Can Gravitational Waves Tell Us How Binary Black Holes Form?
Elusive black hole binaries can arise from isolated pairs of stars or in the heart of dense star clusters — and gravitational waves can reveal their secrets.
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Atmospheres of Small Planets Through a Big Telescope
Astrobites reports on what JWST might bring for detections of biosignatures in the atmospheres of exoplanets.
Featured Image: Magnetic Fields and Solar Outflows
New models of the Sun’s magnetic field seek to solve a long-standing conflict between simulations and spacecraft observations.
Winding Up to a Quadrillion Electronvolts of Energy
What cosmic engine is accelerating particles to up to quadrillions of electronvolts?
Testing General Relativity with Pulsars
Astronomers put Einstein’s famous theory of gravity to the test using a type of extreme stellar remnant not yet discovered when the theory was published in 1915.
Tertiary Troublemakers: How K2-290’s Planetary Orbits May Have Gotten So Weird
Astrobites reports on the retrograde orbits of K2-290A’s two close-in planets. Could dynamical interactions in this triple star system have caused this misalignment?
Teaching Computers to Find Solar Flares Before They Happen
Can machine learning help researchers find the tell-tale signs of solar flares hidden in mountains of data?
The Critical Role of Electrons in Astrophysical Blast Waves
It’s a tale as old as time: explosion makes shock wave, shock wave accelerates electrons, electrons emit radio waves. Could this scenario explain everything from radio supernovae to ultra-luminous transient events?
A Framework for Exploring Ocean Worlds
A focus issue of the Planetary Science Journal discusses missions and methods to explore the distant, icy, and potentially life-hosting ocean worlds in our solar system.
A New Recipe for Neutron Star Magnetic Fields
Astrobites reports on the magnetic fields in neutron stars — how do these ultra-dense stellar remnants get their strong magnetic fields, and why are their fields different from those of pulsars and magnetars?
Featured Image: Explosive Star Formation
How does a massive star form and grow? Certainly not peacefully! A new study explores clues revealed by a powerful recent explosion.
Sampling the Solar Wind with the Parker Solar Probe
Now that it’s “touched” the Sun, will the Parker Solar Probe help solve the mysteries surrounding the cause of solar wind?