Switching on the freezer's light: Peering into the interior of a dark interstellar cloud with the APEX telescope December 16th, 2010 MPIfR press release © MPIfR Based on the article "Extended emission of D2H+ in a prestellar core", by B. Parise et al. Published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2010, vol. 526, A31     Light dawns on dark gamma-ray bursts December 16th, 2010 ESO press release MPE press release © ESO Based on the article "The nature of "dark" gamma-ray bursts ", by J. Greiner et al. Published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2010, vol. 526, A30     ESO’s VLT Takes First Detailed Image of Disc around Young Star September 9th, 2010 ESO press release © ESO Based on the article "Milli-arcsecond images of the Herbig Ae star HD 163296", by S. Renard, et al. Published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2010, vol. 519, A26     Seeing a Stellar Explosion in 3D August 4th, 2010 ESO press release © ESO Based on the article "The 3-D structure of SN 1987A's inner ejecta", by K. Kjaer, et al. Published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2010, vol. 517, A51   A&A special feature: Herschel: the first science highlights July 16th, 2010 Print this press release (PDF file) A&A press release © Astronomy & Astrophysics Table of contents of the special feature (free access) This week, Astronomy & Astrophysics is publishing a special feature devoted to the first science results obtained with Herschel, an ESA space observatory with science instruments provided by European-led Principal Investigator consortia and with important participation from NASA. It includes 152 articles dealing with various subjects based on the first few months of science observing. A few papers describe the observatory and its instruments, and the rest are dedicated to observations of many astronomical targets from bodies in the Solar System to distant galaxies. Read more » Read more...   First case of strong gravitational lensing by a QSO July 16th, 2010 EPFL press release © EPFL Based on the article "First case of strong gravitational lensing by a QSO: SDSS J0013+1523 at z = 0.120", by F. Courbin, et al. Published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2010, vol. 516, L12     Betelgeuse, a boiling and magnetic supergiant star! June 18th, 2010 LATT press release © MPA/GRAAL/LESIA Based on the article "The magnetic field of Betelgeuse: a local dynamo from giant convection cells?", by M. Auriere et al. Published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2010, vol. 516, L2   A&A special feature: Science with AKARI May 3rd, 2010 Print this press release (PDF file) A&A press release © Astronomy & Astrophysics Table of contents of the special feature This week, Astronomy & Astrophysics is publishing a special feature devoted to the new results obtained with the infrared satellite AKARI, a JAXA project with the participation of ESA. It includes 17 articles dealing with various subjects. Some papers are based on the AKARI all-sky survey, which has just been released. Others are dedicated to pointed observations of many astronomical targets from solar system bodies to distant galaxies. Read more » Read more...   Triton's Summer Sky of Methane and Carbon Monoxide April 7th, 2010 ESO press release © European Southern Observatory Based on the article "Detection of CO in Triton's atmosphere and the nature of surface-atmosphere interactions", by E. Lellouch et al. Published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2010, vol. 512, L8     AKARI produces two new infrared all-sky catalogues March 31th, 2010 JAXA/ESA press release © European Space Agency Based on the articles: "Evolution of infrared luminosity functions of galaxies in the AKARI NEP-deep field. Revealing the cosmic star formation history hidden by dust", by T. Goto et al. "Star-galaxy separation by far-infrared color-color diagrams for the AKARI FIS All-Sky Survey (Bright Source Catalogue version beta-1)", by A. Pollo et al. To be published in Astronomy & Astrophysics   A new 3D map of the interstellar gas within 300 parsecs from the Sun February 9th, 2010 Print this press release (PDF file) A&A press release © Astronomy & Astrophysics Based on "New 3D gas density maps of NaI and CaII interstellar absorption within 300 pc" by B. Y. Welsh et al. To be published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2010, vol. 510, A54 Astronomy & Astrophysics is publishing new 3D maps of the interstellar gas in the local area around our Sun. A French-American team of astronomers presents new absorption measurements towards more than 1800 stars. They were able to characterize the properties of the interstellar gas within each sight line. Read more » Read more...   Unprecedented details on the surface of the Betelgeuse star January 10th, 2010 OBSPM press release © Paris Observatory Based on the article "Imaging the spotty surface of Betelgeuse in the H band", by X. Haubois et al. Published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2009, vol. 508-2, p. 923-932.