Manasvi Lingam et al 2021 ApJL 921 L41
The number of electrons available to respond to excitation by stellar photons in molecules that participate in photosynthesis is different on planets orbiting other stars, with M-dwarf planets requiring twice as many delocalized electrons.
Sean Jordan et al 2021 ApJ 922 44
The best way to distinguish between an exo-Venus and an exo-Earth may be to search for sulfur compounds like SO2 and H2S — these compounds are destroyed by the radiation from Sun-like stars but could persist around cooler stars.
Melinda Soares-Furtado et al 2021 AJ 162 273
Enhanced lithium abundances in evolved stars are unlikely to be due to the engulfment of metal-rich Jupiter-mass planets, but this phenomenon could boost lithium abundances in solar-mass stars just about to leave the main sequence.
Brian C. Lacki et al 2021 ApJS 257 42
The 816 targets in the catalog comprise archetypical, superlative, enigmatic, and everyday examples of a wide variety of astrophysical sources, which can be used to guide searches for extraterrestrial intelligence.
Navdeep K. Panesar et al 2021 ApJL 921 L20
Small-scale solar heating events dubbed “campfires” may encompass a variety of dynamic features that contain enough energy to heat a localized region of the solar atmosphere to 500,000–2,500,000K for roughly 10 minutes.
Paz Beniamini and Wenbin Lu 2021 ApJ 920 109
Supramassive neutron stars are supported against collapse by their fast rotation, but theory and observations fail to agree on their lifetimes and collapse energies; future all-sky radio surveys make resolve this tension.