Highlights from AAS Nova: 27 April – 10 May 2025

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 AAS Nova for more posts. You can also sign up to receive emails each time a new post is published.

9 May 2025
First Confirmed Planet in a White Dwarf's "Forbidden Zone"
Brr! A newly confirmed white-dwarf-orbiting exoplanet has a temperature of just 186K, making it the coldest exoplanet whose light has been directly detected.

7 May 2025
How Squished Is That Planet? Astronomers Measure Oblateness of a Sub-Neptune
HIP 41378f — a cold, puffy exoplanet with four known siblings — becomes one of just a handful of planets with an estimate of its rotation period.

6 May 2025
Messier 82 (Star)bursts onto the Scene!
Astrobites reports on the results of a cosmic-ray investigation of the starburst galaxy Messier 82 using the VERITAS gamma-ray telescopes.

5 May 2025
Featured Image: Rare Double Radio Relic
What at first appeared to be an unremarkable low-mass galaxy cluster has been revealed to host a rare pair of parenthesis-shaped radio sources.

2 May 2025
To Be or Not to Be Aligned: Exploring Spin–Orbit Alignment Trends for Exoplanetary Systems
What is pulling exoplanet XO-3b out of alignment with its host star? A recent study explores the system and reveals an emerging trend that provides a boundary for planet formation mechanisms.

30 April 2025
A New Way to Measure Black Hole Spin
Sensitive polarized-light observations of the relativistic jets of supermassive black holes may provide an entirely new way to measure the spin of a black hole.

29 April 2025
A Long, Hard Look at (Potentially) Nothing to See
Astrobites reports on an investigation of Cloud-9, a cloud of hydrogen gas that may be a galaxy containing dark matter but no stars.

28 April 2025
Double-Star Discovery Suggests There's a New Nearby Supernova Progenitor
Mark your calendars for a few tens of millions of years in the future: a core-collapse supernova at just 228 light-years away is sure to be spectacular.

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