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There exists a positive correlation between orbital eccentricity and the average stellar flux that planets receive from their parent star. Often, though, it is assumed that the average equilibrium temperature would correspondingly increase with eccentricity. Here, we test this assumption by calculating and comparing analytic solutions for both the spatial and temporal averages of orbital distance, stellar flux, and equilibrium temperature. Our solutions show that the average equilibrium temperature of a planet, with a constant albedo, slowly decreases with eccentricity until converging to a value 90% that of a circular orbit. This might be the case for many types of planets (e.g., hot Jupiters); however, the actual equilibrium and surface temperature of planets also depend on orbital variations of albedo and greenhouse. Our results also have implications in understanding the climate, habitability, and the occurrence of potential Earth-like planets. For instance, it helps explain why the limits of the habitable zone for planets in highly elliptical orbits are wider than expected from the mean flux approximation, as shown by climate models.

SN 2016gkg is a nearby SN IIb discovered shortly after explosion. Like several other Type IIb events with early-time data, SN 2016gkg displays a double-peaked light curve, with the first peak associated with the cooling of a low-mass extended progenitor envelope. We present unprecedented intranight-cadence multi-band photometric coverage of the first light curve peak of SN 2016gkg obtained from the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope network, the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System, the Swift satellite, and various amateur-operated telescopes. Fitting these data to analytical shock-cooling models gives a progenitor radius of ∼40–150 ${R}_{\odot }$ with ∼2–40 × 10⁻²${M}_{\odot }$ of material in the extended envelope (depending on the model and the assumed host-galaxy extinction). Our radius estimates are broadly consistent with values derived independently (in other works) from HST imaging of the progenitor star. However, the shock-cooling model radii are on the lower end of the values indicated by pre-explosion imaging. Hydrodynamical simulations could refine the progenitor parameters deduced from the shock-cooling emission and test the analytical models.

We present deep imaging observations, orbital dynamics, and dust-tail model analyses of the double-component asteroid P/2016 J1 (J1-A and J1-B). The observations were acquired at the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) and the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) from mid-March to late July of 2016. A statistical analysis of backward-in-time integrations of the orbits of a large sample of clone objects of P/2016 J1-A and J1-B shows that the minimum separation between them occurred most likely ∼2300 days prior to the current perihelion passage, i.e., during the previous orbit near perihelion. This closest approach was probably linked to a fragmentation event of their parent body. Monte Carlo dust-tail models show that those two components became active simultaneously ∼250 days before the current perihelion, with comparable maximum loss rates of ∼0.7 and ∼0.5 kg s⁻¹, and total ejected masses of 8 × 10⁶ and 6 × 10⁶ kg for fragments J1-A and J1-B, respectively. Consequently, the fragmentation event and the present dust activity are unrelated. The simultaneous activation times of the two components and the fact that the activity lasted 6–9 months or longer, strongly indicate ice sublimation as the most likely mechanism involved in the dust emission process.

The classical habitable zone (HZ) is the circular region around a star in which liquid water could exist on the surface of a rocky planet. The outer edge of the traditional N₂–CO₂–H₂O HZ extends out to nearly ∼1.7 au in our solar system, beyond which condensation and scattering by CO₂ outstrips its greenhouse capacity. Here, we show that volcanic outgassing of atmospheric H₂ can extend the outer edge of the HZ to ∼2.4 au in our solar system. This wider volcanic-hydrogen HZ (N₂–CO₂–H₂O–H₂) can be sustained as long as volcanic H₂ output offsets its escape from the top of the atmosphere. We use a single-column radiative-convective climate model to compute the HZ limits of this volcanic hydrogen HZ for hydrogen concentrations between 1% and 50%, assuming diffusion-limited atmospheric escape. At a hydrogen concentration of 50%, the effective stellar flux required to support the outer edge decreases by ∼35%–60% for M–A stars. The corresponding orbital distances increase by ∼30%–60%. The inner edge of this HZ only moves out ∼0.1%–4% relative to the classical HZ because H₂ warming is reduced in dense H₂O atmospheres. The atmospheric scale heights of such volcanic H₂ atmospheres near the outer edge of the HZ also increase, facilitating remote detection of atmospheric signatures.

