Features

Chandra Spies a Supernova Shock Front Speeding Along

When supernovae explode, they send a fast-moving shock wave into the interstellar medium, changing the local landscape significantly. A recent publication hones in on one supernova remnant to determine how fast it’s expanding and where it may have come from.

A rendering of a blue planet in the foreground and a small bright star in the background.
Features

Standing on a Sub-Neptune

If you were standing on a sub-Neptune exoplanet, would you be standing on a rocky surface or in a magma ocean?

illustration of DART and LICIACube spacecraft

Astrobites reports on the consequences of shooting an asteroid with a spacecraft.

A rendering of two dark spheres surrounded by bright, misaligned disks drawing near to one another.
Features

A Black Hole Family Tree

Researchers may have untangled the complex origins of the two black holes involved in a recent massive collision.

gravitational wave illustration

The gravitational wave events GW241011 and GW241110 provide strong evidence for the growth of black holes through successive mergers.

Messier 82

Astrobites reports on the impact of galactic outflows on the formation of stars in the local starburst galaxy Messier 82.

A rendering of two rocky worlds mid-collision, with debris exploding outwards.

New research suggests that giant planets likely ring like bells after they collide with other worlds.

cataclysmic variable system

Gaia19bxc appears to contain a magnetic white dwarf and a metal-poor star in theory-defying close quarters — a configuration seen for the first time in a cataclysmic variable system.

Illustration of stellar-mass black holes embedded within the accretion disk of a supermassive black hole

Astrobites reports on the possibility of merging black holes producing flares within the accretion disks surrounding active supermassive black holes.