T. E. Strohmayer et al 2018 ApJL 858 L13
Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) observations of the accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar (AXMP) IGR J17062−6143 show it has the shortest known orbital period for an AMXP: 38 minutes.
Meng Gu et al 2018 ApJ 859 37
Optical spectra for three of the ultra-diffuse galaxies in the Coma cluster reveal very old and metal-poor star populations, suggesting stellar mass plays a strong role in setting stellar population properties.
Kathryn F. Neugent et al 2018 AJ 155 207
The first runaway yellow supergiant has been discovered in the Small Magellanic Cloud. Its large radial velocity suggests it originated in a binary system where the primary exploded as a supernova.
Liang Li et al 2018 ApJS 236 26
Swift/XRT light curves of 101 gamma-ray bursts suggest that a magnetar central engine is possible for 20% of the analyzed GRBs. For most GRBs, a black hole is most likely operating as the central engine.
Mariko Nomura et al 2018 ApJ 859 29
2D MHD simulations support a model in which an isolated black hole plunged into a molecular cloud to form a compact broad-velocity-width feature observed as the “Bullet” in the W44 molecular cloud.
B. T. Draine and Jordi Miralda-Escudé 2018 ApJL 858 L10
Spinning dust grains in front of the bright galactic synchrotron background can produce a weak absorption signal that could affect measurements of high-redshift 21-cm absorption.