Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
Laboratory astrophysics is the study of astrophysical phenomena in the laboratory (Earth- or space-based). This might include various aspects of astrochemistry (chemical reactions under extreme conditions of temperature, density, irradiation), plasma physics, spectroscopy, meteorite analysis, fluid dynamics, and magnetohydrodynamics.
Understanding the formation of planetesimals in protoplanetary disks requires insights into the instabilities caused by dust particles in gas streams. The authors use particle image velocimetry in microgravity to reveal a granular shear-flow instability, resembling a Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, offering a benchmark for two-fluid theories in planet formation.
A large sulfur-bearing carbon ring molecule has been detected in space, 2,5-cyclohexadien-1-thione, using laboratory spectroscopy and a radio telescope. Found near the Galactic Centre, it opens the door to a new family of interstellar molecules.
The formation of glycylglycine, a simple peptide molecule, is possible under non-aqueous interstellar conditions, according to laboratory experiments. Thus, complex organics with biological relevance may predate planetary accretion.
The authors report on imaging developments of solid-density plasmas and the current filamentation instability by means of the LCLS-XFEL at SLAC. This offers insights on the instability in the solid density region, stimulating new modelling of laser-solid interactions.
Warm dense matter — the peculiar state between condensed matter and hot plasma — can be studied with exceptional detail at X-ray free-electron laser facilities. This Review summarizes pioneering experiments and discusses the perspectives for the near and mid-term future.
Bennu samples have abundant supernova stardust and clasts that are richer in presolar silicates and organics than other chondritic samples, suggesting that the protolith sampled material with a unique mixture of primordial components before undergoing heterogeneous aqueous alteration.
A suborbital experiment indicates that centimetre-sized clusters of tribocharged submillimetre grains resist erosion by individual grains with collision speeds up to around 0.5 m s–1. The stability of these charged clusters allows them to grow larger than uncharged clusters, enabling the formation of planetesimals in protoplanetary disks.
Nuclear explosives are the most promising method for steering a large asteroid away from Earth and mitigating an impact. Laboratory experiments with X-ray pulses have now mimicked such an event, demonstrating how efficient this technique is.
