Search Publications

A tidal disruption event coincident with a high-energy neutrino
DOI: 10.1038/s41550-020-01295-8 Bibcode: 2021NatAs...5..510S

Kilpatrick, Charles D.; Foley, Ryan J.; Cenko, S. Bradley +55 more

Cosmic neutrinos provide a unique window into the otherwise hidden mechanism of particle acceleration in astrophysical objects. The IceCube Collaboration recently reported the likely association of one high-energy neutrino with a flare from the relativistic jet of an active galaxy pointed towards the Earth. However a combined analysis of many simi…

2021 Nature Astronomy
Gaia XMM-Newton 241
Ionized outflows from active galactic nuclei as the essential elements of feedback
DOI: 10.1038/s41550-020-01255-2 Bibcode: 2021NatAs...5...13L

Veilleux, Sylvain; Reynolds, Christopher S.; Guainazzi, Matteo +5 more

Outflows from active galactic nuclei (AGNs) are one of the fundamental mechanisms by which the central supermassive black hole interacts with its host galaxy. Detected in ≥50% of nearby AGNs, these outflows have been found to carry kinetic energy that is a large fraction of the AGN power, and thereby give `negative' feedback to their host galaxies…

2021 Nature Astronomy
XMM-Newton 136
Internal mixing of rotating stars inferred from dipole gravity modes
DOI: 10.1038/s41550-021-01351-x Bibcode: 2021NatAs...5..715P

Bowman, Dominic M.; Aerts, Conny; Gebruers, Sarah +7 more

During most of their life, stars fuse hydrogen into helium in their cores. The mixing of chemical elements in the radiative envelope of stars with a convective core is able to replenish the core with extra fuel. If effective, such deep mixing allows stars to live longer and change their evolutionary path. Yet localized observations to constrain in…

2021 Nature Astronomy
Gaia 130
Chronologically dating the early assembly of the Milky Way
DOI: 10.1038/s41550-021-01347-7 Bibcode: 2021NatAs...5..640M

Chaplin, William J.; Davies, Guy R.; Chiappini, Cristina +16 more

The standard cosmological model predicts that galaxies are built through hierarchical assembly on cosmological timescales1,2. The Milky Way, like other disk galaxies, underwent violent mergers and accretion of small satellite galaxies in its early history. Owing to Gaia Data Release 23 and spectroscopic surveys4, t…

2021 Nature Astronomy
Gaia 119
Discovery and confirmation of the shortest gamma-ray burst from a collapsar
DOI: 10.1038/s41550-021-01428-7 Bibcode: 2021NatAs...5..917A

Kulkarni, S. R.; Chandra, Poonam; Cenko, S. Bradley +54 more

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are among the brightest and most energetic events in the Universe. The duration and hardness distribution of GRBs has two clusters1, now understood to reflect (at least) two different progenitors2. Short-hard GRBs (SGRBs; T90 < 2 s) arise from compact binary mergers, and long-soft GRBs (L…

2021 Nature Astronomy
Gaia 117
Multiple subglacial water bodies below the south pole of Mars unveiled by new MARSIS data
DOI: 10.1038/s41550-020-1200-6 Bibcode: 2021NatAs...5...63L

Rossi, Angelo Pio; Orosei, Roberto; Cartacci, Marco +10 more

The detection of liquid water by the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding (MARSIS) at the base of the south polar layered deposits in Ultimi Scopuli has reinvigorated the debate about the origin and stability of liquid water under present-day Martian conditions. To establish the extent of subglacial water in this region, we a…

2021 Nature Astronomy
MEx 115
A diffuse core in Saturn revealed by ring seismology
DOI: 10.1038/s41550-021-01448-3 Bibcode: 2021NatAs...5.1103M

Fuller, Jim; Mankovich, Christopher R.

The best constraints on the internal structures of giant planets have historically originated from measurements of their gravity fields1-3. These data are inherently mostly sensitive to a planet's outer regions, stymieing efforts to measure the mass and compactness of the cores of Jupiter2,4,5 and Saturn6,7. Howeve…

2021 Nature Astronomy
Cassini 103
Detection of the Milky Way reflex motion due to the Large Magellanic Cloud infall
DOI: 10.1038/s41550-020-01254-3 Bibcode: 2021NatAs...5..251P

Peñarrubia, Jorge; Petersen, Michael S.

The Large Magellanic Cloud is the most massive satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, with an estimated mass exceeding a tenth of the mass of the Milky Way1-5. Just past its closest approach of about 50 kpc, and flying past the Milky Way at an astonishing speed of 327 km s−1 (ref. 6), the Large Magellanic Cloud can aff…

2021 Nature Astronomy
Gaia 95
The electron-capture origin of supernova 2018zd
DOI: 10.1038/s41550-021-01384-2 Bibcode: 2021NatAs...5..903H

Van Dyk, Schuyler D.; Filippenko, Alexei V.; Kelly, Patrick L. +27 more

In the transitional mass range (~8-10 solar masses) between white dwarf formation and iron core-collapse supernovae, stars are expected to produce an electron-capture supernova. Theoretically, these progenitors are thought to be super-asymptotic giant branch stars with a degenerate O + Ne + Mg core, and electron capture onto Ne and Mg nuclei shoul…

2021 Nature Astronomy
eHST 89
Evidence for GN-z11 as a luminous galaxy at redshift 10.957
DOI: 10.1038/s41550-020-01275-y Bibcode: 2021NatAs...5..256J

Ho, Luis C.; Fan, Xiaohui; Jiang, Linhua +9 more

GN-z11 was photometrically selected as a luminous star-forming galaxy candidate at redshift z > 10 on the basis of Hubble Space Telescope imaging data1. Follow-up Hubble Space Telescope near-infrared grism observations detected a continuum break that was explained as the Lyα break corresponding to z =11.0 9−0.12+0.08<…

2021 Nature Astronomy
eHST 87