Astrobites

The Dark Side of Exoplanets Today’s bite explores planets made of dark matter and how we might find them.

From Kaz Gary: Today’s bite explores planets made of dark matter and how we might find them. 🔭✨☄️
astrobites.org/2025/08/09/d...

Detection of a Fast Radio Burst at Cosmic Noon Today's paper reports the detection of a Fast Radio Burst just 3 billion years after the Big Bang!

From Drew Lapeer @giantmolecular.cloud : Today’s paper reports the detection of a Fast Radio Burst just 3 billion years after the Big Bang! 🔭✨☄️
astrobites.org/2025/08/08/c...

Hula Hooping with the Stars JWST liked it so much it put two rings on it: a pair of dying stars dance at the heart of this spectacular nebula that is enriching the Galaxy.

From Ryan White @astroryan.bsky.social : JWST liked it so much it put two rings on it: a pair of dying stars dance at the heart of this spectacular nebula that is enriching the Galaxy. 🔭✨☄️
astrobites.org/2025/08/06/h...

Call us an Uber! My radio telescope had a bit too much plasma and now his vision’s all blurry! Everyone has seen a star twinkle in the night sky, but did you know stars and galaxies will also twinkle if you look at them through a radio telescope? Read here to learn how our pesky Sun makes a rad...

From Chloe Klare: Did you know stars and galaxies will twinkle if you look at them through a radio telescope? Read here to learn how our pesky Sun makes a radio astronomer’s job more challenging (and what we can do about it!). 🔭✨☄️
astrobites.org/2025/08/05/c...

This week Shashank, Cormac and Cole talk Bayesian statistics. Cole brings up a flashy new paper about a potential biosignature on an exoplanet and Cormac counters with some rebuttals. Along the way, we discuss probabilities, priors, likelihoods and posteriors! 🔭

astrosoundbites.com/2025/08/03/e...

Guest: What are Partial Tidal Disruption Events, and How Do We Find Them? What happens when a star survives a close encounter with a massive black hole? Read more about these partial tidal disruption events in today's bite!

From guest author Isabella Oaks: What happens when a star survives a close encounter with a massive black hole? Read more about these partial tidal disruption events in today’s bite! 🔭✨☄️
astrobites.org/2025/08/04/p...

What’s Going On Inside GJ 486b? Astrobites reports on a warm, rocky exoplanet and what might be hidden beneath its atmosphere.

Kaz Gary reports for @astrobites.bsky.social on a warm, rocky exoplanet and what might be hidden beneath its atmosphere. aasnova.org/2025/08/05/w... 🔭

Eating Up the Competition: Super-Competitive Accretion in Early Star Clusters Some of the first clusters of stars may have had massive cannibal stars! Learn more in today's bite.

From Brandon Pries: Some of the first clusters of stars may have had massive cannibal stars! Learn more in today’s bite. 🔭✨☄️
astrobites.org/2025/08/01/s...

Splish, Splash: Taking a bath in the cool gas of the circumgalactic medium How is a galaxy like a bathtub? Today's authors use quasars to light up the gas around galaxies.

From Margaret Verrico @meverri.bsky.social : How is a galaxy like a bathtub? Today’s authors use quasars to light up the gas around galaxies. 🔭✨☄️
astrobites.org/2025/07/31/c...

Crushing, Collapsing, Combusting — How Massive Single Stars Die A deep dive into the classic paper on how massive single stars die, and what it means for the evolution of the universe.

From guest author Harrison Blake-Goszyk: A deep dive into the classic paper on how massive single stars die, and what it means for the evolution of the universe. 🔭✨☄️
astrobites.org/2025/07/30/m...

The Black Hole Tango: Kicks and Spins in Hierarchical Mergers Astrobites reports on the intricate spin distributions created by recoil kicks from merging black holes.

