Astronomy and planetary science articles from across Nature Portfolio

Long-period transients are repeating radio pulses of mysterious origin with minute-to-hour periods. The longest-lived of these — GPM J1839–10 — is now shown to be a binary system and seemingly mirrors the more rapid white dwarf pulsars, in which interaction of a stellar remnant with a companion star generates powerful radio beams.

Juno’s radio occultations have been used to refine the shape of Jupiter with sub-kilometre precision, revealing equatorial and polar radii that are slightly smaller than long-used values. The results tighten constraints on the planet’s interior structure and its winds.

In 2016, the first direct observation of gravitational waves was reported. The measurements by the LIGO detectors gave astronomers a new way to observe the Universe.

Geomagnetic substorms abruptly release energy, producing intense auroras and magnetic disturbances during an expansion phase. Here, the authors show this expansion is part of a global cycle of currents and plasma flows shaped by dayside and nightside reconnection.

Remote sensing, sample analysis, and gardening simulations uncover little variation in sub-meter meteoroid fluxes at the lunar nearside and farside and reveal that the exposure history of lunar soil is governed by the most recent impact event

A global heat flow map for Venus, along with estimates of the total heat loss, reveals overall lower heat flow compared to Earth, as well as localized peaks linked to rifting activity, as derived from an inversion of geophysical data.

Spectroscopic observations of the ultra-hot Jupiter WASP-189b reveal both volatile (H₂O, CO, OH) and refractory (Fe, Mg, Si) gas in its atmosphere. Here, the authors show that the abundance ratio of refractory species reflects that of the host star.

Dynamos can generate magnetic fields, which are present across various scales in space plasmas. Here, the authors show evidence for a turbulent dynamo in the terrestrial magnetosheath, indicating that Earth’s magnetosheath may be used as a natural laboratory for testing dynamo theories and simulations.

The Margin Unit of Jezero crater contains olivine with a forsterite content similar to the olivine cumulates in the crater floor, according to an approach which uses X-ray data from the Perseverance rover to analyse monocrystalline olivine composition

NASA’s Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (ESCAPADE) mission will provide a revolutionary view of Martian space weather, and a new paradigm for low-cost deep space missions.

Paul Dirac might have said, “it is more important to have beauty in one’s [cosmological models] than to have them fit [observations]”, but the Universe is turning out to be more complex than even he might have thought. While cosmological tensions may be ironed out with the help of more observational data, perhaps we will have to come to terms with leaving a wrinkle or two?