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Sep 11, 2026

Molecular Clouds at the Galactic Edge: Turbulent, Active, but Gravitationally Unbound

conducted observations on Galactic edge clouds located about 17 kiloparsecs (50,000 light-years) from the Galactic Center using the IRAM 30-meter telescope in Spain. The research team obtained CO (2-1) data with an angular resolution of...The outskirts of the Milky Way, characterized by low metallicity, weak radiation fields, and sparse gas, serve as ideal laboratory for investigating how stars form under extreme conditions. Compared to the solar neighborhood, molecular c...
Sep 08, 2026

“Twin” Type Ia Supernovae Are Not Exactly Alike — Metallicity Differences May Affect Cosmic Distance Measurements

The researchers conducted a systematic analysis of SN 2021pfs, a SN Ia that exploded in June 2021 in the galaxy NGC 5427, using observational data obtained from the Las Cumbres Observatory global telescope network.In the vast cosmos, supernova explosions are widely regraded as the most brilliant fireworks in the universe. Among them, Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) are hailed as “standard candles”due to their highly consistent peak luminosity which ...
Sep 07, 2026

Are Magnetar Magnetic Fields “Twisted”? X-ray Polarization Observations Offer New Clues

The reseearchers used phase-resolved polarimetric data from the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) to carry out a uniform Bayesian analysis of the radiation geometries of the magnetars 1E 2259+586 and 1E 1547.0−5408. In simple te...Are the large-scale magnetic fields of magnetars dominated by a dipolar structure, or is a significant magnetic-field twist required to explain the observations? A recent study from the Xinjiang Astronomical Observatory (XAO) of the Chin...
Sep 02, 2026

Researchers Reveal the First Jet Collimation Profile in an X-ray Binary

Researchers conducted an in-depth analysis of archival VLBI data of the famous X-ray binary SS 433. By measuring the jet width as a function of distance from the central black hole, they, for the first time, obtained the jet collimation ...Active galactic nuclei (AGN), powered by accreting supermassive black holes, and X-ray binaries (XRBs), powered by accreting neutron stars or stellar-mass black holes, are two representative classes of compact accreting systems (Figure 1...
Aug 31, 2026

Spectroscopic Confirmation of Contact Binary Candidates Enabled by Multi‑Survey Data

The researchers have developed a new method for identifying contact binary candidates based on photometric periods, stellar radii, and radial velocity variations. By combining high-precision photometric data from the Transiting Exoplanet...A research team led by Ph.D. student WU Ting, together with her supervisor prof. LIU Jinzhongfrom Xinjiang Astronomical Observatory and Prof. GU Weimin from Xiamen University, has developed a new method for identifying contact binary can...
Aug 20, 2026

A Gaze Through the Dust: A Hidden Black Hole Uncovered in a Rare Triple-Galaxy Collision

A study published in the Astronomy & Astrophysics reveals that deep within the northern nucleus of this complex system lurks a supermassive black hole steadily accreting matter from its surroundings. Galaxy mergers are among the most spectacular and destructive events in the Universe. During these encounters, not only billions of stars are redistributed, but the supermassive black holes lurking in the galaxies' centers can also inter...

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