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HERMES-PF’s 6 CubeSats Watch The Entire Sky For High-Energy Bursts Multi-messenger astronomy has been all the rage lately. It involves capturing data on the gravitational and electromagnetic signals from catastrophic cosmic events. However, with that newfound interest comes required updates to infrastructure. Gravitational wave detectors have been upgraded and will be even more sensitive soon. But to realize the promise of multi-messenger astronomy, scientists must have a fleet of spacecraft watching the entire sky for high-energy signals indicative of the events that cause gravitational waves. At least, that is the team’s long-term plan behind the High Energy Rapid Modular Ensemble of Satellites Pathfinder (HERMES-PF) mission,Read More →

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The formation of a new exoplanet can cause chemical discrepancies in paired stars Co-paired stars, or stars that travel together, can provide insights into processes that other stars can’t. Differences in their brightness, orbits, and chemical composition can hint at different features, and scientists are beginning to exploit them. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

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Odd binary star system has a huge planetary companion A small international team of astronomers has confirmed that a binary star system with an odd signal has a companion—a planet roughly twice the size of Jupiter, which may have emerged from a circumbinary orbit or from a second-generation protoplanetary disk. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

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Supermassive black hole winds may solve mystery of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays NTNU researchers may have found the answer to one of the big, unanswered questions in physics. The universe is full of different types of radiation and particles that can be observed here on Earth. This includes photons across the entire range of the electromagnetic spectrum, from the lowest radio frequencies all the way to the highest-energy gamma rays. It also includes other particles such as neutrinos and cosmic rays, which race through the universe at close to the speed of light. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

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Mapping the Center of the Milky Way in 3D The Solar System is a whopping 26,000 light-years from the heart of the Milky Way, where a mysterious and dense region—shrouded in thick gas and dust—holds one of the Galaxy’s most active zones: the Central Molecular Zone (CMZ). A team of scientists have unleashed a cutting-edge 3D model of this region, mapping out everything from massive molecular clouds to young stars in the making. Armed with powerful radio telescopes and infrared observatories, they’ve pieced together a detailed map, offering a rare glimpse into the heart of our Galaxy’s chaotic core. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

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The Location of a Galaxy’s Gas Plays a Role in Star Formation Galaxies are stellar factories generating stars at different speeds—some working at a breakneck pace while others trickling along! We have known for a long time that the availability of raw materials makes a difference to stellar formation, but according to a new paper which surveyed 1,000 galaxies the location of the matter plays a role too. Those with a high stellar formation rate seem to have a high volume of gas reserves in the heart of their densest star clusters with the highest concentration of stars. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

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ALMA measures evolution of monster barred spiral galaxy A research team led by Shuo Huang (NAOJ and Nagoya University) has observed a massive and extremely active barred spiral galaxy in the early universe with ALMA and the James Webb Space Telescope. They found that compared to modern galaxies, this monster galaxy has important similarities in shape and differences in the gas motion. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

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An extreme cousin for Pluto? Possible dwarf planet discovered at solar system’s edge A small team led by Sihao Cheng, Martin A. and Helen Chooljian Member in the Institute for Advanced Study’s School of Natural Sciences, has discovered an extraordinary trans-Neptunian object (TNO), named 2017 OF201, at the edge of our solar system. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

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Dwarf galaxy clustering challenges standard cold dark matter paradigms A research team led by Prof. Wang Huiyuan from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) has made a groundbreaking discovery, identifying for the first time an exceptionally strong clustering pattern in diffuse dwarf galaxies. Their study, published in Nature, poses new challenges to the prevailing galaxy formation models within the Λ-Cold Dark Matter (ΛCDM) framework. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

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The new, farthest galaxy has been found by JWST, only 280 million years after the Big Bang The JWST has done it again. The powerful space telescope has already revealed the presence of bright galaxies only several hundred million years after the Big Bang. Now, it’s sensed light from a galaxy only 280 million years after the Big Bang, the most distant galaxy ever detected. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

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Discovery of a dwarf planet candidate in an extremely wide orbit: 2017 OF201 Sihao Cheng, Jiaxuan Li, Eritas Yang arXiv:2505.15806v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: We report the discovery of a dwarf planet candidate, 2017 OF201, currently located at a distance of 90.5 au. Its orbit is extremely wide and extends to the inner Oort cloud, with a semi-major axis of 838 au and a perihelion of 44.9 au precisely determined from 19 observations over seven years. Assuming a typical albedo of 0.15, we estimate a diameter about 700 km, making it the second-largest known object in this dynamical population and a likely dwarf planet. ItsRead More →

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Model-Independent Machine Learning Approach for Nanometric Axial Localization and Tracking Andrey Alexandrov, Giovanni Acampora, Giovanni De Lellis, Antonia Di Crescenzo, Chiara Errico, Daria Morozova, Valeri Tioukov, Autilia Vittiello arXiv:2505.14754v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Accurately tracking particles and determining their position along the optical axis is a major challenge in optical microscopy, especially when extremely high precision is needed. In this study, we introduce a deep learning approach using convolutional neural networks (CNNs) that can determine axial positions from dual-focal plane images without relying on predefined models. Our method achieves an axial localization accuracy of 40 nanometers – six times better than traditional single-focal plane techniques.Read More →

