Stars

Artist's concept of the TOI-942 system (Image courtesy Italian National Institute of Astrophysics)

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An article published in the journal “Astronomy & Astrophysics” reports the identification of two hot Neptunian exoplanets in the TOI-942 system. A team of researchers led by Ilaria Carleo of Wesleyan University, USA, and associated with the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics, Padua, used observations conducted with NASA’s TESS space telescope to find the exoplanet candidates, subsequently confirmed with follow-up observations conducted with the HARPS-N instrument mounted on the Galileo National Telescope, Canary Islands, and the REM instrument at the La Silla observatory, Chile. With an estimated age between 30 and 80 million years, it’s the youngest planetary system discovered thanks to TESS, excellent for studying planet evolution.

A representation of the Milky Way with the 591 high velocity star candidate in the halo (Image courtesy KONG Xiao of NAOC)

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An article published in “The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series” reports the discovery of 591 high velocity star candidates in the Milky Way’s halo. A team of researchers used data from the Data Release 7 of the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) and the Data Release 2 of the Gaia space probe to find these stars whose velocity is very high compared to the average of the Milky Way stars. The data indicates that 43 of these stars may have enough velocity to escape the galaxy’s gravity.

The TOI-561 system

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An article published in the journal “Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society” reports a study on the planetary system of the star TOI-561, which includes a super-Earth and three mini-Neptune. A team of researchers used data from NASA’s TESS space telescope and follow-up research with the HARPS-N spectrograph mounted on the Galileo National Telescope (TNG) on the Canary Island of La Palma to distinguish the traces of the planets and to measure some of their characteristics.

Views of galaxy CQ 4479

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An article published in “The Astrophysical Journal” reports a study on the galaxy CQ 4479, where a quasar was observed, an active galactic nucleus with a supermassive black hole that is devouring large amounts of matter, and at the same time an intense star formation. A team of researchers used the SOFIA flying telescope to observe CQ 4479, and found this situation called a cold quasar because the active galactic nucleus is very hot but the galaxy also contains cold gas that gives birth to new stars. This is a rare case that could show an astronomically short period in the evolution of a galaxy before the quasar starts inhibiting star formation.

Emissions from 1e1547.0-5408

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An article accepted for publication in “The Astrophysical Journal” reports a new analysis of observations conducted in 2009 of the magnetar cataloged as 1E1547.0-5408. A team of researchers led by GianLuca Israel of the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics in Rome used data collected by the Parkes radio telescope and NASA’s Chandra and ESA’s XMM-Newton X-ray space observatories to search for emissions from 1E1547.0-5408. The result was the discovery of strong close emissions of X-rays and radio waves that confirm a link between magnetars and fast radio bursts, the focus of recent research.