Highlights from AAS Nova: 23 February - 7 March 2020

AAS Nova provides brief highlights of recently published articles from the AAS journals, i.e., The Astronomical Journal (AJ), The Astrophysical Journal (ApJ), ApJ Letters, ApJ Supplements, The Planetary Science Journal, and Research Notes of the AAS. The website's 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.

6 March 2020
AAS Publishing News: An Interview with Chris Lintott
Meet AAS Lead Editor Chris Lintott, a man of many hats.

4 March 2020
Catastrophic Collisions in Protoplanetary Disks
A new study proposes that the rings and spirals we see in protoplanetary disks may have a dramatic origin.

3 March 2020
You Were Cool, Betelgeuse
What could explain Betelgeuse’s recent odd dimming? Astrobites follows the red supergiant’s rise to fame (and in magnitude).

2 March 2020
Life Beyond the Habitable Zone
Can radioactive decay keep a planet warm enough that it could host liquid water — and life — even outside of its star’s habitable zone?

28 February 2020
Looking at the Insides of Stars
Planet-finding missions don’t just help us discover new planets — they can also be used to study internal motions in stars!

26 February 2020
Exploring a Cluster’s Stragglers
Why are some cluster stars unusually bright and blue? A closer look at the Collinder 261 open cluster sheds some light on these straggling members.

25 February 2020
Compton-Thick or Thin? Classifying NGC 5347
Astrobites reports on the properties of one active galaxy’s nucleus — which could help solve a long-standing mystery about X-rays in our universe.

24 February 2020
Featured Image: Playing Harps in the Radio Sky
Look closely at this radio image and you might see why scientists have named this phenomenon a radio “harp”.