Nature Astronomy最新文献

{"title":"A historic XXXII IAU General Assembly for a lasting African legacy","authors":"Kevin Govender, Charles M. Takalana, Vanessa McBride, Ramasamy Venugopal, Vanessa A. Moss, Kelly Blumenthal, Joyful E. Mdhluli, James O. Chibueze, Sally A. Macfarlane, Zouhair Benkhaldoun, Glen Rees, Alick J. Le Jeune, Sumari Barocci-Faul, Anton Binneman, Hannes Breytenbach, Daniel C. Cunnama, Andrea Girolamodibari, Rika Kobayashi, Duduzile V. Kubheka, Moleboge Lekoloane, Prospery C. Simpemba, Dominic G. Vertue, Lara van Zyl, Mthuthuzeli Zamxaka","doi":"10.1038/s41550-024-02447-w","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41550-024-02447-w","url":null,"abstract":"The XXXII IAU General Assembly, held for the first time on the African continent from 6–15 August 2024, marked a historic milestone in the global astronomy community. Driven by a bold vision, the event highlighted Africa''s growing scientific capacity, and embodied the African spirit of Ubuntu, emphasizing accessibility, impact, and sustainability.","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"9 1","pages":"2-5"},"PeriodicalIF":12.9,"publicationDate":"2024-12-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-024-02447-w.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142874381","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}

{"title":"Geochemical context for hydrothermal organic molecules in Mars-analogue samples from Earth","authors":"Bronwyn L. Teece, Jeff R. Havig, Trinity L. Hamilton, Laura M. Barge","doi":"10.1038/s41550-024-02435-0","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41550-024-02435-0","url":null,"abstract":"Hydrothermal environments—where chemical interactions between heated water and rock take place—are of great interest for astrobiology as they may create habitable environments and preserve signs of life. Several planetary bodies display evidence of hydrothermalism, including Mars, which has possessed various hydrothermal environments that could alter organic signals, complicating assessments of biogenicity and our understanding of the depositional environment and subsequent alteration processes. Organic molecules from Earth-based hydrothermal systems serve as an analogue for what we might find on Mars and are typically made up of complex mixtures of in situ and transported molecules that have been altered by diverse mechanisms. Improving our understanding of the processes that drive the preservation and circulation of organic molecules in Earth-based hydrothermal settings is crucial, as the sources and fates of these molecules in marine hydrothermal environments are different from those in subaerial (land-based) hydrothermal environments, even if many of the processes that govern the transport and alteration of this organic matter seem to be similar. To understand the origin of organic molecules found in samples from another world, we must critically evaluate the processes that alter these molecules in terrestrial hydrothermal samples. Hydrothermal environments are sites of high astrobiological importance. Examining the behaviour of organic molecules in hydrothermal analogues from Earth could help in interpreting observations of hydrothermal settings on other planetary bodies, especially Mars.","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"8 12","pages":"1513-1520"},"PeriodicalIF":12.9,"publicationDate":"2024-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142858385","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":"Thermal evolution of trans-Neptunian objects through observations of Centaurs with JWST","authors":"Javier Licandro, Noemí Pinilla-Alonso, Bryan J. Holler, Mário N. De Prá, Mario Melita, Ana Carolina de Souza Feliciano, Rosario Brunetto, Aurélie Guilbert-Lepoutre, Elsa Hénault, Vania Lorenzi, John A. Stansberry, Charles A. Schambeau, Brittany Harvison, Yvonne J. Pendleton, Dale P. Cruikshank, Thomas Müller, Lucas McClure, Joshua P. Emery, Nuno Peixinho, Michele T. Bannister, Ian Wong","doi":"10.1038/s41550-024-02417-2","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41550-024-02417-2","url":null,"abstract":"Centaurs are small bodies orbiting between Jupiter and Neptune and behave as an intermediate population between trans-Neptunian-belt objects and Jupiter-family comets. As such, their surface composition and evolutionary processes are key to understanding the Solar System’s history. However, the mechanisms driving their transformation and the impact of thermal processing on their surfaces remain open questions. Here we examined the surface properties of five Centaurs using the James Webb Space Telescope near-infrared spectrograph reflectance spectra (0.6–5.3 μm). They exhibit considerable diversity in surface composition. Our analysis indicates that Centaurs can be split into two main categories, which is also observed for trans-Neptunian objects: one group has surfaces composed of refractory materials with some water ice, whereas the other is dominated by carbon-based materials. Additionally, two of the five objects have primarily refractory surfaces with minimal volatiles, suggesting a high concentration of primitive, comet-like dust. We suggest that the observed Centaur surfaces reflect their