Search Publications
Images of embedded Jovian planet formation at a wide separation around AB Aurigae
Currie, Thayne; Schneider, Glenn; Dong, Ruobing +30 more
Direct images of protoplanets embedded in disks around infant stars provide the key to understanding the formation of gas giant planets such as Jupiter. Using the Subaru Telescope and the Hubble Space Telescope, we find evidence for a Jovian protoplanet around AB Aurigae orbiting at a wide projected separation (~93 au), probably responsible for mu…
Hunting for massive black holes in dwarf galaxies
Reines, Amy E.
Despite traditional thinking, an appreciable population of massive black holes (that is, more massive than stellar-mass black holes) may be lurking in dwarf galaxies. Before the last decade, nearly all known massive black holes were in the nuclei of giant galaxies and the existence of massive black holes in dwarf galaxies was highly controversial.…
Diurnal variations in the stratosphere of the ultrahot giant exoplanet WASP-121b
Mikal-Evans, Thomas; Sing, David K.; Wakeford, Hannah R. +9 more
The temperature profile of a planetary atmosphere is a key diagnostic of radiative and dynamical processes governing the absorption, redistribution and emission of energy. Observations have revealed dayside stratospheres that either cool1,2 or warm3,4 with altitude for a small number of gas giant exoplanets, whereas other day…
Stellar mergers as the origin of the blue main-sequence band in young star clusters
Lennon, D. J.; Sana, Hugues; Castro, Norberto +10 more
Recent high-quality Hubble Space Telescope photometry shows that the main-sequence stars of young star clusters form two discrete components in the colour-magnitude diagram. On the basis of their distribution in the colour-magnitude diagram, we show that stars of the blue main-sequence component can be understood as slow rotators originating from …
Signatures of strong magnetization and a metal-poor atmosphere for a Neptune-sized exoplanet
Mikal-Evans, Thomas; Sing, David K.; López-Morales, Mercedes +10 more
The magnetosphere of an exoplanet has yet to be unambiguously detected. Investigations of star-planet interaction and neutral atomic hydrogen absorption during transit to detect magnetic fields in hot Jupiters have been inconclusive, and interpretations of the transit absorption non-unique. In contrast, ionized species escaping a magnetized exopla…
Unveiling the population of dual and lensed active galactic nuclei at sub-arcsec separations
Marconi, A.; Pancino, E.; Nardini, E. +12 more
All cosmological models of structure formation predict the existence of a widespread population of dual supermassive black holes in-spiralling inside their common host galaxy, eventually merging and giving rise to intense gravitational waves. These systems can be identified as dual active galactic nuclei (AGNs) at kiloparsec separations, but only …
Definitive upper bound on the negligible contribution of quasars to cosmic reionization
Ho, Luis C.; Fan, Xiaohui; Jiang, Linhua +7 more
Cosmic (hydrogen) reionization marks one of the major phase transitions of the universe at redshift z ≥ 6. During this epoch, hydrogen atoms in the intergalactic medium were ionized by Lyman continuum (LyC) photons. However, it remains challenging to identify the major sources of the LyC photons responsible for reionization. In particular, individ…
A fast-rising tidal disruption event from a candidate intermediate-mass black hole
Rest, A.; Angus, C. R.; Foley, R. J. +36 more
Massive black holes (BHs) at the centres of massive galaxies are ubiquitous. The population of BHs within dwarf galaxies, on the other hand, is not yet known. Dwarf galaxies are thought to harbour BHs with proportionally small masses, including intermediate-mass BHs, with masses 102 < MBH < 106 solar masses (…
Chemical and stellar properties of star-forming dwarf galaxies
Tosi, Monica; Annibali, Francesca
Dwarf galaxies are the least massive, most abundant and most widely distributed type of galaxy. Hence, they are key to testing theories of galaxy and Universe evolution. Dwarf galaxies sufficiently close to have their gas and stellar components studied in detail are of particular interest, because their properties and evolution can be inferred wit…
The messy death of a multiple star system and the resulting planetary nebula as observed by JWST
Ventura, Paolo; Amram, Philippe; Mendes de Oliveira, Claudia +66 more
Planetary nebulae—the ejected envelopes of red giant stars—provide us with a history of the last, mass-losing phases of 90% of stars initially more massive than the Sun. Here we analyse images of the planetary nebula NGC 3132 from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Early Release Observations. A structured, extended hydrogen halo surrounding an …