Kristen B. W. McQuinn et al 2021 ApJ 918 23

Analysis of 30 extremely low-mass dwarf galaxies suggests that star formation in these gas-poor galaxies follows the same trends as higher-mass galaxies.

Ken’ichi Tatematsu et al 2021 ApJS 256 25

Mapping observations of dense cores of molecular clouds on the cusp of star formation reveal different that some small molecules are evenly dispersed while others are present in a clumpy structure.

H. Abdalla et al 2021 ApJ 918 17

A search for very-high-energy gamma rays generated by dark matter comes up short, ruling out dark-matter models with masses greater than 300 billion electron volts as the source of unidentified gamma-ray detections.

Zhenyong Hou et al 2021 ApJL 918 L20

Astronomers have discovered coronal microjets — sites of small-scale plasma ejection likely caused by magnetic reconnection — just 1.2 Earth radii long and with lifetimes of less than five minutes, on average.

Perianne E. Johnson et al 2021 Planet. Sci. J. 2 194

Models show that true polar wander — a change in the location of an object’s poles — may be responsible for the present-day location of Sputnik Planitia, which makes up part of Pluto’s distinctive heart-shaped feature.

Alison Duck et al 2021 AJ 162 136

A joint analysis of data from three space telescopes yields order-of-magnitude improvements in transit-time uncertainties for four sub-Neptune exoplanets that are potential targets for future space telescopes.