A liquid metal experiment has shown how magnetic rotational instability might allow dust to pool together in disks around young stars to form new worlds.
astrophysics
Posted inNews
This Star Stripped Off Its Layers Long Before Exploding
A star 2 billion light-years away apparently shed most of its outer layers before exploding, providing new insights into stellar structure—and new mysteries for astronomers to solve.
Posted inFeatures
Alex Teachey: Elevating Astronomy with the Arts
This actor-turned-astronomer found success researching exomoons. Now he’s ready for another career change.
Posted inResearch & Developments
Rubin Observatory Stuns and Awes With Sprawling First Look Images
Wow. Just wow.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Heating Mechanism at Earth’s Bow Shock Depends on Shock Speed
A new technique shows that the dominance of gradual versus chaotic electron heating processes at Earth’s bow shock is controlled by how fast the shock is moving.
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Magnetic Meteorites May Explain How the Solar System Assembled
Faint magnetic properties in primitive asteroid fragments suggest an early magnetic field strong enough to shepherd the growth of the outer planets.
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Planetary Perturbations May Strengthen Gaia
Large-scale disruptions to life may ultimately increase ecological complexity over geologic timescales, though the risk of extinction always looms.
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ALMA Watches the Surface of a Star “Boil”
Observations of R Doradus, a nearby red giant, provide the first timescale for convection on the surface of any star other than the Sun.
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Scientists Captured the First Glimpse of a Rare Polar Aurora
After a decade-long search, scientists captured a type of elusive aurora on camera.
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Spiral Waves May Explain the Sun’s Baffling Rotation
New observations and models show a connection between high-latitude waves in the Sun’s interior and the different rates of spin between the solar equator and poles.