Nature AstronomyPub Date : 2025-05-02DOI: 10.1038/s41550-025-02555-1
Marie Běhounková
{"title":"Europa’s silent seafloor","authors":"Marie Běhounková","doi":"10.1038/s41550-025-02555-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-025-02555-1","url":null,"abstract":"Europa is regarded as a primary candidate for a habitable world beyond Earth, with seafloor volcanism being one potential source of the energy and chemicals needed to support life. However, a new numerical model offers a different perspective.","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"56 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":14.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143898086","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"National forum of planetary science for early-career scientists in China","authors":"Jihua Hao, Yu Liu, Jinting Kang, Tong Dang, Bingkun Yu, Huihong Cheng, Yuming Wang","doi":"10.1038/s41550-025-02554-2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-025-02554-2","url":null,"abstract":"Planetary science is a rapidly growing research field in China. In March 2025, many hundreds of early-career planetary scientists gathered in Huangshan, China, to exchange the latest findings on this topic.","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"18 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":14.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143898047","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nature AstronomyPub Date : 2025-04-28DOI: 10.1038/s41550-025-02536-4
{"title":"Quasi-periodic eruptions from a newly active black hole","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s41550-025-02536-4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-025-02536-4","url":null,"abstract":"A galactic nucleus began emitting X-rays, periodically, in 2024. These quasi-periodic eruptions have the highest fluxes and longest timescales of any detected so far, and are thought to originate from newly formed accretion flows onto a supermassive black hole.","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"80 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":14.1,"publicationDate":"2025-04-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143880474","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Age dependence of the occurrence and architecture of ultra-short-period planet systems","authors":"Pei-Wei Tu, Ji-Wei Xie, Di-Chang Chen, Ji-Lin Zhou","doi":"10.1038/s41550-025-02539-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-025-02539-1","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Ultra-short-period (USP) planets, with orbital periods shorter than 1 day, represent a unique class of exoplanets whose origin remains puzzling. Determining their age distribution and temporal evolution is vital for uncovering their formation and evolutionary pathways. Using a sample of over 1,000 short-period planets around Sun-like stars, we found that the host stars of USP planets are relatively older and have a higher prevalence in the Galactic thick disk compared to stars hosting other short-period planets. Furthermore, we found that the occurrence of USP planets increases with stellar age, and we uncovered evidence indicating that USP planetary system architectures evolve on gigayear timescales. This includes a distinct dip/pile-up in period distributions around ~1 day and an expansion of orbital spacings with time. In addition, younger USP planet systems are observed to have fewer transiting planets, implying fewer nearby companions or larger mutual orbital inclinations. Our findings indicate that USP planets continuously form through inward migration driven by tidal dissipation over gigayear timescales, and that younger and older USP planets may have originated via different specific tidal migration pathways.</p>","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"132 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":14.1,"publicationDate":"2025-04-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143880432","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nature AstronomyPub Date : 2025-04-28DOI: 10.1038/s41550-025-02541-7
Blakesley Burkhart, Thavisha E. Dharmawardena, Shmuel Bialy, Thomas J. Haworth, Fernando Cruz Aguirre, Young-Soo Jo, B-G Andersson, Haeun Chung, Jerry Edelstein, Isabelle Grenier, Erika T. Hamden, Wonyong Han, Keri Hoadley, Min-Young Lee, Kyoung-Wook Min, Thomas Müller, Kate Pattle, J. E. G. Peek, Geoff Pleiss, David Schiminovich, Kwang-Il Seon, Andrew Gordon Wilson, Catherine Zucker
{"title":"A nearby dark molecular cloud in the Local Bubble revealed via H2 fluorescence","authors":"Blakesley Burkhart, Thavisha E. Dharmawardena, Shmuel Bialy, Thomas J. Haworth, Fernando Cruz Aguirre, Young-Soo Jo, B-G Andersson, Haeun Chung, Jerry Edelstein, Isabelle Grenier, Erika T. Hamden, Wonyong Han, Keri Hoadley, Min-Young Lee, Kyoung-Wook Min, Thomas Müller, Kate Pattle, J. E. G. Peek, Geoff Pleiss, David Schiminovich, Kwang-Il Seon, Andrew Gordon Wilson, Catherine Zucker","doi":"10.1038/s41550-025-02541-7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-025-02541-7","url":null,"abstract":"<p>A longstanding prediction in interstellar theory posits that significant quantities of molecular gas, crucial for star formation, may be undetected due to being ’dark’ in commonly used molecular gas tracers, such as carbon monoxide. We report the discovery of Eos, a dark molecular cloud located just 94 pc from the Sun. This cloud is identified using H<sub>2</sub> far-ultraviolet fluorescent line emission, which traces molecular gas at the boundary layers of star-forming and supernova remnant regions. The cloud edge is outlined along the high-latitude side of the North Polar Spur, a prominent X-ray/radio structure. Our distance estimate utilizes three-dimensional dust maps, the absorption of the soft-X-ray background, and hot gas tracers such as O <span>vi</span>; these place the cloud at a distance consistent with the Local Bubble’s surface. Using high-latitude CO maps we note a small amount (<span>(M_{{{rm{H}}}_{2}}approx 20text{--}40,M_{odot })</span>) of CO-bright cold molecular gas, in contrast with the much larger estimate of the cloud’s true molecular mass (<span>(M_{{{rm{H}}}_{2}}approx 3.4times 1{0}^{3},M_{odot })</span>), indicating that most of the cloud is CO dark. Combining observational data with novel analytical models and simulations, we predict that this cloud will photoevaporate in 5.7 Myr, placing key constraints on the role of stellar feedback in shaping the closest star-forming regions to the Sun.</p>","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"45 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":14.1,"publicationDate":"2025-04-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143880468","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nature AstronomyPub Date : 2025-04-28DOI: 10.1038/s41550-025-02532-8
