What if Mars Were a Stranger (Thing)?
Astrobites reports on whether we’d even know what we were looking at if our familiar red neighbor were a stranger light-years away.
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Featured Image: A Rare Pair of Galaxies Lacking Dark Matter
The galaxies FCC 224 and FCC 240 appear to be a rare example of a dark-matter-poor, globular-cluster-rich pair formed via colliding dwarf galaxies.
Dating the Dawn of the Milky Way Disk
A recent study used the kinematics, chemical composition, and ages of thousands of stars to determine when the Milky Way settled into the spiral disk we know it as today.
Seeking Technosignatures in Polluted White Dwarfs
White dwarfs with metals in their spectra preserve a record of planets that once orbited them. New research examines these spectra for signs that the metals underwent technological processing.
Can Arid Planets Keep Their Cool?
Astrobites reports on why dry planets may be missing the critical thermostat of the geologic carbon cycle, which has helped to stabilize Earth’s climate over billions of years.
When the Spacecraft Align: Rescuing Saturated Images of Solar Flares
When a powerful solar flare saturates a detector, the information about the flare is lost — or is it? New research validates a technique for extracting knowledge from saturated images of solar flares.
Putting the Landing Site Before the Lander
How do you pick a landing site before you know how you’re going to land? The scientists behind NASA’s latest Moon missions are working on just that.
Gaia Data Show That the Initial Mass Function Is Not Universal
Do all clusters form stars with the same distribution of masses? Researchers have demonstrated that the initial mass function, often assumed to be universal, varies across Milky Way clusters.
Distant Galaxies: Dead or in Disguise?
Astrobites reports on whether some of the most massive galaxies in the early universe are truly quenched, or if they’re just hiding their star formation behind dust.
Featured Image: A Mass Mystery in the Bullet Cluster
Using data from JWST and the Dark Energy Camera, researchers have revisited a long-standing issue with measurements of the famous Bullet Cluster.
A New Catalog of Stellar Rotation Periods for Over a Million Stars
A recent study has leveraged TESS’s full-sky coverage to build a catalog of stellar rotation periods for over a million stars.
Two More Thoughts on Little Red Dots
What’s behind the population of compact, reddish objects spotted by JWST? Two recent research articles have explored theories involving young globular clusters and little red dots with little blue companions.