The detection of high-redshift ($z\,\gt 3$) blazars enables the study of the evolution of the most luminous relativistic jets over cosmic time. More importantly, high-redshift blazars tend to host massive black holes and can be used to constrain the space density of heavy black holes in the early universe. Here, we report the first detection with the Fermi-Large Area Telescope of five γ-ray-emitting blazars beyond z = 3.1, more distant than any blazars previously detected in γ-rays. Among these five objects, NVSS J151002+570243 is now the most distant known γ-ray-emitting blazar at z = 4.31. These objects have steeply falling γ-ray spectral energy distributions (SEDs), and  those that have been observed in X-rays have a very hard X-ray spectrum, both typical of powerful blazars. Their Compton dominance (ratio of the inverse Compton to synchrotron peak luminosities) is also very large ($\gt 20$). All of these properties place these objects among the most extreme members of the blazar population. Their optical spectra and the modeling of their optical-UV SEDs confirm that these objects harbor massive black holes (${M}_{\mathrm{BH}}\sim {10}^{8-10}\,{M}_{\odot }$). We find that, at $z\approx 4$, the space density of $\gt {10}^{9}\,{M}_{\odot }$ black holes hosted in radio-loud and radio-quiet active galactic nuclei are similar, implying that radio-loudness may play a key role in rapid black hole growth in the early universe.

Models of debris disk morphology are often focused on the effects of a planet orbiting interior to or within the disk. Nonetheless, an exterior planetary-mass perturber can also excite eccentricities in a debris disk, via Laplace–Lagrange secular perturbations in the coplanar case or Kozai–Lidov perturbations for mutually inclined companions and disks. HD 106906 is an ideal example of such a a system, as it harbors a confirmed exterior $11\,{M}_{\mathrm{Jup}}$ companion at a projected separation of 650 au outside a resolved, asymmetric disk. We use collisional and dynamical simulations to investigate the interactions between the disk and the companion, and to use the disk's observed morphology to place constraints on the companion's orbit. We conclude that the disk's observed morphology is consistent with perturbations from the observed exterior companion. Generalizing this result, we suggest that exterior perturbers, as well as interior planets, should be considered when investigating the cause of observed asymmetries in a debris disk.

The youngest Galactic supernova remnant (SNR) G1.9+0.3, produced by a (probable) SN Ia that exploded ∼1900 CE, is strongly asymmetric at radio wavelengths, much brighter in the north, but bilaterally symmetric in X-rays. We present the results of X-ray expansion measurements that illuminate the origin of the radio asymmetry. We confirm the mean expansion rate (2011–2015) of 0.58% yr⁻¹, but large spatial variations are present. Using the nonparametric "Demons" method, we measure the velocity field throughout the entire SNR, finding that motions vary by a factor of 5, from $0\buildrel{\prime\prime}\over{.} 09$ to $0\buildrel{\prime\prime}\over{.} 44$ yr⁻¹. The slowest shocks are at the outer boundary of the bright northern radio rim, with velocities v_s as low as 3600 km s⁻¹ (for an assumed distance of 8.5 kpc), much less than v_s = 12,000–13,000 km s⁻¹ along the X-ray-bright major axis. Such strong deceleration of the northern blast wave most likely arises from the collision of SN ejecta with a much denser than average ambient medium there. This asymmetric ambient medium naturally explains the radio asymmetry. In several locations, significant morphological changes and strongly nonradial motions are apparent. The spatially integrated X-ray flux continues to increase with time. Based on Chandra observations spanning 8.3 yr, we measure its increase at $1.3 \% \pm 0.8 \%$ yr⁻¹. The SN ejecta are likely colliding with the asymmetric circumstellar medium ejected by the SN progenitor prior to its explosion.

Galaxies with Milky Way–like stellar masses have a wide range of bulge and black hole masses; in turn, these correlate with other properties such as star formation history. While many processes may drive bulge formation, major and minor mergers are expected to play a crucial role. Stellar halos offer a novel and robust measurement of galactic merger history; cosmologically motivated models predict that mergers with larger satellites produce more massive, higher-metallicity stellar halos, reproducing the recently observed stellar halo metallicity–mass relation. We quantify the relationship between stellar halo mass and bulge or black hole prominence using a sample of 18 Milky Way-mass galaxies with newly available measurements of (or limits on) stellar halo properties. There is an order of magnitude range in bulge mass, and two orders of magnitude in black hole mass, at a given stellar halo mass (or, equivalently, merger history). Galaxies with low-mass bulges show a wide range of quiet merger histories, implying formation mechanisms that do not require intense merging activity. Galaxies with massive "classical" bulges and central black holes also show a wide range of merger histories. While three of these galaxies have massive stellar halos consistent with a merger origin, two do not—merging appears to have had little impact on making these two massive "classical" bulges. Such galaxies may be ideal laboratories to study massive bulge formation through pathways such as early gas-rich accretion, violent disk instabilities, or misaligned infall of gas throughout cosmic time.

