Sarah R. Loebman et al 2016 ApJ 818 L6

Simulations show that metal-rich stars form in the inner disk of the Milky Way and then migrate to the metal-poorer outer disk, explaning the shape change of the MW’s metallicity distribution function.

M. Mezcua et al 2016 ApJ 817 20

A study of Chandra data of ~50,000 dwarf starburst and late-type galaxies provides evidence that there may be a population of intermediate-mass black holes in dwarf starburst galaxies.

Tong Li et al 2016 ApJ 817 L15

Multiple-band NIR observations are shown to be usable to differentiate between an inhabited planet, and an exomoon with a CH4 atmosphere orbiting an abiotic planet with an O2-rich atmosphere.

B. E. Tetarenko et al 2016 ApJS 222 15

A comprehensive database of black hole X-ray binary activity between 1996 and 2015 is compiled, containing 132 transient outbursts and tracking the behavior of 57 accreting black holes.

A. Dieball et al 2016 ApJ 817 48

The search for old, metal-poor brown dwarfs — useful for testing stellar formation and evolution theories — has turned up 4 candidates in the globular cluster M4 using deep Hubble NIR imaging.

Christopher Spalding et al 2016 ApJ 817 18

Calculations show that when a moon-hosting planet migrates inward, moons orbiting within about ~10 planetary radii could be captured into resonances and destroyed via collision with the planet.