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Forbidden hugs in pandemic times. I. Luminous red nova AT 2019zhd, a new merger in M 31
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/202039952 Bibcode: 2021A&A...646A.119P

Lundqvist, P.; Rest, A.; Munari, U. +20 more

We present the follow-up campaign of the luminous red nova (LRN) AT 2019zhd, the third event of this class observed in M 31. The object was followed by several sky surveys for about five months before the outburst, during which it showed a slow luminosity rise. In this phase, the absolute magnitude ranged from…

2021 Astronomy and Astrophysics
eHST 27
Asteroid absolute magnitudes and phase curve parameters from Gaia photometry
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/202039796 Bibcode: 2021A&A...649A..98M

Cellino, A.; Muinonen, K.; Penttilä, A. +2 more


Aims: We perform light curve inversion for 491 asteroids to retrieve phase curve parameters, rotation periods, pole longitudes and latitudes, and convex and triaxial ellipsoid shapes by using the sparse photometric observations from Gaia Data Release 2 and the dense ground-based observations from the DAMIT database. We develop a method for th…

2021 Astronomy and Astrophysics
Gaia 27
Bird's eye view of molecular clouds in the Milky Way. I. Column density and star formation from sub-parsec to kiloparsec scales
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/202040021 Bibcode: 2021A&A...653A..63S

Kainulainen, Jouni; Spilker, Andri; Orkisz, Jan

Context. Describing how the properties of the interstellar medium are combined across various size scales is crucial for understanding star formation scaling laws and connecting Galactic and extragalactic data of molecular clouds.
Aims: We describe how the statistical structure of the clouds and its connection to star formation changes from s…

2021 Astronomy and Astrophysics
Herschel 26
First Solar Orbiter observation of the Alfvénic slow wind and identification of its solar source
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/202140938 Bibcode: 2021A&A...656A..21D

André, N.; Fedorov, A.; Livi, S. +27 more

Context. Turbulence dominated by large-amplitude, nonlinear Alfvén-like fluctuations mainly propagating away from the Sun is ubiquitous in high-speed solar wind streams. Recent studies have demontrated that slow wind streams may also show strong Alfvénic signatures, especially in the inner heliosphere.
Aims: The present study focuses on the c…

2021 Astronomy and Astrophysics
SolarOrbiter 26
Detectability of biosignatures on LHS 1140 b
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/202039663 Bibcode: 2021A&A...647A..48W

Rauer, Heike; Sousa-Silva, Clara; Wunderlich, Fabian +4 more

Context. Terrestrial extrasolar planets around low-mass stars are prime targets when searching for atmospheric biosignatures with current and near-future telescopes. The habitable-zone super-Earth LHS 1140 b could hold a hydrogen-dominated atmosphere, and is an excellent candidate for detecting atmospheric features.
Aims: In this study we inv…

2021 Astronomy and Astrophysics
Gaia eHST 26
Vortex-like kinematic signal, spirals, and beam smearing effect in the HD 142527 disk
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/202040089 Bibcode: 2021A&A...650A..59B

Pinte, C.; Ménard, F.; van der Plas, G. +8 more

Vortices are one of the most promising mechanisms to locally concentrate millimeter dust grains and allow the formation of planetesimals through gravitational collapse. The outer disk around the binary system HD 142527 is known for its large horseshoe structure with azimuthal contrasts of ~3-5 in the gas surface density and of ~50 in the dust. Usi…

2021 Astronomy and Astrophysics
Gaia 26
A magnetic reconnection model for hot explosions in the cool atmosphere of the Sun
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/202039239 Bibcode: 2021A&A...646A..88N

Ni, Lei; Chen, Yajie; Lin, Jun +2 more

Context. Ultraviolet (UV) bursts and Ellerman bombs (EBs) are transient brightenings observed in the low solar atmospheres of emerging flux regions. Magnetic reconnection is believed to be the main mechanism leading to formation of the two activities, which are usually formed far apart from each other. However, observations also led to the discove…

2021 Astronomy and Astrophysics
IRIS 26
A search for transiting planets around hot subdwarfs. I. Methods and performance tests on light curves from Kepler, K2, TESS, and CHEOPS
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/202140381 Bibcode: 2021A&A...650A.205V

Alonso, R.; Deleuil, M.; Erikson, A. +79 more

Context. Hot subdwarfs experienced strong mass loss on the red giant branch (RGB) and are now hot and small He-burning objects. These stars constitute excellent opportunities for addressing the question of the evolution of exoplanetary systems directly after the RGB phase of evolution.
Aims: In this project we aim to perform a transit survey …

2021 Astronomy and Astrophysics
CHEOPS Gaia 26
A sub-Neptune and a non-transiting Neptune-mass companion unveiled by ESPRESSO around the bright late-F dwarf HD 5278 (TOI-130)
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/202040034 Bibcode: 2021A&A...648A..75S

Bouchy, F.; Rebolo, R.; Pallé, E. +45 more

Context. Transiting sub-Neptune-type planets, with radii approximately between 2 and 4 R, are of particular interest as their study allows us to gain insight into the formation and evolution of a class of planets that are not found in our Solar System.
Aims: We exploit the extreme radial velocity (RV) precision of the ultra-stable…

2021 Astronomy and Astrophysics
Gaia 26
Evolved massive stars at low-metallicity. III. A source catalog for the Large Magellanic Cloud
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/202039475 Bibcode: 2021A&A...646A.141Y

Yang, Ming; Bonanos, Alceste Z.; Gao, Jian +9 more

We present a clean, magnitude-limited (IRAC1 or WISE1 ≤ 15.0 mag) multiwavelength source catalog for the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). The catalog was built by crossmatching (1″) and deblending (3″) between the source list of Spitzer Enhanced Imaging Products and Gaia Data Release 2, with strict constraints on the Gaia astrometric solution in orde…

2021 Astronomy and Astrophysics
AKARI Gaia 26