Search Publications
Early Release Science of the exoplanet WASP-39b with JWST NIRSpec PRISM
Zhang, X.; Heng, K.; May, E. M. +91 more
Transmission spectroscopy1-3 of exoplanets has revealed signatures of water vapour, aerosols and alkali metals in a few dozen exoplanet atmospheres4,5. However, these previous inferences with the Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes were hindered by the observations' relatively narrow wavelength range and spectral resolving po…
Orbital period change of Dimorphos due to the DART kinetic impact
Morrell, Nidia; Cheng, Andrew F.; Dominik, Martin +46 more
The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft successfully performed the first test of a kinetic impactor for asteroid deflection by impacting Dimorphos, the secondary of near-Earth binary asteroid (65803) Didymos, and changing the orbital period of Dimorphos. A change in orbital period of approximately 7 min was expected if the incident …
Stellar initial mass function varies with metallicity and time
Tian, Hao; Fu, Xiaoting; Li, Jiadong +4 more
Most structural and evolutionary properties of galaxies strongly rely on the stellar initial mass function (IMF), namely the distribution of the stellar mass formed in each episode of star formation1-4. The IMF shapes the stellar population in all stellar systems, and so has become one of the most fundamental concepts of modern astronom…
A dense ring of the trans-Neptunian object Quaoar outside its Roche limit
Olofsson, G.; Pagano, I.; Dhillon, V. S. +56 more
Planetary rings are observed not only around giant planets1, but also around small bodies such as the Centaur Chariklo2 and the dwarf planet Haumea3. Up to now, all known dense rings were located close enough to their parent bodies, being inside the Roche limit, where tidal forces prevent material with reasonable d…
A resonant sextuplet of sub-Neptunes transiting the bright star HD 110067
Alonso, R.; Deleuil, M.; Erikson, A. +149 more
Planets with radii between that of the Earth and Neptune (hereafter referred to as `sub-Neptunes') are found in close-in orbits around more than half of all Sun-like stars1,2. However, their composition, formation and evolution remain poorly understood3. The study of multiplanetary systems offers an opportunity to investigate…
A super-massive Neptune-sized planet
Schlieder, Joshua E.; Howell, Steve B.; Cubillos, Patricio E. +54 more
Neptune-sized planets exhibit a wide range of compositions and densities, depending on factors related to their formation and evolution history, such as the distance from their host stars and atmospheric escape processes. They can vary from relatively low-density planets with thick hydrogen-helium atmospheres1,2 to higher-density planet…
Resolved imaging confirms a radiation belt around an ultracool dwarf
Kao, Melodie M.; Shkolnik, Evgenya L.; Mioduszewski, Amy J. +1 more
Radiation belts are present in all large-scale Solar System planetary magnetospheres: Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune1. These persistent equatorial zones of relativistic particles up to tens of megaelectron volts in energy can extend further than ten times the planet's radius, emit gradually varying radio emissions2-4
Minutes-duration optical flares with supernova luminosities
Filippenko, Alexei V.; de Boer, Thomas; Magnier, Eugene A. +74 more
In recent years, certain luminous extragalactic optical transients have been observed to last only a few days1. Their short observed duration implies a different powering mechanism from the most common luminous extragalactic transients (supernovae), whose timescale is weeks2. Some short-duration transients, most notably AT201…
A high-mass X-ray binary descended from an ultra-stripped supernova
Gies, Douglas R.; Richardson, Noel D.; Younes, George +6 more
Ultra-stripped supernovae are different from other terminal explosions of massive stars, as they show little or no ejecta from the actual supernova event1,2. They are thought to occur in massive binary systems after the exploding star has lost its surface through interactions with its companion2. Such supernovae produce littl…
A rotating white dwarf shows different compositions on its opposite faces
Kulkarni, S. R.; Vennes, Stéphane; Hermes, J. J. +35 more
White dwarfs, the extremely dense remnants left behind by most stars after their death, are characterized by a mass comparable to that of the Sun compressed into the size of an Earth-like planet. In the resulting strong gravity, heavy elements sink towards the centre and the upper layer of the atmosphere contains only the lightest element present,…