Search Publications
Dilution of chemical enrichment in galaxies 600 Myr after the Big Bang
Heintz, Kasper E.; Brammer, Gabriel B.; Oesch, Pascal A. +10 more
The evolution of galaxies throughout the last 12 Gyr of cosmic time has followed a single, universal relation that connects star-formation rates (SFRs), stellar masses (M⋆) and chemical abundances. Deviation from this fundamental scaling relation would imply a drastic change in the processes that regulate galaxy evolution. Observations …
Evidence for the volatile-rich composition of a 1.5-Earth-radius planet
Fortney, Jonathan J.; Knutson, Heather A.; Angus, Ruth +18 more
The population of planets smaller than approximately 1.7 Earth radii (R⊕) is widely interpreted as consisting of rocky worlds, generally referred to as super-Earths. This picture is largely corroborated by radial velocity mass measurements for close-in super-Earths but lacks constraints at lower insolations. Here we present the results …
Uncovering a population of gravitational lens galaxies with magnified standard candle SN Zwicky
Richard, Johan; Riddle, Reed; Wheeler, J. Craig +35 more
Detecting gravitationally lensed supernovae is among the biggest challenges in astronomy. It involves a combination of two very rare phenomena: catching the transient signal of a stellar explosion in a distant galaxy and observing it through a nearly perfectly aligned foreground galaxy that deflects light towards the observer. Here we describe how…
A long-duration gamma-ray burst of dynamical origin from the nucleus of an ancient galaxy
Fruchter, Andrew S.; Heintz, Kasper E.; Jonker, Peter G. +29 more
The majority of long-duration (>2 s) gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) arise from the collapse of massive stars, with a small proportion created from the merger of compact objects. Most of these systems form via standard stellar evolution pathways. However, a fraction of GRBs may result from dynamical interactions in dense environments. These channels co…
Spatially resolved imaging of the inner Fomalhaut disk using JWST/MIRI
Rieke, George H.; Gáspár, András; Beichman, Charles +9 more
Planetary debris disks around other stars are analogous to the asteroid and Kuiper belts in the Solar System. Their structure reveals the configuration of small bodies and provides hints for the presence of planets. The nearby star Fomalhaut hosts one of the most prominent debris disks, resolved by the Hubble Space Telescope, Spitzer, Herschel and…
JWST/NIRCam detections of dusty subsolar-mass young stellar objects in the Small Magellanic Cloud
Hirschauer, Alec S.; Fahrion, Katja; Lenkić, Laura +23 more
Low-mass stars are the most numerous stellar objects in the Universe. Before the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), we had limited knowledge of how planetary systems around low-mass stars could form at subsolar metallicities. Here we present JWST observations of NGC 346, a star-forming region in the metal-poor Small Magellanic Cloud, revealing a s…
The impact of satellite trails on Hubble Space Telescope observations
Popescu, Marcel; Merín, Bruno; McCaughrean, Mark J. +8 more
The recent launch of low Earth orbit satellite constellations is creating a growing threat for astronomical observations with ground-based telescopes1-10 that has alarmed the astronomical community 11-16. Observations affected by artificial satellites can become unusable for scientific research, wasting a growing fraction of …
An intense narrow equatorial jet in Jupiter's lower stratosphere observed by JWST
de Pater, Imke; Wong, Michael H.; Fletcher, Leigh N. +18 more
The atmosphere of Jupiter has east-west zonal jets that alternate as a function of latitude as tracked by cloud motions at tropospheric levels. Above and below the cold tropopause at ~100 mbar, the equatorial atmosphere is covered by hazes at levels where thermal infrared observations used to characterize the dynamics of the stratosphere lose part…
Strong gravitational lensing by AGNs as a probe of the quasar-host relations in the distant Universe
Djorgovski, S. G.; Courbin, Frédéric; Sluse, Dominique +4 more
The tight correlations found between the mass of supermassive black holes and the luminosities, stellar masses and velocity dispersions of their host galaxies are often interpreted as a sign of their co-evolution. Studying these correlations across redshift provides a powerful insight into the evolutionary path followed by the quasar and its host …