Highlights from AAS Nova: 14-27 February 2021

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 web page for more posts.

26 February 2021
AAS Publishing News: Interactive Figures
Interactive figures are an increasingly popular way to present complex data in AAS journals. Read on to learn more!

24 February 2021
The Call of Dark Sirens in Precision Cosmology
Merging black holes may be the key to answering the long-standing question of how fast the universe is expanding.

23 February 2021
How Many Years Does it Take to Get to the Center of a Supernova Remnant?
After more than 30 years, have astronomers finally discovered what the compact object at the center of Supernova 1987A is? Astrobites reports.

22 February 2021
Featured Image: Misalignments in a Planetary Nursery
This stunning image captures the details of a swirling disk of gas and dust around a star more than 500 light-years away.

19 February 2021
A Long Wavelength Look at Distant Quasar Hosts
What can radio observations tell us about very distant, quasar-hosting galaxies?

17 February 2021
A Map of a Stellar Explosion
A recent study reveals details of a violent explosion that might provide clues about how massive stars are born.

16 February 2021
Mind the Gap! Investigating a Potential Cause of the Exoplanet Radius Valley
Exoplanets with radii between 1.5 and 2 Earth radii are scarce! Astrobites reports on whether known planets’ environments might contribute to this radius valley.

15 February 2021
Bringing Galileo’s Sunspots into the 21st Century
Astronomers have drawn detailed maps of dark spots on the Sun’s surface for hundreds of years. Can computers help us to bridge between historical and modern datasets?