Highlights from AAS Nova: 21 June – 4 July 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 July 2026
A New Catalog of Stellar Rotation Periods for Over a Million Stars
A recent study has leveraged TESS’s full-sky coverage to build a catalog of stellar rotation periods for over a million stars.

30 June 2026
Two More Thoughts on Little Red Dots
What’s behind the population of compact, reddish objects spotted by JWST? Two recent research articles have explored theories involving young globular clusters and little red dots with little blue companions.

29 June 2026
A Wandering Supermassive Black Hole Eating a Star
Astrobites reports on the first case of a supermassive black hole discovered away from its galaxy’s center, exposed when it tore apart a star in a tidal disruption event.

26 June 2026
Detached but Not Alone
The galaxy seems to be full of free-range Neptunes, but a closer look reveals some complicated family dynamics in planetary systems.

24 June 2026
New Spectral Signs of Buckyballs Discovered in Planetary Nebula
JWST observations serendipitously revealed new emission features from fullerenes, the largest molecules definitively detected in space.

23 June 2026
Black Holes Reveal Their Seeds
Astrobites reports on the potential detection of intermediate-mass black holes in the early universe — signs of black holes seeded by direct collapse.

22 June 2026
Featured Image: A Spiral Cloud in the Milky Way
A newly discovered molecular cloud in the Milky Way displays a surprising spiral structure.

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