Highlights from AAS Nova: 5–18 April 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.

17 April 2026
Water Vapor Around a Sizzling Supergiant: High-Resolution Spectroscopy of B[e] Supergiant LHA 115-S 18
Researchers have detected water vapor around a B[e] supergiant star for the first time, indicating a likely binary companion for LHA 115-S 18.

15 April 2026
Enhancing the Sharpest Images
Event Horizon Telescope images are already some of the sharpest in all of astronomy. A new algorithm might be able to squeeze even more information out of them with complex statistical modeling.

14 April 2026
Observing the End of Star Formation in Galaxies
Astrobites reports on a study of galaxies that are on the brink of entering their "quiet" phase.

13 April 2026
Comets Are Lizards: Watching C/2023 P1 Regrow Its Tail
A comet tangled with a coronal mass ejection and lost part of its tail in the process.

10 April 2026
Featured Image: Massive Stars in the Making
JWST examines one of the most active star-forming regions in the Milky Way, where two massive protoclusters are shaping 10,000 solar masses of gas into new stars.

8 April 2026
AAS Media Fellowship Now Open for Applications
Are you an astronomy graduate student who’s interested in science communication? Apply for the AAS Media Fellowship by June 26!

7 April 2026
A Potential New Piece of the “Little Red Dot” Puzzle
Astrobites reports on an intriguing new object that may be an early universe supermassive black hole shedding its gas cocoon.

6 April 2026
Signs of a Supermassive Black Hole Merger in NGC 4486B
Researchers investigate the possibility that the off-center black hole and double nucleus of NGC 4486B can be traced to a recent supermassive black hole merger.

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