transitional states, as they are shifting from being ice-rich bodies to progressively becoming more dominated by non-volatile materials as they approach the Sun. Such thermal processing may have changed the surface properties of other similar Solar System bodies, like comets, Jupiter trojans and D-type asteroids. JWST/NIRSpec spectra are used to analyse the surfaces of Centaurs, revealing two main compositions: those with refractory materials and water ice and those rich in carbon-based materials. Strong surface weathering due to thermal processing may be responsible.","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"9 2","pages":"245-251"},"PeriodicalIF":12.9,"publicationDate":"2024-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142849039","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":"A JWST/DiSCo-TNOs portrait of the primordial Solar System through its trans-Neptunian objects","authors":"Noemí Pinilla-Alonso, Rosario Brunetto, Mário N. De Prá, Bryan J. Holler, Elsa Hénault, Ana Carolina de Souza Feliciano, Vania Lorenzi, Yvonne J. Pendleton, Dale P. Cruikshank, Thomas G. Müller, John A. Stansberry, Joshua P. Emery, Charles A. Schambeau, Javier Licandro, Brittany Harvison, Lucas McClure, Aurélie Guilbert-Lepoutre, Nuno Peixinho, Michele T. Bannister, Ian Wong","doi":"10.1038/s41550-024-02433-2","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41550-024-02433-2","url":null,"abstract":"The detection of molecules on the coldest and outermost objects in our Solar System has long been limited by the terrestrial atmosphere and sensitivity of the available instrumentation. However, near-infrared observations by the James Webb Space Telescope have provided an unprecedented view of the molecular diversity on the surfaces of trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs). Using the low spectral resolution PRISM mode on the near-infrared spectrograph as part of the Cycle 1 large programme, ‘Discovering the Surface Composition of trans-Neptunian objects’, we report the detection of several molecular ices throughout the TNO population, including H2O, CO2, 13CO2, CO, CH3OH and complex molecules and refractory materials containing aliphatic C–H, C≡N, O–H and N–H bonds. As a result of the imprint that these molecules leave on the spectra, three main compositional groups consistently emerge from multiple independent cluster analyses. Our results unlock the long-standing question of the interpretation of colour diversity, providing the much-needed compositional information. The marked separation of the three spectral clusters reveals sharp variations in the surface molecular constituents. The C/O and (CH + NH)/(C + O) ratios on the surface of TNOs are the primary indicators of the spectral differences among the three TNO compositional groups observed. We propose that these objects are fossil remnants of icy planetesimals, and that the three compositional groups provide a picture of the ice retention lines in the Solar System that likely occurred in the outer protoplanetary disk, possibly just before a major planetary migration. The icy surface compositions, as revealed by JWST, of small bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune can be classified into three groups that can be related to the ice retention lines in the early Solar System, possibly before the planets migrated.","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"9 2","pages":"230-244"},"PeriodicalIF":12.9,"publicationDate":"2024-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142849038","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":"Ryugu in the spotlight","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s41550-024-02466-7","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41550-024-02466-7","url":null,"abstract":"Four years ago the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency''s Hayabusa2 mission returned samples of an asteroid to Earth. The latest results in the analysis of the sample material are presented in this issue of Nature Astronomy.","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"8 12","pages":"1489-1489"},"PeriodicalIF":12.9,"publicationDate":"2024-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-024-02466-7.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142849037","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}

{"title":"Pulsar searchlights probe Galactic structure","authors":"Paul Woods","doi":"10.1038/s41550-024-02459-6","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41550-024-02459-6","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"8 12","pages":"1499-1499"},"PeriodicalIF":12.9,"publicationDate":"2024-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142849036","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":"Wide-ranging implications in the Kuiper belt","authors":"Csaba Kiss","doi":"10.1038/s41550-024-02450-1","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41550-024-02450-1","url":null,"abstract":"A new study shows that many ‘ultra-wide’ binaries (UWBs) in the Kuiper belt are not primordial but attained their present large separations during multiple encounters with other trans-Neptunian objects, and constrain Solar System formation and evolution differently