28 October 2015

Highlights from AAS Nova: 11-24 October 2015

Susanna Kohler

Susanna Kohler American Astronomical Society (AAS)

AAS Nova is a new website that provides brief highlights of recently published articles from the AAS journals. Its intent is to gain broader exposure for AAS authors and to provide astronomy researchers and enthusiasts with summaries of recent, interesting research across a wide range of astronomical fields.

The following are the AAS Nova highlights from the past two weeks; follow the links to read more, or visit the AAS Nova webpage for more posts.

23 October 2015
Earth-Sized Planets Around Nearby Dwarf
Kepler’s K2 mission has recently discovered two Earth-sized planets transiting a small, cool star only ~200 light-years away.

21 October 2015
A Look at Six Years of IBEX
The Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) is a mission designed to map the boundary between our solar system and interstellar space. A series of results from the first six years of the IBEX mission have just been released.

19 October 2015
A Stellar Stream Surrounds the Whale Galaxy
A recent study argues that an enormous stellar stream extending from NGC 4631, the “Whale” galaxy, is evidence that this galaxy has grown by tearing apart and absorbing smaller satellite galaxies nearby.

16 October 2015
A Four-Star Lightweight
New measurements of the lowest-mass quadruple star system ever discovered are now confirming an intriguing theory: in addition to other channels, large gas planets may form via cloud collapse, in the same way that stars do.

14 October 2015
The Search for a Missing Parent
The source of the Kappa Cygnid (KCG) meteor shower is unknown, but new data from an especially strong 2014 KCG shower may help us to identify the missing parent body.

12 October 2015
Featured Image: A Galaxy Plunges Into a Cluster Core
NGC 1427A is a dwarf irregular galaxy currently in the process of plunging into the center of the Fornax cluster. How do the interactions of this galaxy with its environment affect star formation within it?