2018

2018 Press releases

Details: Published on 21 December 2018

The hot Neptunes, planets that shrink

Based on the article "Hubble PanCET: an extended upper atmosphere of neutral hydrogen around the warm Neptune GJ 3470b",
by V. Bourrier et al.

Published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2018, 620, A147

Details: Published on 12 December 2018

Dancing with the Enemy

ESO press release

Based on the article "SPHERE/ZIMPOL observations of the symbiotic system R Aquarii",
by H.M. Schmid et al.

Published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2018, 602, A53

Details: Published on 05 December 2018

Bringing balance to the Universe

University of Oxford press release

Based on the article "A unifying theory of dark energy and dark matter: Negative masses and matter creation within a modified ΛCDM framework",
by J.S. Farnes et al.

Published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2018, 620, A92

Details: Published on 13 November 2018

The dance of the small galaxies that surround the Milky Way

IAC press release

© Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium (DPAC)

Based on the article "Gaia DR2 proper motions of dwarf galaxies within 420 kpc
Orbits, Milky Way mass, tidal influences, planar alignments, and group infall",
by T. K. Fritz et al

Published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2018, 619, A103

Details: Published on 06 November 2018

Aluminium oxide found in an "Ultra Hot Jupiter"

IAC press release

Based on the article "An optical transmission spectrum of the ultra-hot Jupiter WASP-33b. First indication of aluminum oxide in an exoplanet",
by C. von Essen et al.

To be published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2018

Details: Published on 31 October 2018

Most Detailed Observations of Material Orbiting close to a Black Hole

ESO press release

Based on the article "Detection of orbital motions near the last stable circular orbit of the massive black hole SgrA*",
by GRAVITY Collaboration

Published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2018, 618, L10

Details: Published on 23 October 2018

Astronomers find a universal correlation that could unify the study of star formation

press release

© ESO/APEX (MPIfR/ESO/OSO)/A.Hacar et al./Digitized Sky Survey 2

Based on the article "A global correlation linking young stars, clouds, and galaxies Towards a unified view of star formation",
by I. Mendigutía et al.

Published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2018, 618, A119

Details: Published on 22 October 2018

Cloudlets swarm around our local supermassive black hole

ESO press release

© ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/ J. R. Goicoechea (Instituto de Física Fundamental, CSIC, Spain)

Based on the article "High-speed molecular cloudlets around the Galactic center’s supermassive black hole",
by Javier R. Goicoechea et al.

Published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2018, 618, A35

Details: Published on 15 October 2018

Net closes around planet with giant rings thanks to photos from 1890

Astronomie.nl press release

Based on the article "Constraining the period of the ringed secondary companion to the young star J1407 with photographic plates",
by R.T. Mentel et al.

To be published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2018

Details: Published on 09 October 2018

What Really Happens When the Stars Align

NYU press release

Based on the article "Predicted microlensing events from analysis of Gaia Data Release 2*",
by D. M. Bramich et al.

Published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2018, 618, A44

Details: Published on 04 October 2018

Tracing the Universe: X-ray survey supports standard cosmological model

ESA press release

Based on the special issue "The XXL Survey: second series"

To be published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2018

Details: Published on 10 August 2018

Students digging into data archive spot mysterious X-ray source

ESA press release

Based on the article "EXTraS discovery of a peculiar flaring X-ray source in the Galactic globular cluster NGC 6540",
by Mereghetti S. et al.

Published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2018, 616, A36

Details: Published on 09 August 2018

Water Is Destroyed, Then Reborn in Ultrahot Jupiters

NASA press release

Based on the article "From thermal dissociation to condensation in the atmospheres of ultra hot Jupiters: WASP-121b in context ",
by Parmentier V. et al.

Published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, forthcoming

Details: Published on 19 July 2018

How to weigh stars with gravitational lensing

Print this press release (PDF file) A&A press release

Based on the article "Ongoing astrometric microlensing events of two nearby stars", by Klüter et al.

Published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2018, 615, L11

Astronomy & Astrophysics publishes the predictions of the passages of foreground stars in front of background stars. A team of astronomers, using ultra-precise measurements from the Gaia satellite, have accurately forecast two passages in the next months. Each event will produce shifts in the background star’s position due to the deflection of light by gravity, and will allow the measurement of the mass of the foreground star, which is extremely difficult to determine by other means.