than previously thought.","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"9 1","pages":"28-29"},"PeriodicalIF":12.9,"publicationDate":"2024-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142841365","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":"A blazar in the epoch of reionization","authors":"Eduardo Bañados, Emmanuel Momjian, Thomas Connor, Silvia Belladitta, Roberto Decarli, Chiara Mazzucchelli, Bram P. Venemans, Fabian Walter, Feige Wang, Zhang-Liang Xie, Aaron J. Barth, Anna-Christina Eilers, Xiaohui Fan, Yana Khusanova, Jan-Torge Schindler, Daniel Stern, Jinyi Yang, Irham Taufik Andika, Christopher L. Carilli, Emanuele P. Farina, Andrew Fabian, Joseph F. Hennawi, Antonio Pensabene, Sofía Rojas-Ruiz","doi":"10.1038/s41550-024-02431-4","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41550-024-02431-4","url":null,"abstract":"Relativistic jets are thought to play a crucial role in the formation and evolution of massive galaxies and supermassive black holes. Blazars, which are quasars with jets aligned along our line of sight, provide insights into the jetted population and have been observed up to redshifts of z = 6.1. Here, we report the discovery and multi-wavelength characterization of the blazar VLASS J041009.05−013919.88 at z = 7 (age of the Universe ~750 Myr), which is powered by a ~7 × 108 M⊙ black hole. The presence of this high-redshift blazar implies a large population of similar but unaligned jetted sources in the early Universe. Our findings suggest two possible scenarios. In one, the jet in J0410−0139 is intrinsically low power but appears highly luminous due to relativistic beaming, suggesting that most ultraviolet-bright quasars at this redshift host jets. Alternatively, if J0410−0139 represents an intrinsically powerful radio source, there should be hundreds to thousands of radio-quiet quasars at z ≈ 7 with properties like those of J0410−0139, a prediction in tension with observed quasar densities based on their ultraviolet luminosity function. These results support the hypothesis that the rapid growth of black holes in the early Universe may be driven by jet-enhanced or obscured super-Eddington accretion, potentially playing a key role in forming massive black holes during the epoch of reionization. The discovery of a distant blazar J0410−0139 at z = 7 suggests that many similar sources existed in the early Universe, supporting the hypothesis that the rapid growth of black holes is driven by jet-enhanced or obscured accretion.","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"9 2","pages":"293-301"},"PeriodicalIF":12.9,"publicationDate":"2024-12-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-024-02431-4.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142832107","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}

{"title":"Are LLMs ready to do astronomy?","authors":"Lindsay Oldham","doi":"10.1038/s41550-024-02458-7","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41550-024-02458-7","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"8 12","pages":"1498-1498"},"PeriodicalIF":12.9,"publicationDate":"2024-12-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142832109","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":"Evaluation of the InSightSeers and DART Boarders mission observer programmes","authors":"Benjamin Fernando, Claire Newman, Ingrid J. Daubar, Caroline Beghein, Nancy L. Chabot, Jessica C. E. Irving, Catherine L. Johnson, Mark P. Panning, Ana-Catalina Plesa, Andrew S. Rivkin, Sue Smrekar, W. Bruce Banerdt","doi":"10.1038/s41550-024-02434-1","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41550-024-02434-1","url":null,"abstract":"Encouraging diversity in planetary science requires making a particular effort to bring a broader range of people onto the mission teams that are the backbone of the field. Observer programmes, which offer early-career researchers the chance to embed within a mission team during a science meeting, are one way of doing this. Here we present a quantitative analysis of the effectiveness of two observer programmes: InSightSeers and DART Boarders, linked respectively to the InSight and the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) missions, using a mixture of one-group pre-test/post-test and one-group post-test only evaluation methods, with a total of 56 participants. We find substantial educational value added to participants from both programmes, with particular strengths being the effectiveness of these programmes at providing an introduction to mission teams and international collaborations. This work demonstrates that mission observer programmes can be an effective way of exposing early-career researchers to planetary science missions. Various observer programmes, in which early-career scientists participate in science meetings for NASA’s planetary missions, have been set up in recent years. This Perspective analyses the effectiveness of two such programmes: InSightSeers and DART Boarders.","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"8 12","pages":"1521-1528"},"PeriodicalIF":12.9,"publicationDate":"2024-12-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142825225","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}