Highlights from AAS Nova: 25 January – 7 February 2026

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.

6 February 2026
We Have Visitors: Interstellar Material from Nearby Debris Disks
A recent study looks to the nearest rubble-ridden systems for the potential origins of interstellar objects that have visited our solar system.

4 February 2026
How Many Kilonovae Will Rubin Observatory Help Us Spot?
The upcoming Vera C. Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time will detect an astonishing number of transients — including kilonovae from colliding neutron stars.

3 February 2026
The Winner of the Cosmic Speed-Eating Contest
Astrobites reports on RACS J0320−35, a quasar that appears to be breaking a cosmic limit by consuming matter faster than theory should allow.

2 February 2026
A Dark Matter Origin for Little Red Dots
Researchers examine whether the black holes at the centers of little red dots could have been born in the collapse of dark matter halos.

30 January 2026
Fueling Up: How Does the Milky Way Get Its Star-Forming Gas?
Researchers use an unlikely tool — distant beacons called quasars — to study the constant inflow and outflow of gas to and from our galaxy.

28 January 2026
Monthly Roundup: Interstellar Visitor 3I/ATLAS
The discovery of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS was one of the top astronomy stories of 2025. Though the comet is now heading back to interstellar space, research into its properties and origins continues.

27 January 2026
The Black Hole Meetup: EMRIs and IMRIs in the Same Active Galactic Nucleus Disk
Astrobites reports on how active galactic nucleus disks might connect black holes across the mass spectrum, setting the stage for extreme-mass-ratio and intermediate-mass-ratio inspirals in the same system.

26 January 2026
Featured Image: Hubble Samples a Dusty Cosmic Sandwich
Hubble has revealed new features in Dracula's Chivito, the largest known protoplanetary disk.

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