David Kipping, Diana Solano-Oropeza, Daniel A. Yahalomi, Madison Li, Avishi Poddar, Xunhe Zhang
{"title":"Near-circular orbits for planets with Earth-like sizes and instellations around M and K dwarf stars","authors":"David Kipping, Diana Solano-Oropeza, Daniel A. Yahalomi, Madison Li, Avishi Poddar, Xunhe Zhang","doi":"10.1038/s41550-025-02532-8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-025-02532-8","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Recent advances have enabled the discovery of a population of potentially Earth-like planets; however, their orbital eccentricity, which governs their climate and provides clues about their origin and dynamical history, is still largely unconstrained. Here we identify a sample of 17 transiting exoplanets around late-type stars with similar radii and irradiation to that of Earth and use the ‘photoeccentric effect’—which exploits transit durations—to infer their eccentricity distribution using hierarchical Bayesian modelling. Our analysis establishes that these worlds further resemble Earth in that their eccentricities are nearly circular (mean eccentricity <span>(0.06{0}_{-0.028}^{+0.040})</span> and ≤0.15), with the exception of one outlier of moderate eccentricity. This outlier hints at a subset population of dynamically warmer Earths, but this requires a larger sample to statistically confirm. The planets in our sample are thus largely subject to minimal eccentricity-induced seasonal variability and are consistent with emerging via smooth disk migration rather than violent planet–planet scattering.</p>","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"36 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":14.1,"publicationDate":"2025-04-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143880503","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nature AstronomyPub Date : 2025-04-23DOI: 10.1038/s41550-025-02533-7
R. S. Park, A. I. Ermakov, A. S. Konopliv, A. T. Vaughan, N. Rambaux, B. G. Bills, J. C. Castillo-Rogez, R. R. Fu, S. A. Jacobson, S. T. Stewart, M. J. Toplis
{"title":"A small core in Vesta inferred from Dawn’s observations","authors":"R. S. Park, A. I. Ermakov, A. S. Konopliv, A. T. Vaughan, N. Rambaux, B. G. Bills, J. C. Castillo-Rogez, R. R. Fu, S. A. Jacobson, S. T. Stewart, M. J. Toplis","doi":"10.1038/s41550-025-02533-7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-025-02533-7","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Vesta’s large-scale interior structure had previously been constrained primarily using the gravity and shape data from the Dawn mission. However, these data alone still allow a wide range of possibilities for the differentiation state of the body. The moment of inertia is arguably the most diagnostic parameter related to the radial density distribution of a planetary body, making it crucial for assessing the body’s state of internal differentiation. Determining the moment of inertia requires additional measurements of the amplitudes of small rotational motions, such as precession and nutation. Here we report an updated estimate of the moment of inertia of Vesta inferred from Dawn’s Doppler tracking via the Deep Space Network and onboard imaging data. The recovered value for Vesta’s normalized polar moment of inertia is <span>(bar{C}/M{R}^{2}=0.4208pm 0.0047)</span> (where <i>M</i> is the mass of Vesta and <i>R</i> is the reference radius), which is only 6.6% lower than the homogeneous value of 0.4505. This value, combined with the gravity field and global shape, suggests that Vesta’s interior has limited density stratification beneath its howardite–eucrite–diogenite-dominated crust. We propose two possible origin scenarios that are consistent with the observed constraints. In the first scenario, Vesta’s interior did not undergo full differentiation due to late accretion. In the second scenario, Vesta originated as an impact remnant of a larger differentiated body re-accreted with non-chondritic bulk composition produced from a catastrophic impact. Vesta did not experience complete differentiation in either scenario, suggesting that its current state reflects a complex interplay between its accretion timing, thermal evolution, redistribution of <sup>26</sup>Al bearing melt and/or impact processes.</p>","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"19 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":14.1,"publicationDate":"2025-04-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143862940","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nature AstronomyPub Date : 2025-04-21DOI: 10.1038/s41550-025-02534-6
Daniel J. Reardon, Robert Main, Stella Koch Ocker, Ryan M. Shannon, Matthew Bailes, Fernando Camilo, Marisa Geyer, Andrew Jameson, Michael Kramer, Aditya Parthasarathy, Renée Spiewak, Willem van Straten, Vivek Venkatraman Krishnan
