Kevin Heng 2016 ApJ 826 L16
A dimensionless index is developed to quantify the degree of cloudiness of the atmospheres of transiting exoplanets. A tentative correlation is found between more-irradiated atmospheres and fewer clouds.
Jianchuan Zheng et al 2016 ApJ 826 6
Magnetic imaging data from SDO is used to study the rotation of sunspots from two different solar cycles. The rotational direction and magnetic polarity of the sunspots switch between the two cycles.
Jubee Sohn et al 2016 ApJS 225 23
A friends-of-friends algorithm is used to construct a catalog of 1588 compact groups of 3 or more galaxies at redshift 0.01 < z < 0.19. These can be used to study galaxy–galaxy interactions in dense systems.
Travis S. Metcalfe et al 2016 ApJ 826 L2
The Sun may be in a transitional evolutionary phase, suggest data from rotation–age stellar relations. These data indicate that beyond middle-age, magnetic braking efficiency in stars is dramatically reduced.
E. Liuzzo et al 2016 AJ 152 38
An experimental adaptive-optics (AO) instrument at the ESO Very Large Telescope is used to image five luminous quasars at z~2 and one at z~4 in near-IR, demonstrating the capabilities of this AO system.
A. M. El-Batal et al 2016 ApJ 826 L12
The stellar-mass black hole GS 1354−645 was observed with NuSTAR during an outburst state. Its measured reflection spectrum requires a tremendous black hole spin of a ≥ 0.98 and a high inclination.