Shadab Alam et al. 2015 ApJS 219 12

This is the final release of data from the third generation of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. SDSS has now obtained over 5 million spectra of galaxies, quasars and stars.

D. Bayliss et al. 2015 AJ 150 49

An extremely low-density planet has been discovered orbiting a G-dwarf star with super-solar metallicity, suggesting that metal-poor environments are not necessary to create low-density exoplanets.

M. Meftah et al. 2015 ApJ 808 4

Does the Sun’s diameter vary as a function of time, and is it related to solar activity? Measurements taken during the rising phase of the current solar cycle suggest the answer is “no”.

Andrei Tokovinin et al. 2015 AJ 150 50

Speckle interferometric observations taken with the Southern Astrophysical Research Telescope provide measurements of 1218 resolved binary and multiple stars.

M. L. Parker et al. 2015 ApJ 808 9

NuSTAR and Suzaku spectra of the x-ray binary Cyg X-1 suggest the accretion disk around the black hole is not truncated in the hard state, but instead extends down to small radii.

Heather R. Jacobson et al. 2015 ApJ 807 171

The SkyMapper Southern Sky Survey, which seeks the most metal-poor stars in the Galaxy, has identified 122 low-metallicity stars in the Galactic halo and obtained high-resolution spectra for them.