When galaxies are viewed from far away, their radio, infrared, and gamma-ray emissions line up in tight correlations long taken as proof that cosmic rays dump all their energy before escaping. New modeling argues this tightness is mostly a trick of geometry and viewing angle, not evidence of cosmic-ray calorimetry at all.
NASA’s SPHEREx mission is collecting an infrared spectrum for every point in the sky. That data set could revolutionize our understanding of cosmic inflation, galaxy formation, and how ices drive planet formation and surface chemistry.
What happens when protoplanetary disc systems stop following the rules? Today’s paper looks at how some stars with protoplanetary discs in the Upper Scorpius Region experience a mid-life crisis and behave unexpectedly.
A spacecraft mission to Saturn’s moon Enceladus found unexpectedly high methane in its ice plumes, fueling speculation about life in its hidden ocean. A new Nature Astronomy sutdy shows current models can’t reliably distinguish that methane from purely non-biological sources. The one signal that could tell life apart from chemistry, a molecular “handedness” pattern, would likely be destroyed before we could ever detect it.
Astronomers thought “hot Jupiter” exoplanets formed far from their stars before migrating inwards to an ultra-close orbit. Today’s paper challenges that assumption, presenting evidence that one hot Jupiter formed close to its star.
Little Red Dots have been thought to be mysterious early universe objects but today’s bite tells us that they could exist much closer to home.