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Zangetsu: A Candidate of Isolated, Quiescent, and Backsplash Ultra-Diffuse Galaxy in the COSMOS Field Leyao Wei, Song Huang, Jiaxuan Li, Zechang Sun, Mingyu Li, Jiaxin Tang arXiv:2505.14073v2 Announce Type: replace Abstract: Deep imaging surveys have changed our view of the low surface brightness (LSB) Universe. The “renaissance” of the low surface brightness dwarf galaxy population, as the prime example of such recent development, continues to challenge our understanding of galaxy formation. Here, We report the serendipitous discovery of Zangetsu, an isolated, quiescent, and distorted ultra-diffuse galaxy (UDG) candidate in the COSMOS field, using images from the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program (HSC-SSP). Zangetsu exhibits anRead More →

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Leptogenesis with perturbations in type-II and type-III seesaw models Iason Baldes arXiv:2503.02936v3 Announce Type: replace-cross Abstract: Density perturbations have recently been shown to lead to a novel effect in the freeze-out of heavy particles called “acoustically driven freeze-out.” This leads to an enhancement in the yield in standard leptogenesis. We extend this calculation to include $2 to 2$ washout processes in type-I leptogenesis and the Sommerfeld-enhanced $2 to 2$ gauge annihilations in type-II and type-III leptogenesis. These CP conserving gauge annihilations suppress the yield of heavy particles sourcing the asymmetry. We show the acoustically driven freeze-out leads to novel enhancements in the baryon asymmetry inRead More →

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Validating the Orbital Periods of the Coolest TESS Exoplanet Candidates Dillon Bass, Daniel Fabrycky arXiv:2411.17640v2 Announce Type: replace Abstract: When an exoplanet passes in front of its host star, the resulting eclipse causes an observable decrease in stellar flux, and when multiple such transits are detected, the orbital period of the exoplanet can be determined. Over the past six years, NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has discovered thousands of potential planets by this method, mostly with short orbital periods, although some have longer reported values over one hundred days. These long orbital periods, however, are note easy to confirm due to frequent lengthy dataRead More →

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Characterising the Atmosphere of 55 Cancri e: 1D Forward Model Grid for Current and Future JWST Observations Mantas Zilinskas, Christiaan van Buchem, Sebastian Zieba, Yamila Miguel, Emily Sandford, Renyu Hu, Jayshil Patel, Aaron Bello-Arufe, Leoni Janssen, Shang-Min Tsai, Diana Dragomir, Michael Zhang arXiv:2503.15844v4 Announce Type: replace Abstract: Recent JWST observations with NIRCam and MIRI of the ultra-short-period super-Earth 55 Cancri e indicate a possible volatile atmosphere surrounding the planet. Previous analysis of the NIRCam spectra suggested potential absorption features from CO2 or CO and significant sub-weekly variability. The MIRI low-resolution spectrum does not contain substantial features but was found to be consistent with effective heatRead More →

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Lomb-Scargle periodograms struggle with non-sinusoidal supermassive BH binary signatures in quasar lightcurves Allison Lin, Maria Charisi, Zoltan Haiman arXiv:2505.14778v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Supermassive black hole binary (SMBHB) systems are expected to form as a consequence of galaxy mergers. At sub-parsec separations, SMBHBs are difficult to resolve, but can be identified as quasars with periodic variability. Previous periodicity searches have identified statistically significant candidates, but focused primarily on sinusoidal signals. However, theoretical models and hydrodynamical simulations predict that binaries produce more complex non-sinusoidal pulse shapes. Here we examine the efficacy of the Lomb-Scargle periodogram (LSP; one of the most popular tools for periodicity searches inRead More →

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New Exoplanet Can Cause Chemical Discrepancies In Paired Stars Co-paired stars, or stars that travel together, can provide insights into processes that other stars can’t. Differences in their brightness, orbits, and chemical composition can hint at different features, and scientists are beginning to exploit them. A new paper from researchers in Australia, China, the US, and Europe analyzed data to determine if one of those features – specifically the depletion of particular elements in a star – could be a sign that it has formed a planet, or if it ate one. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

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Is the World Ready for a Catastrophic Solar Storm? Some 13,000 years ago, the Sun emitted a huge belch of radiation that bombarded Earth and left its imprint in ancient tree rings. That solar storm was the most powerful one ever recorded. The next strongest was the 1839 Carrington Event. It was spurred by a huge solar flare that triggered a powerful geomagnetic storm at Earth. The resulting “space weather” disrupted telegraph communications around the world. Today, as we move through this year’s “solar maximum”, a period of solar activity that occurs every 11 years, scientists want to prepare governments for the effects of severeRead More →

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Is Mars Storing its Water Underground? Mars’ oceans, lakes, and rivers are long gone. They’ve left behind evidence of their time here in river channels, deltas, paleolakes, and other features. The water’s existence isn’t a mystery, but its whereabouts is. Did it disappear into space, or did it retreat into underground aquifers? Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →