Nature Astronomy最新文献

{"title":"Geology of Rimae Bode region as priority site candidate for China’s first crewed lunar mission","authors":"Maosheng Yang \u0000 (杨茂升), Jun Huang \u0000 (黄俊), Wajiha Iqbal, Lukas Wueller, Carolyn H. van der Bogert, Harald Hiesinger, Sascha Mikolajewski, Minggang Xie \u0000 (谢明刚), Sen Hu \u0000 (胡森), Long Xiao \u0000 (肖龙)","doi":"10.1038/s41550-026-02790-0","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-026-02790-0","url":null,"abstract":"Characterizing landing sites for future lunar crewed missions is key to maximizing the science output. Here we use orbital data to look at the equatorial Rimae Bode region, which is at the mare–highlands boundary and is a high-priority candidate for the upcoming Chinese crewed mission. We identify four distinct geological units: a dark mantle deposit; the Sinus Aestuum mare area; the Rimae Bode unit proper, formed by two distinct areas; and the highlands. The dark mantle deposit is pyroclastic material with relatively low albedo, whose thickness ranges from 77 m to 136 m. Sinus Aestuum is an ancient impact basin filled with low-Ti basaltic lavas with a maximum thickness of 193 m and with a 4-m-thick regolith mostly composed of local materials. Rima Bode I includes volcanic rilles that are potential sources for the basalts in Sinus Aestuum, as they share its spectral characteristics, whereas Rima Bode II exhibits high abundances of Th and Ti. Based on this information, we propose four prospective landing sites in the traversable areas, which provide a range of diverse geological samples, including volcanic debris, mare basalts, Copernicus crater ejecta and high-Th materials. Such a collection may provide insights into the geological evolution of the region and enhance our understanding of the lunar mantle composition and volcanic processes.","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":14.1,"publicationDate":"2026-03-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147381711","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":"Cosmic CO and [C II] backgrounds and the fuelling of star formation over 12 Gyr","authors":"Yi-Kuan Chiang","doi":"10.1038/s41550-026-02798-6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-026-02798-6","url":null,"abstract":"Molecular gas, modest in mass yet pivotal within the cosmic inventory, regulates baryon cycling as the immediate fuel for star formation. Across most of cosmic history, its reservoir has remained elusive, with only the tip of the iceberg revealed by luminous CO-emitting galaxies. Here we report the detection of the mean cosmic CO background across its rotational ladder at 7σ, together with ionized carbon ([C II]) at 3σ, over 0 < z < 4.2. This uses tomographic clustering of diffuse broadband intensities with reference galaxies, directly probing aggregate emission in the cosmic web. From CO(1–0) we infer the total molecular gas density, ({varOmega }_{{{rm{H}}}_{2}}), finding it about twice that resolved in galaxy surveys. The global depletion time is ~1 Gyr, shorter than the Hubble time, requiring sustained inflow. CO excitation is linked to star-formation surface density and, with depletion time, yields a super-linear Kennicutt–Schmidt law that appears universal. Together these results establish a global picture of galaxy growth fuelled by a larger, short-lived molecular reservoir. The CO and [C II] detections mark a turning point for line-intensity mapping, replacing forecasts with empirical line strengths and defining sensitivity requirements for upcoming three-dimensional experiments poised to open new windows on galaxy formation and cosmology.","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"53 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":14.1,"publicationDate":"2026-03-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147371128","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":"An adolescent and near-resonant planetary system near the end of photoevaporation","authors":"Mu-Tian Wang, Fei Dai, Hui-Gen Liu, Howard Chen, Zhecheng Hu, Erik Petigura, Steven Giacalone, Eve Lee, Max Goldberg, Adrien Leleu, Andrew W. Mann, Madyson G. Barber, Joshua N. Winn, Karen A. Collins, Cristilyn N. Watkins, Richard P. Schwarz, Howard M. Relles, Francis P. Wilkin, Enric Palle, Felipe Murgas, Avi Shporer, Ramotholo Sefako, Keith Horne, Hugh P. Osborn, Yann Alibert, Luca Fossati, Andrea Fortier, Sérgio Sousa, Alexis Brandeker, Pierre Maxted, Alexia Goldenberg","doi":"10.1038/s41550-026-02795-9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-026-02795-9","url":null,"abstract":"Young exoplanets provide vital insights into the early dynamical and atmospheric evolution of planetary systems. Many multi-planet systems younger than 100 Myr exhibit mean-motion resonances, probably established through convergent disk migration. Over time, however, these resonant chains are often disrupted, mirroring the Nice model proposed for the Solar System. Here we present a detailed characterization of the ~200-Myr-old TOI-2076 system, which contains four sub-Neptune planets between 1.4 and 3.5 Earth radii. We demonstrate that its planets are near to but not locked in mean-motion resonances, making the system dynamically fragile. The four planets have comparable core masses but display a monotonic increase in hydrogen and helium (H/He) envelope mass fractions (from stripped to 1%, 5% and 5%) with decreasing stellar insolation. This trend is consistent with atmospheric mass loss due to photoevaporation, which predicts that the envelopes of irradiated planets either erode completely or stabilize at a residual level of ~1% by mass within the first few hundred million years, with more distant, less-irradiated planets retaining most of their primordial envelopes. Additionally, previous detections of metastable helium outflows rule out a pure water-world scenario for the TOI-2076 planets. Our finding provides direct observational evidence that the dynamical and atmospheric reshaping of compact planetary systems begins early and offers an empirical anchor for models of their long-term evolution.","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"228 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":14.1,"publicationDate":"2026-02-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147320172","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":"The observation of Earth-like exoplanets with ground-based telescopes and a shared orbiting starshade","authors":"Ahmed Soliman,&nbsp;John Mather,&nbsp;Stuart Shaklan,&nbsp;Eliad Peretz,&nbsp;Stefan Kimeswenger,&nbsp;Sara Seager,&nbsp;Michel Mayor,&nbsp;Christophe Lovis,&nbsp;Michele Cirasuolo,&nbsp;Stefan Noll","doi":"10.1038/s41550-026-02787-9","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41550-026-02787-9","url":null,"abstract":"Imaging Earth-like exoplanets around Sun-like stars from the ground is challenging and requires substantial advances in techniques. This Perspective presents and provides the predicted performance of a hybrid space–ground approach that combines a large ground-based telescope, such as the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) or the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT), with a shared orbiting starshade in space. This integration aims to image Earth-like exoplanets around Sun-like stars with deep-contrast imaging and an unmatched angular resolution. The starshade forms a deep shadow above Earth’s atmosphere. However, the presence of atmospheric turbulence requires compensation with adaptive optics to sharpen the images to the diffraction limit. In this Perspective, we present the expected image plane contrast of the three large telescopes operating with a shared orbiting 99-m-diameter starshade, with a detailed analysis focusing on the ELT to measure the reflected light spectra of a Solar System analogue, from Venus to Saturn, orbiting a Sun-like star. Our analysis utilizes a comprehensive and realistic model of the entire system, incorporating the latest ELT adaptive optics models to mitigate the effects of Earth’s atmospheric turbulence under moderate weather conditions. Our studies show that the ELT adaptive optics effectively corrects for these effects, demonstrating minimal impact on sensitivity with different Strehl ratios and throughout the full 300–1,000-nm bandpass. This includes a comparison with current and future ground- and space-based observatories. We simulate the reflected light images and spectra through Earth’s atmosphere. We show observation of the major molecular signatures for life, such as oxygen and water on an exo-Earth, leading to a promising avenue for future hybrid space–ground observatories to revolutionize the search for Earth-like planets. Near-term advancements for the implementation of this concept towards deployment are also discussed. Assuming that it could be launched or constructed in situ, a 99-m-diameter starshade in orbit around Earth, coupled with ground-based extremely large telescopes and their adaptive optics systems, could image an exo-Earth at a distance of several parsecs.","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"10 3","pages":"349-356"},"PeriodicalIF":14.3,"publicationDate":"2026-02-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147507943","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":"The history of knowing","authors":"Deyan Mihaylov","doi":"10.1038/s41550-026-02797-7","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41550-026-02797-7","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"10 3","pages":"338-338"},"PeriodicalIF":14.3,"publicationDate":"2026-02-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147570387","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":"Galaxy and black hole co-evolution in dark matter haloes not captured by cosmological simulations","authors":"Hassen M. Yesuf, Connor Bottrell","doi":"10.1038/s41550-026-02792-y","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-026-02792-y","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"52 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":14.1,"publicationDate":"2026-02-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147279118","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":"The prevalence of solar-like differential rotation in slowly rotating solar-type stars","authors":"Hideyuki Hotta, Yoshiki Hatta","doi":"10.1038/s41550-026-02793-x","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-026-02793-x","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":14.1,"publicationDate":"2026-02-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147279117","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":"Evidence for global-scale magnetically modified Rossby waves in the Sun","authors":"Shravan Hanasoge, Christopher Hanson","doi":"10.1038/s41550-026-02794-w","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-026-02794-w","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"340 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":14.1,"publicationDate":"2026-02-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147279119","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":"The dramatic transition of the extreme red supergiant WOH G64 to a yellow hypergiant","authors":"Gonzalo Muñoz-Sanchez, Maria Kalitsounaki, Stephan de Wit, Konstantinos Antoniadis, Alceste Zoe Bonanos, Emmanouil Zapartas, Konstantina Boutsia, Evangelia Christodoulou, Grigoris Maravelias, Igor Soszyński, Andrzej Udalski","doi":"10.1038/s41550-026-02789-7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-026-02789-7","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"16 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":14.1,"publicationDate":"2026-02-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147279120","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":"Dancing until destruction","authors":"Bokyoung Kim","doi":"10.1038/s41550-026-02796-8","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41550-026-02796-8","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"10 2","pages":"174-174"},"PeriodicalIF":14.3,"publicationDate":"2026-02-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146224550","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}