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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.

ALMA has captured exquisitely detailed images of bowshock shells in the outflow of an outbursting protostar. These provide important insights into the variable nature of the ejections from protostars, which play a key role in star and planet formation.

XRISM observations show the presence of odd-numbered elements chlorine and potassium in Cas A. These findings suggest that stellar activity plays an important role in cosmic chemical evolution, enriching space with elements vital for planets and life.

Through next-generation spectral analysis, scientists have uncovered an evolutionary path for Wolf–Rayet stars in metal-poor environments. Characterized by hard ionizing radiation, these stars challenge current assumptions about massive star evolution.

This study identifies the Giant Oval Cavity as a large, long-lived superbubble in the Perseus Arm. Its slow expansion, sustained by frequent supernovae, balances Galactic shear and turbulent pressure, revealing a quasi-stationary feedback structure crucial for galactic evolution.

We report the presence of gas-phase phosphorous at the edge of the Galaxy and suggest it is produced by neutron-capture processes in lower mass asymptotic giant branch stars.

Recent observations have uncovered a cloud of ionized gas falling into the supermassive black hole at the centre of our galaxy. Murray-Clay and Loeb present a model that may explain these observations, in which the cloud is produced from the proto-planetary disc around a low-mass star orbiting the black hole.

Extremely metal-poor galaxies in the local universe are the best analogues to investigating the interstellar medium at a quasi-primitive environment in the early universe. Here, the authors detect CO emission in a galaxy at 7% solar metallicity, offering direct evidence for the presence of molecular gas.

Use of public funding for conservation of resurrected species would lead to fewer extant species that could be conserved, and consequent net biodiversity loss.

Observations of a cold molecular gas associated with the atomic hydrogen outflow from the centre of our Galaxy indicate that this gas has a surprisingly high mass but unclear origin.

Methane ice has been presumed to form via the sequential hydrogenation of carbon atoms on dust grains for many years, but now Qasim et al. have performed the experiment, with and without the presence of water. Methane forms more rapidly in the polar ice phase.

On its departure from the heliosphere, the plasma experiment on Voyager 2 observed changes corresponding to a 1.5-au-wide boundary region, followed by a much thinner boundary layer, before reaching the heliopause. Outside the heliopause, the very local interstellar medium is found to be hotter than expected. [The summary that originally appeared was incorrect and has been updated.]

The three-dimensional structure of all cloud complexes in the solar neighbourhood is revealed, showing a narrow and coherent 2.7-kpc arrangement of dense gas, in disagreement with the Gould Belt model.

The presence of magnetic fields in protostellar jets has been predicted theoretically, but its experimental confirmation has been elusive so far. Here, the authors report the detection of SiO line polarisation in the HH 211 protostellar jet, indicative of the onset of magnetic fields.

High-resolution ALMA observations reveal a gravitationally bound septuple protostar system in NGC 6334IN, formed through disk fragmentation. This discovery sheds light on the formation of extreme high-order multiplicity in massive stellar clusters.

Synergies between JWST and ALMA are providing a multiwavelength view of galaxies, active galactic nuclei and the interstellar medium at high redshifts. This Review provides an overview of results so far and identifies areas for future development.

JWST reveals 253 YSO candidates in the Pillars of Creation, concentrated along the pillar edges with tentative age gradients and an enhanced star formation rate within 1 Myr. These findings suggest that some may have formed via triggered star formation.

By assessing the ionization fraction of the environment around Tycho’s (type Ia) supernova, the authors have constrained the properties of its progenitor enough to rule out a hot, luminous white dwarf. A double white dwarf binary merger is allowed.

Origin of abundant noble gases in presolar silicon carbide (SiC) grains is under debate. Here, the authors measure 3D maps of helium within the SiC grains and reveal that these noble gases are evidence of hot stellar wind irradiation from central stars of planetary nebulae.

Mapping the 158 μm line of ionized carbon within the Cygnus region with the SOFIA observatory provides evidence for dynamic interactions between molecular clouds and their atomic envelopes, which trace out the assembly process of cloud complexes.

High-resolution FAST observations of a very-high-velocity cloud in the warm neutral medium reveal a network of hierarchical filaments formed by shock compression. These findings suggest a viable mechanism for early structure formation in the interstellar medium.

JWST reveals the chemistry of the disk of a young star in the Orion nebula, showing that it has water and CO in its inner regions that are shielded from UV radiation, whereas UV-processed molecules such as CH₃⁺ and PAHs are detected in surface layers.

Laboratory simulation experiments with isomer selective photoionization detection techniques reveal that octasulfur (S₈) and sulfanes can be easily formed in low temperature H₂S interstellar ice analogues exposed to ionizing radiation, suggesting a critical link between sulfur chemistry on ice coated nanoparticles in molecular clouds and the inventory of sulfur compounds in our Solar System.

