Making Supermassive Black Holes Spin
Where does the angular momentum come from that causes supermassive black holes to spin on their axes and launch powerful jets?
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Could Flaring Stars Change Our Views of Their Planets?
Our measurements of exoplanet atmospheres may be influenced by the activity of the planets’ host stars.
Lopsided Collections of Satellite Galaxies
Are small satellite galaxies usually distributed evenly around their larger galactic hosts? Evidence suggests otherwise.
X-Ray Beasts and Magnetic Fields
Astrobites explores the role of magnetic fields in X-ray emission from the centers of active galaxies.
Featured Image: A Pulsar Is Obscured by a Solar Explosion
What can we learn about a coronal mass ejection as it passes between us and a distant pulsar?
Einstein@Home Finds a Double Neutron Star
Have you been contributing your computer idle time to the Einstein@Home project? If so, you’re partly responsible for the program’s recent discovery of a new double-neutron-star system!
Does the Galactic Bulge Have Fewer Planets?
The Milky Way’s dense central bulge is a very different environment than the galactic disk. Do the differences affect the ability of planets to form there?
It Turns Out the Sun Is More Chill Than We Previously Thought
Astrobites reports on a closer look at the Sun’s past activity levels.
Matching Supernovae to Galaxies
A major challenge for modern supernova surveys is identifying the galaxy that hosted each explosion. Is there an accurate and efficient way to do this that avoids investing significant human resources?
X-Ray Background from Early Binaries
What impact did X-rays from the first binary star systems have on the universe around them? A new study suggests this radiation may have played an important role during the reionization of our universe.
The True Colours of a Blue Straggler
Astrobites tackles the question of where blue straggler stars come from — as well as where they’re going.
Featured Image: A Comet’s Coma
These images of comet 67P mark the first time we’ve been able to study the inner coma of a comet at this level of detail.