Viviana Cáceres reports for @astrobites.bsky.social on the intricate spin distributions created by recoil kicks from merging black holes. aasnova.org/2025/07/29/t... 🔭

Measuring Star Formation in the Triangulum Galaxy In our latest of our #UndergradResearch series, learn about the [CII] deficit and star formation with Natalie Price.

In the latest of our #UndergradResearch series, learn about the [CII] deficit and star formation with Natalie Price. 🔭✨☄️
astrobites.org/2025/07/28/m...

Clearing up our FOGGIE Understanding of how UVB Models Affect Circumgalactic Medium Absorbers Today’s paper explores how ionization from different UVB models affects mock observations from simulations of the Circumgalactic Medium.

From Annelia Anderson @astroannelia.bsky.social : Today’s paper explores how ionization from different UVB models affects mock observations from simulations of the Circumgalactic Medium. 🔭✨☄️
astrobites.org/2025/07/26/c...

UR: Infrared Spectrum: Probing for life beyond the visible In the latest of our #UndergradResearch series, discover how Diya Talesara uses IR spectroscopy to study biosignatures in exoplanet data.

In the latest of our #UndergradResearch series, discover how Diya Talesara uses IR spectroscopy to study biosignatures in exoplanet data. 🔭✨☄️
astrobites.org/2025/07/25/i...

Bumpy road ahead: can binary interactions make supernovae periodically brighter? Some supernovae have bumpy light curves - could a baby neutron star repeatedly diving into the envelope of its inflated companion be the cause? Today’s authors simulate this to find out!

From Ryan White @astroryan.bsky.social : Some supernovae have bumpy light curves – could a baby neutron star repeatedly diving into the envelope of its inflated companion be the cause? Today’s authors simulate this to find out! 🔭✨☄️
astrobites.org/2025/07/23/b...

Galactic Smashes and Stellar Crashes: Forming Dense Star Clusters You know the saying: "when gas-rich galaxies collide, young massive star clusters will soon reside" ... well maybe you'll know the saying after reading this astrobite!

From Veronika Dornan @dornanv.bsky.social : You know the saying: “when gas-rich galaxies collide, young massive star clusters will soon reside” … well maybe you’ll know the saying after reading this astrobite! 🔭✨☄️
astrobites.org/2025/07/23/y...

Kickin’ It Into Overdrive With Stellar Escapees Follow along as we zoom through the stars with these hypervelocity stellar survivors and uncover their explosive origins.

From Mckenzie Ferrari: Follow along as we zoom through the stars with these hypervelocity stellar survivors and uncover their explosive origins. 🔭✨☄️
astrobites.org/2025/07/22/h...

A GLIMPSE of the First Galaxies? Astrobites reports on very deep JWST observations and the hunt for the first galaxies in the universe.

Skylar Grayson reports for @astrobites.bsky.social on very deep JWST observations and the hunt for the first galaxies in the universe. aasnova.org/2025/07/22/a... 🔭

We’ve been trying to reach you about your leaky dust trap’s extended warranty Planets are supposed to be effective at blocking the radial drift of icy pebbles around nascent stars forming planets - but the young planets around PDS 70 don't appear to be doing a very good job...

From Joe Williams: Planets are supposed to be effective at blocking the radial drift of icy pebbles around nascent stars forming planets – but the young planets around PDS 70 don’t appear to be doing a very good job… 🔭✨☄️
astrobites.org/2025/07/21/l...

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons An exaggerated size image of the possible intermediate mass black hole in Omega Centauri

This week we cover the misunderstood middle child of astrophysics: Intermediate Mass Black Holes! Cole covers their globular cluster gains, Cormac picks a precessing pair, and Lucia really abuses her ability to add sound effects to our recording.

astrosoundbites.com/2025/07/19/e...

One is the Loneliest Number: Destroying Planet-Planet Binaries JWST’s discovery of free-floating binary planetary-mass objects came as quite a surprise and tests theories of planet formation. Today’s paper investigates whether dynamical encounters in dense star-f...