Observations from the JWST MIRI-MRS instrument reveal the detection of rotational emission from molecular hydrogen near the only O-type star in the 3% solar metallicity galaxy Leo P, providing confirmation that significant quantities of molecular gas can form in such metal- and dust-poor environments.

Gas distribution and motion patterns driven by a galactic bar of the J0107a dusty star-forming galaxy have analogues in local bars, indicating that similar processes of active star formation were already operating 11.1 billion years ago.

We demonstrate that in a major merging system, radiation from the quasar in one galaxy directly alters the gas properties in the companion galaxy.

An alternative model challenges the conventional view of isolated protoplanetary disks. Providing insights into angular momentum in supersonic turbulence, it shows that disk sizes are determined by mass captured from the environment.

Eos is a newly discovered molecular cloud sitting just 94 pc from the Sun. It was detected through the far-UV emission of its molecular hydrogen, having been missed in conventional molecular gas surveys due to a low abundance of common gas tracers.

The authors report the linear correlation of X-ray and Hα surface brightnesses in the material stripped from a galaxy, providing evidence for the mixing of galactic interstellar and hot intra-cluster medium as the origin of the multi-phase stripped tails observed previously.

The Voyager 1 spacecraft is now probing interstellar space beyond the heliopause. Here, measurements from the Plasma Wave System reveal au-scale density fluctuations that trace interstellar turbulence without the need for solar shock-generated plasma oscillation events.

ALMA observations have established the presence of warm, X-ray-heated gas near a supermassive black hole at redshift z = 6, demonstrating that highly excited CO lines are a powerful method for exploring heavily dust-obscured quasars in the early Universe.

Benzene formation via sequential cold ion–molecule reactions is followed experimentally to understand how aromatic molecules are formed in interstellar clouds. Surprisingly, the chain of reactions involving the addition of acetylene terminates at C₆H₅⁺.

Using slitless spectroscopy, JWST/NIRCam has simultaneously mapped three ice species across a dense cloud along 44 lines of sight. This cospatial mapping enables the local cloud chemistry to be probed with a spatial resolution of hundreds of astronomical units, representing a step change in ice mapping.

Extremely high-resolution simulations reveal that interstellar medium-type turbulence significantly deviates from classical magnetized turbulence models.

The roughly spherical outer regions and aspherical inner regions of protoplanetary nebulae — here imaged by ALMA — are explained in terms of an embedded binary system with stars on eccentric orbits.

Multiple stars are thought to form either through disk fragmentation or turbulent fragmentation, but the latter has had no clear observational confirmation. Here the authors report misaligned disks around a wide-binary pair, a sign of turbulent fragmentation.

Using Si¹⁸O as a velocity tracer, evidence is reported for a rotating outflow driven by a magneto-centrifugal disk wind launched by a high-mass young stellar object. This rotation is a signature of the removal of angular momentum by an outflow.

Four galaxies discovered near quasars at redshifts exceeding 6 have star-formation rates that are high enough to explain the massive elliptical galaxies known to exist at redshifts of about 4.

Disk winds from the surfaces of protoplanetary disks remove angular momentum from radii outside ~10 au. Lee et al. show that residual angular momentum is removed at radii <10 au via highly collimated jets launched at the 0.05 au scale, enabling accretion.

Combining studies of star formation rates with studies of cloud–magnetic field alignment has revealed that magnetic fields are a primary regulator of star formation. Perpendicular alignment inhibits star formation, whereas parallel alignment facilitates it.

A strong positive correlation between the warm and hot phases of extended filaments in massive galaxies within cooling-flow clusters supports theoretical models of active galactic nucleus feedback as the origin of these multiphase structures.

A scintillating pulsar has revealed 25 plasma structures in the Local Bubble of our Galaxy, including four linked to the pulsar’s bow shock. The findings can be linked to create a three-dimensional model of the shock and uncover turbulence-driven plasma density fluctuations.

Low-metallicity molecular clouds in the Milky Way and nearby galaxies exhibit a strong deficiency in turbulent support against their self-gravity, suggesting that the magnetic field may play a dominant role in supporting clouds under such conditions.

Wenzel et al. detect radio signatures of two forms of cyanopyrene, a small molecular sheet of carbon, which can be used as indicators of the abundance of pyrene. Their findings suggest that small polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons must be formed in or transported to the cold interstellar medium.

This study presents the evolution of the dust attenuation curve in galaxies over cosmic time, suggesting that dust attenuation at early times is dominated by large grains from supernovae. The study also reports an ultraviolet bump in a source at redshift z ≈ 7.5.