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Curtain eruptions from Enceladus' south-polar terrain
Spitale, Joseph N.; Hurford, Terry A.; Rhoden, Alyssa R. +2 more
Observations of the south pole of the Saturnian moon Enceladus revealed large rifts in the south-polar terrain, informally called `tiger stripes', named Alexandria, Baghdad, Cairo and Damascus Sulci. These fractures have been shown to be the sources of the observed jets of water vapour and icy particles and to exhibit higher temperatures than the …
Nuclear ashes and outflow in the eruptive star Nova Vul 1670
Menten, Karl M.; Kraus, Alexander; Hajduk, Marcin +3 more
CK Vulpeculae was observed in outburst in 1670-1672 (ref. 1), but no counterpart was seen until 1982, when a bipolar nebula was found at its location. Historically, CK Vul has been considered to be a nova (Nova Vul 1670), but its similarity to `red transients', which are more luminous than classical novae and thought to be the results of stellar c…
A kiloparsec-scale internal shock collision in the jet of a nearby radio galaxy
Anderson, Jay; van der Marel, Roeland P.; Sparks, William B. +7 more
Jets of highly energized plasma with relativistic velocities are associated with black holes ranging in mass from a few times that of the Sun to the billion-solar-mass black holes at the centres of galaxies. A popular but unconfirmed hypothesis to explain how the plasma is energized is the `internal shock model', in which the relativistic flow is …
An extremely high-altitude plume seen at Mars' morning terminator
Phillips, J.; Sánchez-Lavega, A.; Delcroix, M. +10 more
The Martian limb (that is, the observed `edge' of the planet) represents a unique window into the complex atmospheric phenomena occurring there. Clouds of ice crystals (CO2 ice or H2O ice) have been observed numerous times by spacecraft and ground-based telescopes, showing that clouds are typically layered and always confined…
Ubiquitous time variability of integrated stellar populations
van Dokkum, Pieter G.; Choi, Jieun; Conroy, Charlie
Long-period variable stars arise in the final stages of the asymptotic giant branch phase of stellar evolution. They have periods of up to about 1,000 days and amplitudes that can exceed a factor of three in the I-band flux. These stars pulsate predominantly in their fundamental mode, which is a function of mass and radius, and so the pulsation pe…
Planetary science: Enceladus' hot springs
Tobie, Gabriel
The detection of silicon-rich particles originating from Saturn's moon Enceladus suggests that water-rock interactions are currently occurring inside it -- the first evidence of ongoing hydrothermal activity beyond Earth. See Letter p.207
Planetary science: Sink holes and dust jets on comet 67P
Weissman, Paul
Analyses of images taken by the Rosetta spacecraft reveal the complex landscape of a comet in rich detail. Close-up views of the surface indicate that some dust jets are being emitted from active pits undergoing sublimation. See Letter p.63
Historic Rosetta mission to end with crash into comet
Gibney, Elizabeth
There were other options, but super close-up shots on descent will provide science bonanza.
Hunt for Philae hangs in the balance
Gibney, Elizabeth
Rosetta mission would have to sacrifice other science to search for comet lander.
Revived Philae poised to do comet science
Gibney, Elizabeth
Comet lander has enough power to do experiments but needs a better communications link.