81 results match your criteria: "Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics[Affiliation]"

Nearly half of all stars similar to our Sun are in binary or multiple systems, which may affect the evolution of the stars and their protoplanetary disks during their earliest stages. NGC 1333-IRAS2A is a young, Class 0, low-mass protostellar system located in the Perseus molecular cloud. It is known to drive two bipolar outflows that are almost perpendicular to each other on the sky and is resolved into binary components, VLA1 and VLA2, through long wavelength continuum observations.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Exomoons represent a crucial missing puzzle piece in our efforts to understand extrasolar planetary systems. To address this deficiency, we here describe an exomoon survey of 70 cool, giant transiting exoplanet candidates found by Kepler. We identify only one exhibiting a moon-like signal that passes a battery of vetting tests: Kepler-1708 b.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Sedimentary processes dominate nitrous oxide production and emission in the hypoxic zone off the Changjiang River estuary.

Sci Total Environ

June 2022

State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, College of Ocean and Earth Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China; State Key Laboratory of Marine Resource Utilization in South China Sea, Hainan University, Haikou 570228, China. Electronic address:

Coastal oceans, known as the major nitrous oxide (NO) source to the atmosphere, are increasingly subject to eutrophication and concurrent near-bottom hypoxia. The natural nitrogen cycle is likely to be altered markedly in hypoxic coastal oceans. However, the processes responsible for NO production and emission remain elusive because of lacking field rate measurements simultaneously conducted in the water column and sediment.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A repeating fast radio burst source in a globular cluster.

Nature

February 2022

Department of Space, Earth and Environment, Chalmers University of Technology, Onsala Space Observatory, Onsala, Sweden.

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are flashes of unknown physical origin. The majority of FRBs have been seen only once, although some are known to generate multiple flashes. Many models invoke magnetically powered neutron stars (magnetars) as the source of the emission.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Using a novel wave-particle interaction analysis, we show observational evidence of energy transfer from fast magnetosonic waves (MSWs) to low-energy protons in the magnetosphere. The analysis clearly indicates that the transferred proton energies are further converted to excite electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves. Since MSWs are excited by hot ions, cross-energy coupling of ions occurs through MSWs.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Active auroral arc powered by accelerated electrons from very high altitudes.

Sci Rep

January 2021

Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, Aichi, 464-8601, Japan.

Article Synopsis
  • Bright, discrete auroral arcs in polar regions are created by magnetospheric electrons accelerated through electric fields, producing light when they collide with thermosphere atoms at around 100 km altitude.
  • Recent findings indicate that these electrons can actually be accelerated from altitudes over 30,000 km, which is significantly higher than previously believed.
  • The research combines data from the Arase satellite and ground-based imaging, revealing that the mechanisms behind this acceleration are still not fully understood, but they suggest a more complex interaction within the magnetosphere.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Gravitational Test beyond the First Post-Newtonian Order with the Shadow of the M87 Black Hole.

Phys Rev Lett

October 2020

Department of Astrophysics, Institute for Mathematics, Astrophysics and Particle Physics (IMAPP), Radboud University, P.O. Box 9010, 6500 GL Nijmegen, Netherlands.

The 2017 Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) observations of the central source in M87 have led to the first measurement of the size of a black-hole shadow. This observation offers a new and clean gravitational test of the black-hole metric in the strong-field regime. We show analytically that spacetimes that deviate from the Kerr metric but satisfy weak-field tests can lead to large deviations in the predicted black-hole shadows that are inconsistent with even the current EHT measurements.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

We studied the electrical transport of FeSe single-crystal nanowires exhibiting √5 × √5 Fe-vacancy order and mixed valence of Fe. FeSe compound has been identified as the parent phase of FeSe superconductor. A first-order metal-insulator (MI) transition of transition temperature ∼ 28 K is observed at zero magnetic fields ().

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Recent dynamical analyses suggest that some Jupiter family comets (JFCs) may originate in the main asteroid belt instead of the outer solar system. This possibility is particularly interesting given evidence that icy main-belt objects are known to be present in the Themis asteroid family. We report results from dynamical analyses specifically investigating the possibility that icy Themis family members could contribute to the observed population of JFCs.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The use of indium in semiconductors has led to increased environmental release, making risk assessment crucial.
  • Research on Arabidopsis thaliana showed that indium accumulates mainly in roots, limiting its movement to other plant parts due to root immobilization.
  • Indium exposure results in stunted growth and oxidative stress, impairs phosphate uptake by affecting key transporters, but may also trigger organic acid secretion that could help detoxify the impacts of indium.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are brief, bright, extragalactic radio flashes. Their physical origin remains unknown, but dozens of possible models have been postulated. Some FRB sources exhibit repeat bursts.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The local expansion rate of the Universe is parametrized by the Hubble constant, [Formula: see text], the ratio between recession velocity and distance. Different techniques lead to inconsistent estimates of [Formula: see text] Observations of Type Ia supernovae (SNe) can be used to measure [Formula: see text], but this requires an external calibrator to convert relative distances to absolute ones. We use the angular diameter distance to strong gravitational lenses as a suitable calibrator, which is only weakly sensitive to cosmological assumptions.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Our current knowledge of cosmic star-formation history during the first two billion years (corresponding to redshift z > 3) is mainly based on galaxies identified in rest-frame ultraviolet light. However, this population of galaxies is known to under-represent the most massive galaxies, which have rich dust content and/or old stellar populations. This raises the questions of the true abundance of massive galaxies and the star-formation-rate density in the early Universe.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Most known trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) gravitationally scattering off the giant planets have orbital inclinations consistent with an origin from the classical Kuiper belt, but a small fraction of these "scattering TNOs" have inclinations that are far too large ( 45°) for this origin. These scattering outliers have previously been proposed to be interlopers from the Oort cloud or evidence of an undiscovered planet. Here we test these hypotheses using N-body simulations and the 69 centaurs and scattering TNOs detected in the Outer Solar Systems Origins Survey and its predecessors.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The combination of multiple observational probes has long been advocated as a powerful technique to constrain cosmological parameters, in particular dark energy. The Dark Energy Survey has measured 207 spectroscopically confirmed type Ia supernova light curves, the baryon acoustic oscillation feature, weak gravitational lensing, and galaxy clustering. Here we present combined results from these probes, deriving constraints on the equation of state, w, of dark energy and its energy density in the Universe.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • * NASA supports SPEDAS, a versatile software platform that simplifies data retrieval, analysis, and visualization for over a dozen space missions, accommodating both experienced and beginner users with its command-line and GUI options.
  • * SPEDAS can efficiently access a wide range of historical and current space physics data, with future enhancements planned for compatibility with HAPI standards and expansion to Python, thereby improving its usability for diverse datasets.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Fingerprints of Heavy-Element Nucleosynthesis in the Late-Time Lightcurves of Kilonovae.

