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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 …
A dynamically discovered and characterized non-accreting neutron star-M dwarf binary candidate
Huang, Yang; Liu, Jifeng; Bai, Yu +26 more
Typically, neutron stars are discovered by observations at radio, X-ray or gamma-ray wavelengths. Unlike radio pulsar surveys and X-ray observations, optical time-domain surveys can unveil and characterize exciting but less explored non-accreting and/or non-beaming neutron stars in binaries. Here we report the discovery of such a neutron star cand…
γ Columbae as a recently stripped pulsating core of a massive star
Meynet, Georges; Przybilla, Norbert; Irrgang, Andreas
Stellar cores, that is, the central regions where densities and temperatures are high enough for nuclear fusion processes to take place, are usually covered by an opaque envelope. Only in very rare cases, stars may expose their cores, for example, when a tiny fraction of them evolve into Wolf-Rayet or helium hot subdwarf stars. However, for the va…
Low gas-phase metallicities of ultraluminous infrared galaxies are a result of dust obscuration
Chartab, Nima; Fadda, Dario; Herrera-Camus, Rodrigo +9 more
Optical spectroscopic measurements show that gas in dusty, starbursting galaxies known as ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs) in the local Universe has a significantly lower metal content than that of gas in star-forming galaxies with similar masses. This low metal content has resulted in the claim that ULIRGs are primarily fuelled by metal-p…
A low-eccentricity migration pathway for a 13-h-period Earth analogue in a four-planet system
Trifonov, Trifon; Hellier, Coel; Latham, David W. +47 more
It is commonly accepted that exoplanets with orbital periods shorter than one day, also known as ultra-short-period (USP) planets, formed further out within their natal protoplanetary disks before migrating to their current-day orbits via dynamical interactions. One of the most accepted theories suggests a violent scenario involving high-eccentric…
An accreting white dwarf displaying fast transitional mode switching
Knigge, C.; de Martino, D.; Groot, P. J. +6 more
Accreting white dwarfs are often found in close binary systems with orbital periods ranging from tens of minutes to several hours. In most cases, the accretion process is relatively steady, with significant modulations only occurring on timescales of ~days or longer1,2. Here we report the discovery of abrupt drops in the optical luminos…
Frontiers in accretion physics at high X-ray spectral resolution
Díaz Trigo, M.; Cappi, M.; Done, C. +14 more
Microcalorimeters have shown remarkable success in delivering high-spectral-resolution observations of the hot and energetic Universe, and have paved the way to revolutionary new science possibilities in X-ray astronomy. There are several research areas in compact-object science that can only be addressed with energy resolution ΔE ≲ 5 eV at photon…
Diverse metallicities of Fermi bubble clouds indicate dual origins in the disk and halo
Jenkins, Edward B.; Lockman, Felix J.; Fox, Andrew J. +5 more
The Galactic Centre is surrounded by two giant plasma lobes known as the Fermi bubbles, extending ~10 kpc both above and below the Galactic plane. Spectroscopic observations of Fermi bubble directions at radio, ultraviolet and optical wavelengths have detected multi-phase gas clouds thought to be embedded within the bubbles, referred to as Fermi b…
Dual storage and release of molecular oxygen in comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko
Mousis, Olivier; Trattner, Karlheinz J.; Lunine, Jonathan I. +7 more
One of the biggest surprises of the Rosetta mission was the detection of O2 in the coma of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in remarkably high abundances. The measured levels of O2 in the coma are generally assumed to reflect the overall abundance and chemical origin of cometary O2 in the nucleus. Along with its strong as…
Observation and origin of non-thermal hard X-rays from Jupiter
Mori, Kaya; Branduardi-Raymont, Graziella; Nynka, Melania +10 more
Electrons accelerated on Earth by a rich variety of wave-scattering or stochastic processes1,2 generate hard, non-thermal X-ray bremsstrahlung up to ~1 MeV (refs. 3,4) and power Earth's various types of aurorae. Although Jupiter's magnetic field is an order of magnitude larger than Earth's, space-based telescopes have previou…