Category: Ricerca
Extreme climatology on Hot Jupiters. The study: “The GAPS Programme at TNG. LXIX.The Dayside of WASP-76b revealed by GIANO-B, HARPS-N and ESPRESSO: Evidence for Three-Dimensional Atmospheric Effects” of G. Guilluy (INAF – OATo) appeared on A&A
Planetary climatology under extreme conditions thanks to GIANO-B, HARPS-N and ESPRESSO observations of the hot Jupiter WASP-76b Among the 6007 confirmed exoplanets to date (09/22/2025), there exists a class of planets absent in the Solar System but crucial for studying atmospheric physics under extreme conditions: ultra-hot Jupiters. These are gas giants in very close orbits around their host stars,
» Read moreThe supernova remnant Puppis A as an efficient particle accelerator. The study: “Evidence for protons accelerated and escaped from the Puppis A region using Fermi-LAT observations” of R. Giuffrida (INAF-OAPA/UNIPA/Université de Paris) appeared on A&A
The supernova remnant Puppis A reveals itself as an efficient particle accelerator, through different mechanisms in different regions of the remnant In the 15th episode of the fourth season of the science fiction series Battlestar Galactica, the automaton Cavil complains about not being able to observe the Universe in X-rays and gamma rays, being limited—like humans—to only the visible
» Read moreLow mass stars and brown dwarfs in the star forming region Corona Australis. The study “The substellar population in Corona Australis” of K. Muzic (Universidade de Lisboa) appeared on A&A
A new study on the low mass stellar population of the star forming region Corona Australis shed light on the formation of brown dwarfs In recent years, several studies of star-forming regions near the Sun have revealed that a significant fraction of the stellar population of the Milky Way consists of brown dwarfs—objects whose cores do not reach the
» Read more[press release] CALVERA EXPLODED WHERE IT SHOULDN’T HAVE: A “RUNAWAY” PULSAR DEFIES THE RULES OF THE MILKY WAY
A stellar explosion, a pulsar, and a supernova remnant – that’s the story of Calvera. Positioned more than 6,500 light-years above the Galactic plane, this system is rewriting what we know about stellar evolution in our galaxy. The research originates from a team at the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF), in collaboration with the University of Palermo, and is
» Read moreThree outer jets in Cas A unveil the complex phenomena occurring in the interior of an exploding star. The paper: “Extreme anisotropies in deep layers of an exploding star: overabundance of Cr in the northeastern jet of Cassiopeia A” of V. Sapienza (INAF-OAPA/UNIPA) appeared on ApJL
In the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A, three jets rich in material synthesized in the innermost layers of the progenitor star reveal the secrets of the processes that occur in a supernova immediately after core collapse. Understanding the phenomena that follow the collapse of a massive star core is one of the most important goals of modern astrophysics. These processes
» Read moreWd1-9, a young Wolf-Rayet star hidden by a dusty cocoon. The study: “EWOCS-IV: 1Ms ACIS Chandra observation of the supergiant B[e] star Wd1-9” of K. Anastasopoulou (INAF – OAPA) recently appeared on A&A
The analysis of a long X-ray observation reveals the nature of the mysterious star Wd1-9: a binary system containing a star that has recently evolved into the Wolf-Rayet phase, after expelling the outer layers of its atmosphere, which were accreted onto the companion star. Among the at least one hundred billion stars hosted by our Galaxy, there are a
» Read more“Spectroscopy of Free-Floating Planetary-Mass Objects and their disks with JWST” by B. Damian (University of St Andrews): eight isolated planetary-mass objects caught by the James Webb Space Telescope
Eight free-floating planetary-mass objects, identified in three star-forming regions, exhibit unique features: signs of ongoing planet formation and silicate-rich clouds in their photospheres. It was in the year 2000 that we first learned of the possible existence of free-floating planetary-mass objects—not bound to any exoplanetary system—thanks to observations analyzed by two research groups, one from the Institute of Astrophysics
» Read moreShedding lights on the mechanism responsible for the formation of Hot Jupiters. The study: “Gas, not dust: Migration of TESS/Gaia hot Jupiters possibly halted by the magnetospheres of protoplanetary disks” of I. Mendigutia (CAB) appeared on A&A
Hot Jupiters are gas giants that orbit at distances less than 0.1 AU from their host star. But what determines the final orbital radius of these planets? In intermediate-mass stars, it seems to be the dispersion of gas in their protoplanetary disks. Hot Jupiters are a class of exoplanets that are not found in our Solar System. They are
» Read moreToward a precise description of the interaction between radiation and interstellar dust grains: “Interstellar dust as a dynamic environment” by G. La Mura (INAF-OA Cagliari)
Micrometric dust particles, both in the diffuse interstellar medium and in nebulae, interact with light, giving rise to many important phenomena. This interaction also depends on the shape and microphysics of the dust grains. A galaxy like ours hosts not only stars, planets, and compact objects, but also dust and gas organized both in a diffuse, extremely low-density medium
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