Nature AstronomyPub Date : 2026-09-09DOI: 10.1038/s41550-026-02959-7
Mustafa Muhibullah,Jimmy A. Irwin,Rosanne Di Stefano
{"title":"Hypersoft X-ray sources as a low-energy class of luminous cosmic emitter","authors":"Mustafa Muhibullah,Jimmy A. Irwin,Rosanne Di Stefano","doi":"10.1038/s41550-026-02959-7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-026-02959-7","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"6 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":14.1,"publicationDate":"2026-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148932704","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 : 2026-09-08DOI: 10.1038/s41550-026-02952-0
Antoine Lucas
{"title":"Listening to active planetary surfaces","authors":"Antoine Lucas","doi":"10.1038/s41550-026-02952-0","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41550-026-02952-0","url":null,"abstract":"Images reveal where planetary surfaces change, whereas seismic and ground-motion records can show when and why. Treating seismometers as environmental sensors, alongside cameras, meteorological packages and orbital repeat imaging, would make active surfaces a central target of future missions.","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"10 9","pages":"1247-1249"},"PeriodicalIF":15.2,"publicationDate":"2026-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148932706","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":"Signatures of suppressed matter clustering revealed by fast radio bursts","authors":"Kritti Sharma,Elisabeth Krause,Vikram Ravi,Liam Connor,Dhayaa Anbajagane,Pranjal Rajendra Singh","doi":"10.1038/s41550-026-02957-9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-026-02957-9","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"78 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":14.1,"publicationDate":"2026-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148932707","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 : 2026-09-08DOI: 10.1038/s41550-026-02970-y
Vladimir S. Airapetian, James L. Green
{"title":"Heliobiology as a gateway to astrobiology","authors":"Vladimir S. Airapetian, James L. Green","doi":"10.1038/s41550-026-02970-y","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41550-026-02970-y","url":null,"abstract":"Heliobiology is a new interdisciplinary field that links heliophysics, astrophysics, planetary science and chemistry with an astrobiological focus. We propose a formal definition of heliobiology and a practical framework for its implementation.","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"10 9","pages":"1244-1246"},"PeriodicalIF":15.2,"publicationDate":"2026-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148932705","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 : 2026-09-08DOI: 10.1038/s41550-026-02914-6
Emilia K. J. Kilpua, Rami Vainio, Manuel Grande, Liam Edwards, Monica Laurenza, Eero Esko, Arto Lehtolainen, Christian Palmroos, Jan Gieseler, Philipp Oleynik, George Ho, David J. Lawrence, Scige John Liu, Stefano Massetti, Daniel Heyner, Kristin Pump, Beatriz Sanchez-Cano, Juhani Huovelin
{"title":"Planetary shielding and surface precipitation of solar energetic particles during BepiColombo’s close Mercury flyby","authors":"Emilia K. J. Kilpua, Rami Vainio, Manuel Grande, Liam Edwards, Monica Laurenza, Eero Esko, Arto Lehtolainen, Christian Palmroos, Jan Gieseler, Philipp Oleynik, George Ho, David J. Lawrence, Scige John Liu, Stefano Massetti, Daniel Heyner, Kristin Pump, Beatriz Sanchez-Cano, Juhani Huovelin","doi":"10.1038/s41550-026-02914-6","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41550-026-02914-6","url":null,"abstract":"Planetary magnetic fields act as protective barriers, shielding a planet’s atmosphere and surface from energetic charged particles originating from its parent star and outer space. During its fourth flyby of Mercury on 4 September 2024, the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission passed within just 165 km of the planet’s surface. This close approach coincided with the elevated fluxes of high-energy charged solar particles, providing an opportunity to study shielding processes of a planet in close proximity to its star. Here, utilizing observations from the Solar Intensity X-Ray and Particle Spectrometer (SIXS) onboard BepiColombo, we investigate the penetration of high energy particles from the Sun into Mercury’s magnetosphere. The variations in energetic particle fluxes depend on the particle type, direction and energy. Our analysis reveals that the disappearance of protons is related to magnetic shadowing by the planet, while electrons dropouts occur due to a wide magnetic loss cone. These findings show that sustained high-energy particle precipitation can occur during solar energetic particle events on weakly magnetized rocky planets orbiting close to their parent star. Such processes probably play a significant role in regolith alteration and exospheric variability, with broader implications for surface geochemistry and potential habitability. BepiColombo’s flyby at just 165 km from Mercury observed sustained precipitation of energetic solar protons and electrons onto the planet’s surface, with potentially long-term impact on its weathering and mineralogy.","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"10 10","pages":"1478-1488"},"PeriodicalIF":15.2,"publicationDate":"2026-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-026-02914-6.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148933731","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nature AstronomyPub Date : 2026-09-07DOI: 10.1038/s41550-026-02972-w
G. S. Kocheril, C. Zagorec-Marks, H. J. Lewandowski
{"title":"Reply to: Evidence for phenylium reactivity under interstellar-relevant conditions","authors":"G. S. Kocheril, C. Zagorec-Marks, H. J. Lewandowski","doi":"10.1038/s41550-026-02972-w","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41550-026-02972-w","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"10 10","pages":"1451-1453"},"PeriodicalIF":15.2,"publicationDate":"2026-09-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148899584","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 : 2026-09-07DOI: 10.1038/s41550-026-02967-7
Dominik R. G. Schleicher, Andrés Escala, Francesco Flammini Dotti, Muhammad A. Latif
{"title":"Little Red Dots 2026","authors":"Dominik R. G. Schleicher, Andrés Escala, Francesco Flammini Dotti, Muhammad A. Latif","doi":"10.1038/s41550-026-02967-7","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41550-026-02967-7","url":null,"abstract":"The “Little Red Dots 2026” online workshop brought together 33 invited speakers, 19 flash talks and in total 230 participants. The workshop was dedicated to the discussion of these newly discovered compact red objects in the early Universe and their physical nature.","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"10 9","pages":"1255-1256"},"PeriodicalIF":15.2,"publicationDate":"2026-09-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148932711","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 : 2026-09-07DOI: 10.1038/s41550-026-02958-8
Michal Zajaček, Bożena Czerny, Martin Mondek, Samik Mitra, Matúš Labaj, Tomáš Ondro, Jan Janík, Jiří Dušek
{"title":"Traversing the Galactic Centre in space and time","authors":"Michal Zajaček, Bożena Czerny, Martin Mondek, Samik Mitra, Matúš Labaj, Tomáš Ondro, Jan Janík, Jiří Dušek","doi":"10.1038/s41550-026-02958-8","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41550-026-02958-8","url":null,"abstract":"At IAU Symposium 405 in Brno, Czech Republic, the Galactic Centre emerged as a nearby laboratory for galactic nuclei, which links the central supermassive black hole, dense stellar populations and multiphase gas into a connected ecosystem across space and time.","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"10 9","pages":"1252-1254"},"PeriodicalIF":15.2,"publicationDate":"2026-09-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148932708","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}