Precise knowledge of the abundances of short-lived radionuclides at the start of the solar system leads to fundamental information about the stellar environment of solar system formation. Previous investigations of the short-lived ${}^{135}\mathrm{Cs}\,\to {}^{135}\mathrm{Ba}$ system (t_1/2 = 2.3 Ma) have resulted in a range of calculated initial amounts of ¹³⁵Cs, with most estimates elevated to a level that requires extraneous input of material to the protoplanetary disk. Such an array of proposed ¹³⁵Cs/¹³³Cs initial solar system values has severely restricted the system's use as both a possible chronometer and as an informant about supernovae input. However, if ¹³⁵Cs was as abundant in the early solar system as previously proposed, the resulting deficits in its daughter product ¹³⁵Ba would be easily detectable in volatile-depleted parent bodies (i.e., having sub-chondritic Cs/Ba) from the very early solar system. In this work, we show that angrites and eucrites, which were volatile-depleted within ∼1 million years of the start of the solar system, do not possess deficits in ¹³⁵Ba compared to other planetary bodies. From this, we calculate an upper limit for the initial ¹³⁵Cs/¹³³Cs of 2.8 × 10⁻⁶, well below previous estimates. This significantly lower initial ¹³⁵Cs/¹³³Cs ratio now suggests that all of the ¹³⁵Cs present in the early solar system was inherited simply from galactic chemical evolution and no longer requires an addition from an external stellar source such as an asymptotic giant branch star or SN II, corroborating evidence from several other short-lived radionuclides.

We examine the images of hundreds of planetary nebulae (PNe) and find that for about one in six PNe the morphology is too "messy" to be accounted for by models of stellar binary interaction. We speculate that interacting triple stellar systems shaped these PNe. In this preliminary study, we qualitatively classify PNe by one of four categories. (1) PNe that show no need for a tertiary star to account for their morphology. (2) PNe whose structure possesses a pronounced departure from axial-symmetry and/or mirror-symmetry. We classify these, according to our speculation, as "having a triple stellar progenitor." (3) PNe whose morphology possesses departure from axial-symmetry and/or mirror-symmetry, but not as pronounced as in the previous class, and are classified as "likely shaped by triple stellar system." (4) PNe with minor departure from axial-symmetry and/or mirror-symmetry that could have been also caused by an eccentric binary system or the interstellar medium. These are classified as "maybe shaped by a triple stellar system." Given a weight η_t = 1, η_l = 0.67, and η_m = 0.33 to classes 2, 3, and 4, respectively, we find that according to our assumption about 13%–21% of PNe have been shaped by triple stellar systems. Although in some evolutionary scenarios not all three stars survive the evolution, we encourage the search for a triple stellar systems at the center of some PNe.

For 478 centrally located sunspots observed in the optical continuum with Solar Dynamics Observatory/Helioseismic Magnetic Imager, we perform seismological diagnostics of the physical parameters of umbral photospheres. The new technique is based on the theory of slow magnetoacoustic waves in a non-isothermally stratified photosphere with a uniform vertical magnetic field. We construct a map of the weighted frequency of three-minute oscillations inside the umbra and use it for the estimation of the Alfvén speed, plasma-beta, and mass density within the umbra. We find the umbral mean Alfvén speed ranges between 10.5 and 7.5 km s⁻¹ and is negatively correlated with magnetic field strength. The umbral mean plasma-beta is found to range approximately between 0.65 and 1.15 and does not vary significantly from pores to mature sunspots. The mean density ranges between (1–6) × 10⁻⁴ kg m⁻³ and shows a strong positive correlation with magnetic field strength.

We present the HST WFC3/F275W UV imaging observations of A2218-Flanking, a lensed compact dwarf galaxy at redshift $z\approx 2.5$. The stellar mass of A2218-Flanking is $\mathrm{log}({M}_{* }/{M}_{\odot })={9.14}_{-0.04}^{+0.07}$ and SFR is ${12.5}_{-7.4}^{+3.8}$${M}_{\odot }$ yr⁻¹ after correcting the magnification. This galaxy has a young galaxy age of 127 Myr and a compact galaxy size of ${r}_{1/2}=2.4\,\mathrm{kpc}$. The HST UV imaging observations cover the rest-frame Lyman continuum (LyC) emission (∼800 Å) from A2218-Flanking. We firmly detect ($14\sigma$) the LyC emission in A2218-Flanking in the F275W image. Together with the HST F606W images, we find that the absolute escape fraction of LyC is ${f}_{\mathrm{abs},\mathrm{esc}}\gt 28 \% \mbox{--}57 \%$ based on the flux density ratio between 1700 and 800 Å (${f}_{1700}/{f}_{800}$). The morphology of the LyC emission in the F275W images is extended and follows the morphology of the UV continuum morphology in the F606W images, suggesting that the f₈₀₀ is not from foreground contaminants. We find that the region with a high star formation rate surface density has a lower ${f}_{1700}/{f}_{800}$ (higher ${f}_{800}/{f}_{1700}$) ratio than the diffused regions, suggesting that LyC photons are more likely to escape from the region with the intensive star-forming process. We compare the properties of galaxies with and without LyC detections and find that LyC photons are easier to escape in low-mass galaxies.

A ring system consisting of two dense narrow rings has been discovered around Centaur Chariklo. The existence of these rings around a small object poses various questions about their origin, stability, and lifetime. In order to understand the nature of Chariklo's rings, we perform global N-body simulations of the self-gravitating collisional particle rings for the first time. We find that Chariklo should be denser than the ring material in order to avoid the rapid diffusion of the rings. If Chariklo is denser than the ring material, fine spiral structures called self-gravity wakes occur in the inner ring. These wakes accelerate the viscous spreading of the ring significantly and typically occur on timescales of about $100\,\mathrm{years}$ for m-sized ring particles, which is considerably shorter than the timescales suggested in previous studies. The existence of these narrow rings implies smaller ring particles or the existence of shepherding satellites.

We present imaging polarimetry of the superluminous supernova SN 2015bn, obtained over nine epochs between −20 and +46 days with the Nordic Optical Telescope. This was a nearby, slowly evolving Type I superluminous supernova that has been studied extensively and for which two epochs of spectropolarimetry are also available. Based on field stars, we determine the interstellar polarization in the Galaxy to be negligible. The polarization of SN 2015bn shows a statistically significant increase during the last epochs, confirming previous findings. Our well-sampled imaging polarimetry series allows us to determine that this increase (from ∼0.54% to ≳1.10%) coincides in time with rapid changes that took place in the optical spectrum. We conclude that the supernova underwent a "phase transition" at around +20 days, when the photospheric emission shifted from an outer layer, dominated by natal C and O, to a more aspherical inner core, dominated by freshly nucleosynthesized material. This two-layered model might account for the characteristic appearance and properties of Type I superluminous supernovae.

High-resolution X-ray spectroscopy with Hitomi was expected to resolve the origin of the faint unidentified $E\approx 3.5\,\mathrm{keV}$ emission line reported in several low-resolution studies of various massive systems, such as galaxies and clusters, including the Perseus cluster. We have analyzed the Hitomi first-light observation of the Perseus cluster. The emission line expected for Perseus based on the XMM-Newton signal from the large cluster sample under the dark matter decay scenario is too faint to be detectable in the Hitomi data. However, the previously reported 3.5 keV flux from Perseus was anomalously high compared to the sample-based prediction. We find no unidentified line at the reported high flux level. Taking into account the XMM measurement uncertainties for this region, the inconsistency with Hitomi is at a 99% significance for a broad dark matter line and at 99.7% for a narrow line from the gas. We do not find anomalously high fluxes of the nearby faint K line or the Ar satellite line that were proposed as explanations for the earlier 3.5 keV detections. We do find a hint of a broad excess near the energies of high-n transitions of S xvi ($E\simeq 3.44\,\mathrm{keV}$ rest-frame)—a possible signature of charge exchange in the molecular nebula and another proposed explanation for the unidentified line. While its energy is consistent with XMM pn detections, it is unlikely to explain the MOS signal. A confirmation of this interesting feature has to wait for a more sensitive observation with a future calorimeter experiment.