Surveys have shown that super-Earth and Neptune-mass exoplanets are more frequent than gas giants around low-mass stars, as predicted by the core accretion...
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NewsA giant exoplanet orbiting a very-low-mass star challenges planet formation models
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NewsA giant interstellar bubble being grown in the Andromeda galaxy
The combination of a white dwarf mass close to the Chandrasekhar limit (1.4 solar masses) and a fast hydrogen accretion rate (10 -7 solar masses per year) from...
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NewsA giant planet candidate transiting a white dwarf
Astronomers have discovered thousands of planets outside the Solar System, most of which orbit stars that will eventually evolve into red giants and then into...
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NewsA lower limit to the accretion disc radius in the active galactic nucleus NGC 1052
Low-luminosity active galactic nuclei (LLAGNs) are found in about 1/3 of all the galaxies in the Local Universe, establishing the most numerous class of AGNs...
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NewsA mysterious microquasar in M81
Microquasars are compact binary stars (a normal very massive star and a compact object), which have an accretion disk around the compact object and an intense...
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NewsA nearby transiting rocky exoplanet that is suitable for atmospheric investigation
We detect a transiting rocky planet with an orbital period of 1.467 days around the nearby red dwarf star Gliese 486. The planet Gliese 486 b is 2.81 Earth...
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NewsA new key to solving the mystery of the diffuse interstellar bands.
We have found evidence that the presence of ‘carbon onions’ and other large molecules derived from fullerene could be commonplace in space. These are the most...
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NewsA new stellar site for the formation of very heavy elements
The recently discovered phosphorus-rich stars pose a challenge to stellar evolution and nucleosynthesis (that is, the formation of chemical elements in stellar...
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NewsA nonlinear damping mechanism for waves in the solar corona
The solar coronal heating problem originated almost 80 years ago and remains unsolved. A plausible explanation lies in mechanisms based on magnetic wave energy...