Four hundred astronomers just spent the week together in Barcelona, Spain for the 17th Cool Stars conference, discussing stars, brown dwarfs, and planets. Instead of writing about the many exciting talks, splinter sessions, and discussions, I’m going to showcase the graduate student posters at the conference that won awards.
What fraction of massive stars host gas giants? Vigan et al. observe a sample of A and F stars to find out.
Molecular outflows are important components of the star formation process. These authors present observations of a butterfly-shaped outflow in Orion, and present several possible scenarios for this morphology.
“Characterizing atmospheres beyond the Solar System is an endeavor no longer confined to the realm of science fiction.”
A flurry of recent papers point to detection of a ~130 GeV gamma-ray emission line from near the Galactic center. If real, this could be the first detection of a signature of annihilating dark matter.
Is it a comet or a planet?