Starspots to Measure Small Differential Rotation Rates
On using photometric data from Kepler to study starspots, and to measure differential rotation rates.
White Dwarf Surprise
This variable white dwarf pulsates as expected, but it also experiences very bright outbursts. Today’s paper takes us through the discovery and verification of the second pulsating white dwarf with outbursts, and speculates how the pulsations and outbursts may be linked.
The Small Magellanic Cloud in 3D
In today’s paper, the authors use Cepheid distance moduli to study the structure of the SMC.
Why is star formation so inefficient?
Stars form via gravitational collapse of molecular cloud cores. But observations reveal that far less gas is turned into stars than you would suspect by naively calculating the star formation rate. So what can we do about this mismatch?
The Lives of the Longest Lived Stars
Heavy stars live like rock stars: they live fast, become big, and die young. Low mass stars, on the other hand, are more persistent, and live longer. Fusing hydrogen slow and steady wins the stellar age-race.
On and On They Spin
Nothing sits still in our Universe. Like planets, stars rotate. The authors of this paper found certain types of stars unexpectedly display rapid rotations when they are not supposed to.