From Kylee Carden: JWST’s discovery of free-floating binary planetary-mass objects came as quite a surprise and tests theories of planet formation. Today’s paper investigates whether dynamical encounters in star-forming regions could destroy such binary systems. 🔭✨☄️
astrobites.org/2025/07/19/j...

An Exercise in Satellite Mission Design: Instrument Requirements In today's bite we are once again revisiting the mission design concept MAUVE to learn how science objectives drive instrument design requirements!

From Erica Sawczynec @ericasawczynec.bsky.social : In today’s bite we are once again revisiting the mission design concept MAUVE to learn how science objectives drive instrument design requirements! 🔭✨☄️
astrobites.org/2025/07/18/m...

Written in the Gas: Jet Feedback in a Voorwerp Galaxy Astrobites reports on the origins of the unusual green structure surrounding the active galaxy NGC 5972.

Shalini Kurinchi-Vendhan reports for @astrobites.bsky.social on the origins of the unusual green structure surrounding the active galaxy NGC 5972. aasnova.org/2025/07/18/w... 🔭

Using Large-scale structures and gravitational wave sources to measure the expansion rate In today's astrobite we explore a new approach that has been developed to measure the Universal expansion rate, involving gravitational waves from merging black holes and the large-scale structure of ...

From Abbé Whitford: In today’s astrobite we explore a new approach that has been developed to measure the Universal expansion rate, involving gravitational waves from merging black holes and the large-scale structure of the Universe.🔭✨☄️
astrobites.org/2025/07/17/l...

On the Straight and Narrow: How Black Hole Seeds Agree with Scaling Relations How are the masses of growing black holes in the early universe are correlated with properties of their host galaxies? Read on to see what today's authors found!

From Brandon Pries: How are the masses of growing black holes in the early universe are correlated with properties of their host galaxies? Read on to see what today’s authors found! 🔭✨☄️
astrobites.org/2025/07/16/b...

Following up on flares: Can we spot black hole mergers in AGN disks? In today’s Astrobite, we revisit the possibility of binary black hole mergers in AGN disks creating flares, which could have interesting implications for multimessenger astronomy and cosmology.

From William Smith: In today’s Astrobite, we revisit the possibility of binary black hole mergers in AGN disks creating flares, which could have interesting implications for multimessenger astronomy and cosmology. 🔭✨☄️
astrobites.org/2025/07/15/f...

Sharing is caring: how do binary stars actually transfer mass? Mass transfer is a fundamental parameter for determining how binary stars evolve. A 3D hydrodynamic simulation enables real-time movies of how material moves from one star to another!

From Will Golay: Mass transfer is a fundamental parameter for determining how binary stars evolve. A 3D hydrodynamic simulation enables real-time movies of how material moves from one star to another! 🔭✨☄️
astrobites.org/2025/07/14/b...

The suspects may be fleeing the scene of the crime, but our most stellar detectives are on the case! What kind of event is violent enough to fling around stars that are hundreds of times more massive than our Sun? Find out today!

From Kasper Zoellner: What kind of event is violent enough to fling around stars that are hundreds of times more massive than our Sun? Find out today! 🔭✨☄️
astrobites.org/2025/07/12/t...

Growth Spurt: Super-Eddington Accretion Leading to Overmassive Black Holes? Some astronomers are discovering black holes that appear to be too big for their galaxies. Discover how rapid growth could be the cause!

From Brandon Pries: Some astronomers are discovering black holes that appear to be too big for their galaxies. Discover how rapid growth could be the cause! 🔭✨☄️
astrobites.org/2025/07/10/s...

How stars dust themselves off and emerge from their hidden birthplaces When stars are born, they're hidden behind dust and dense gas. How long will it take them to emerge?

From Nathalie Korhonen Cuestas: When stars are born, they’re hidden behind dust and dense gas. How long will it take them to emerge? 🔭✨☄️
astrobites.org/2025/07/09/g...