Highlights from AAS Nova: 19 April – 2 May 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.

1 May 2026
In or Out? Using Balmer Emission to Distinguish Inflows from Outflows
Gas flowing into a galaxy is hard to detect, but a recent study simulated a dusty galaxy to understand how we might be able to uncover inflows with emission line ratios.

29 April 2026
A Black Hole’s Puzzling X-Ray Bursts
A supermassive black hole awakened seven years ago, and it’s now behaving in a way astronomers can’t explain.

28 April 2026
The Oldest Starlight
Astrobites reports on whether JWST’s most extreme high-redshift galaxy candidates aren’t galaxies at all, but the explosive deaths of the very first stars.

27 April 2026
Monthly Roundup: Science of the Sun
Researchers search for the tiniest coronal jets, explore the Sun’s behavior from centuries ago, and examine space weather forecasts in this month’s Roundup.

24 April 2026
How Galaxies Grow Up
A massive survey of images collected by JWST is shedding light on how galaxies grow and evolve.

22 April 2026
How Tilted Orbits Impact Supermassive Black Hole Collisions
Researchers explore how the tilt of merging galaxies can impact the eventual collision of their supermassive black holes.

21 April 2026
A Possible GLIMPSE of the Universe’s First Stars
Astrobites reports on a new method to find the galaxies hosting the universe’s first generation of stars.

20 April 2026
Featured Image: Disequilibrium on Display
Interacting galaxies, sparkling starbursts, and strange structures abound in new images from the Hubble Arp Galaxy Survey.

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