{"title":"Bow shock and Local Bubble plasma unveiled by the scintillating millisecond pulsar J0437−4715","authors":"Daniel J. Reardon, Robert Main, Stella Koch Ocker, Ryan M. Shannon, Matthew Bailes, Fernando Camilo, Marisa Geyer, Andrew Jameson, Michael Kramer, Aditya Parthasarathy, Renée Spiewak, Willem van Straten, Vivek Venkatraman Krishnan","doi":"10.1038/s41550-025-02534-6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-025-02534-6","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The ionized interstellar medium contains astronomical-unit-scale (and below) structures that scatter radio waves from pulsars, resulting in scintillation. Power spectral analysis of scintillation often shows parabolic arcs, with curvatures that encode the locations and kinematics of the pulsar, Earth and interstellar plasma. Here we report the discovery of 25 distinct plasma structures in the direction of the brilliant millisecond pulsar, PSR J0437−4715, in observations obtained with the MeerKAT radio telescope. Four arcs reveal structures within 5,000 au of the pulsar, from a series of shocks induced as the pulsar and its wind interact with the ambient interstellar medium. The measured radial distance and velocity of the main shock allow us to solve the shock geometry and space velocity of the pulsar in three dimensions, whereas the velocity of another structure unexpectedly indicates a back flow from the direction of the shock or pulsar-wind tail. The remaining 21 arcs represent a surprising abundance of structures sustained by turbulence within the Local Bubble, which is a region of the interstellar medium thought to be depleted of gas by a series of supernova explosions about 14 Myr ago. The Local Bubble is cool enough in areas for subastronomical-unit density fluctuations to arise from turbulence.</p>","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":14.1,"publicationDate":"2025-04-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143853560","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nature AstronomyPub Date : 2025-04-21DOI: 10.1038/s41550-025-02529-3
Paolo Padoan, Liubin Pan, Veli-Matti Pelkonen, Troels Haugbølle, Åke Nordlund
{"title":"The formation of protoplanetary disks through pre-main-sequence Bondi–Hoyle accretion","authors":"Paolo Padoan, Liubin Pan, Veli-Matti Pelkonen, Troels Haugbølle, Åke Nordlund","doi":"10.1038/s41550-025-02529-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-025-02529-3","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Protoplanetary disks are traditionally described as finite-mass reservoirs left over by the gravitational collapse of the protostellar core, a view that strongly constrains both disk-evolution and planet-formation models. We propose a different scenario in which protoplanetary disks of pre-main sequence stars are primarily assembled by Bondi–Hoyle accretion from the parent gas cloud. We demonstrate that Bondi–Hoyle accretion can supply not only the mass but also the angular momentum necessary to explain the observed size of protoplanetary disks. Additionally, we predict how the specific angular momentum of protoplanetary disks scales with stellar mass. Our conclusions are based on an analytical derivation of the scaling of the angular momentum in turbulent flows, which we confirmed with a numerical simulation of supersonic turbulence. A key outcome of our analysis is the recognition that density fluctuations in supersonic turbulence—previously overlooked in studies of cloud and core rotation—lead to a significant increase in angular momentum at disk-forming scales. This revised understanding of disk formation and evolution alleviates several long-standing observational discrepancies and compels substantial revisions to current models of disk and planet formation.</p>","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"30 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":14.1,"publicationDate":"2025-04-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143853559","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nature AstronomyPub Date : 2025-04-17DOI: 10.1038/s41550-025-02545-3
Bokyoung Kim
{"title":"A galactic pearl in a distorted shell","authors":"Bokyoung Kim","doi":"10.1038/s41550-025-02545-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-025-02545-3","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This recent JWST image shows a galaxy-scale strong lensing system, consisting of a distant spiral galaxy that is being lensed by a bright, massive elliptical galaxy in the galaxy cluster SMACSJ0028.2-7537. This combined image is composed of four individual images obtained using the JWST’s Near-InfraRed Camera, shown in yellow and red, along with Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 and Advanced Camera for Surveys, which are represented in blue. Several blue arcs wrapping around the elliptical galaxy appear to be the distorted light from gas structures of the lensed spiral galaxy, which also includes several bright star clusters. The core of the spiral galaxy appears multiple times around the lensing galaxy, with two bright yellow clumps visible at the six and two o’clock positions, respectively. Thanks to the lensing magnification, we can observe these structures in such detail.</p><p>This image was captured by JWST as part of the Strong Lensing and Cluster Evolution (SLICE) survey (PI: Guillaume Mahler/University of Liège), which aims to observe 182 massive galaxy clusters across a redshift range of 0.2 to 1.9. The SLICE team seeks to understand the mass structure of galaxy clusters, including the dark matter distribution. The early results from the SLICE survey (C. Cerny et al. Preprint at https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.17498; 2025) provide observations of 14 massive galaxy clusters with redshifts ranging from 0.25 to 1.06. In this early data analysis, the team modelled the global mass profile of each galaxy cluster to study the inner mass distribution, although the detailed analysis of the strong lensing system in this image is not included in the paper.</p>","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"5 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":14.1,"publicationDate":"2025-04-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143841178","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}