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Dark matter maps reveal cosmic scaffolding
Refregier, Alexandre; Ellis, Richard; Mobasher, Bahram +17 more
Ordinary baryonic particles (such as protons and neutrons) account for only one-sixth of the total matter in the Universe. The remainder is a mysterious `dark matter' component, which does not interact via electromagnetism and thus neither emits nor reflects light. As dark matter cannot be seen directly using traditional observations, very little …
An unusually brilliant transient in the galaxy M85
Cenko, S. B.; Sanders, D. B.; Gal-Yam, A. +11 more
Historically, variable and transient sources have both surprised astronomers and provided new views of the heavens. Here we report the discovery of an optical transient in the outskirts of the lenticular galaxy Messier 85 in the Virgo cluster. With a peak absolute R magnitude of -12, this event is distinctly brighter than novae, but fainter than t…
The signature of hot hydrogen in the atmosphere of the extrasolar planet HD 209458b
Sing, David K.; Ballester, Gilda E.; Herbert, Floyd
About ten per cent of the known extrasolar planets are gas giants that orbit very close to their parent stars. The atmospheres of these `hot Jupiters' are heated by the immense stellar irradiation. In the case of the planet HD 209458b, this energy deposition results in a hydrodynamic state in the upper atmosphere, allowing for sizeable expansion a…