Localized mesospheric ozone destruction corresponding to isolated proton aurora coming from Earth's radiation belt.

Relativistic electron precipitation (REP) from the Earth's radiation belt plays an important role in mesospheric ozone loss as a connection between space weather and the climate system. However, the rapid (tens of minutes) destruction of mesospheric ozone directly caused by REP has remained poorly understood due to the difficulty of recognizing its location and duration. Here we show a compelling rapid correspondence between localized REP and ozone destruction during a specific auroral phenomenon, the called an isolated proton aurora (IPA).

Repetitive patterns in rapid optical variations in the nearby black-hole binary V404 Cygni.

How black holes accrete surrounding matter is a fundamental yet unsolved question in astrophysics. It is generally believed that matter is absorbed into black holes via accretion disks, the state of which depends primarily on the mass-accretion rate. When this rate approaches the critical rate (the Eddington limit), thermal instability is supposed to occur in the inner disk, causing repetitive patterns of large-amplitude X-ray variability (oscillations) on timescales of minutes to hours.