Phys Rev Lett

February 2019

Department of Physics and Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory, Columbia University, Pupin Hall, New York, New York 10027, USA.

The kilonova emission observed following the binary neutron star merger event GW170817 provided the first direct evidence for the synthesis of heavy nuclei through the rapid neutron capture process (r process). The late-time transition in the spectral energy distribution to near-infrared wavelengths was interpreted as indicating the production of lanthanide nuclei, with atomic mass number A≳140. However, compelling evidence for the presence of even heavier third-peak (A≈195) r-process elements (e.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Endolithic microbes in coral skeletons are known to be a nutrient source for the coral host. In addition to aerobic endolithic algae and Cyanobacteria, which are usually described in the various corals and form a green layer beneath coral tissues, the anaerobic photoautotrophic green sulfur bacteria (GSB) Prosthecochloris is dominant in the skeleton of Isopora palifera. However, due to inherent challenges in studying anaerobic microbes in coral skeleton, the reason for its niche preference and function are largely unknown.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Protostellar jets are one of the most intriguing signposts in star formation. Recent detection of a jet rotation indicates that they can carry away angular momenta from the innermost edges of the disks, allowing the disks to feed the central protostars. In current jet-launching models, magnetic fields are required to launch and collimate the jets, however, observationally, it is still uncertain if magnetic fields are really present in the jets.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A Molecular-Line Study of the Interstellar Bullet Engine IRAS05506+2414.

Astrophys J

November 2017

National Radio Astronomy Observatory, 1003 Lopezville Road, Socorro, NM 87801.

We present interferometric and single-dish molecular line observations of the interstellar bullet-outflow source IRAS05506+2414, whose wide-angle bullet spray is similar to the Orion BN/KL explosive outflow and likely arises from an entirely different mechanism than the classical accretion-disk-driven bipolar flows in young stellar objects. The bullet-outflow source is associated with a large pseudo-disk and three molecular outflows - a high-velocity outflow (HVO), a medium-velocity outflow (MVO), and a slow, extended outflow (SEO). The size (mass) of the pseudo-disk is 10,350 AU×6,400 AU (0.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Rationale: Nitrogen and carbon stable isotope ratios (δ N and δ C values) of carbonate-bound organic materials in otoliths can provide information to address the biological and ecological functions of fish. Correct interpretation of otolith δ N and δ C profiles requires knowledge of the metabolic routes of nitrogen and carbon isotopes. However, the isotopic assimilation of δ N and δ C compositions from diets to otoliths has rarely been investigated.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Auroral substorms, dynamic phenomena that occur in the upper atmosphere at night, are caused by global reconfiguration of the magnetosphere, which releases stored solar wind energy. These storms are characterized by auroral brightening from dusk to midnight, followed by violent motions of distinct auroral arcs that suddenly break up, and the subsequent emergence of diffuse, pulsating auroral patches at dawn. Pulsating aurorae, which are quasiperiodic, blinking patches of light tens to hundreds of kilometres across, appear at altitudes of about 100 kilometres in the high-latitude regions of both hemispheres, and multiple patches often cover the entire sky.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Highly collimated parsec-scale jets, which are generally linked to the presence of an accretion disk, are commonly observed in low-mass young stellar objects. In the past two decades, a few of these jets have been directly (or indirectly) observed from higher-mass (larger than eight solar masses) young stellar objects, adding to the growing evidence that disk-mediated accretion also occurs in high-mass stars, the formation mechanism of which is still poorly understood. Of the observed jets from massive young stars, none is in the optical regime (massive young stars are typically highly obscured by their natal material), and none is found outside of the Milky Way.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Fast radio bursts are millisecond-duration, extragalactic radio flashes of unknown physical origin. The only known repeating fast radio burst source-FRB 121102-has been localized to a star-forming region in a dwarf galaxy at redshift 0.193 and is spatially coincident with a compact, persistent radio source.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Sub-arcsecond imaging of the water emission in Arp 220.

Astron Astrophys

June 2017

Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM), 300 rue de la Piscine, Domaine Universitaire, 38406, Saint Martin d'Hères, France.

Aims: Extragalactic observations of water emission can provide valuable insights into the excitation of the interstellar medium. In particular they allow us to investigate the excitation mechanisms in obscured nuclei, i.e.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF