Nature Astronomy, Published online: 22 July 2024; doi:10.1038/s41550-024-02324-6 NASA’s Mars Sample Return mission faces an uncertain future, with funding issues pushing back the crucial final phase into late next decade. If a solution could be found, the scientific return would

Nature Astronomy, Published online: 22 July 2024; doi:10.1038/s41550-024-02317-5 Most data for extrasolar rocky planets comes from observations of objects significantly larger than the Earth. The newly discovered SPECULOOS-3 b is a good target for efforts to characterize exoplanets closer in

Nature Astronomy, Published online: 22 July 2024; doi:10.1038/s41550-024-02327-3 The contribution of accreted stars to a galaxy’s total stellar mass is hard to determine directly from observations. Here constraints are placed on the ex situ stellar mass for ~10,000 galaxies using

Nature Astronomy, Published online: 22 July 2024; doi:10.1038/s41550-024-02320-w An IAU meeting on extraterrestrial life tackled some ageless questions from a variety of unusual perspectives, including the media and science fiction, and was refreshingly explicit about degrees of uncertainty in the

Nature Astronomy, Published online: 19 July 2024; doi:10.1038/s41550-024-02323-7 An analysis of the gravitational waves emitted from the neutron star binary merger GW170817 provides constraints on the out-of-equilibrium (viscous) properties of neutron star matter. ————— Free Secure Email – Transcom Sigma

Nature Astronomy, Published online: 17 July 2024; doi:10.1038/s41550-024-02326-4 According to a life-cycle analysis, the main environmental impacts of building and operating an astronomical telescope are greenhouse gas emissions and the use of mineral resources. Impacts can be reduced by using