ring Nebula is not just the product of a binary star system, as previously thought, but likely a creation that involved a quadruple (if not larger) star system. Also evident, in crisp detail, is a flocculent ring and extended halo composed of molecular hydrogen.

See De Marco et al.

JWST observations of the colliding-wind Wolf–Rayet binary system WR 140 reveal nearly 20 nested shells of small dust particles. Each shell is generated at a particular point in the ~8-year binary orbit, thus cumulatively constructing a record of stellar mass-loss spanning more than 130 years.

See Lau et al.

Isotopic evidence from the Hayabusa2 returned samples shows that Ryugu is a more unaltered and uncontaminated version of CI chondrite meteorites, considered up until now to be the closest available proxy of bulk Solar System composition.

See Ito et al.

High-spatial-resolution observations of water maser spots trace streamlines within the outflowing disk wind around forming massive star IRAS21078+5211. These observations and complementary magnetohydrodynamic simulations offer support for a spiralling flow guided by a helical magnetic field.

See Moscadelli et al.

Solar prominences appear as bright loops at the Sun’s limb and as dark filaments if they are observed against the solar disk. A MHD simulation shows that the development of the magnetic Rayleigh–Taylor instability is essential for the formation of these features and can explain their difference in appearance.

See Jenkins et al.

ALMA observations of a massive protostar near the Galactic Centre reveal a large disk with two embedded spirals. A combined analytical and numerical analysis suggests that the spirals were formed by a close flyby. The study concludes that massive stars can form in a similar way as low-mass stars: through disk-mediated accretion subject to flybys.

See Lu et al.

Rare gamma-ray binary system LS I +61° 303 has been generally well characterized, but the exact nature of the compact object component of the binary has not been firmly established. Sensitive observations with FAST have detected transient radio pulsations from the direction of the system, inferring that LS I +61° 303 is host to a rotating neutron star.

See Weng et al.

Observations starting just an hour after explosion catch a rapid reddening of a type Ia supernova’s early light. The unusual reddish evolution suppressed an initial plateau in the B-band, indicating a flux deficit caused by heavy metals. These measurements offer an insight into the triggering mechanism of the supernova: either superficial nuclear burning or sub-surface burning with rapid mixing.

See Ni et al.

Radio jets are known to work on circumgalactic scales to prevent the accretion of gas onto an active galaxy, but here Suma Murthy and colleagues show that radio jets also have an important role to play on smaller scales, clearing out cold gas from circumnuclear regions by means of a jet-driven molecular outflow.

See Murthy et al.

Three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulations reveal the origin of finger-like plasma downflows observed in solar flares. The model suggests that the dark downflows are self-organized structures that form within a key region where a myriad of turbulent flows and shocks are present, offering insights into flare energy release and particle acceleration.

See Shen et al.

Multi-wavelength data are key to understanding the energy transfer between intra-cluster gas and different phases of interstellar media that are stripped from galaxies during interactions in cluster environments. This optical image has been complemented with X-ray and submillimetre images in order to study the correlation between the warm, hot and cold phases of the stripped gas.

See Sun et al.

Our nearest neighbouring radio galaxy, Centaurus A, observed in full at 185 MHz by the Murchison Widefield Array, has giant radio lobes extending 8 degrees across the sky — powered by the supermassive black hole located close to the image centre. The black hole is both feeding on infalling gas and ejecting matter and energy far out into space.

See McKinley et al.