1️⃣ Calcium reveals supernova explosion mechanism
Supernova remnant SNR 0509-67.5 in the LMC shows a double calcium [Ca XV] shell and a single sulfur shell. The outer shell traces helium detonation, the inner one — core detonation. This is strong evidence that sub-Chandrasekhar-mass double-detonation actually occurs in Type Ia supernovae.
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2️⃣ XRISM captures black hole corona evolution in real time
Observations of AGN MCG-6-30-15 (XRISM + NuSTAR + XMM-Newton) revealed a corona around a rapidly spinning black hole (spin >0.93), compact within 10 rg. During a flare it expanded to 15 rg at 0.27c, then collapsed to 2.5 rg — the most detailed measurement of accretion disk corona dynamics to date.
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3️⃣ Photonic lanterns for the HWO telescope
The hybrid photonic lantern HMSPL simultaneously feeds exoplanet light to a spectrograph and measures wavefronts for aberration correction — key technology for biosignature searches at 10⁻¹⁰ contrast. Currently tested at the Subaru Telescope.
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4️⃣ "Persephone's Torch" — brightest lensed quasar system
SPHEREx helped discover quasar J1330−0905 (z=2.22), quadruply lensed with i=14.77 and ~56× magnification in a "circular kite" configuration. Time delays of ~2 days make it ideal for microlensing studies.
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5️⃣ JWST detects CS₂ in an exoplanet atmosphere
Spectroscopy of warm giant WASP-80 b found H₂O, CH₄, CO₂, NH₃, and carbon disulfide CS₂. Its abundance exceeds earlier predictions but matches recent carbon-sulfur coupling models — first observational support for disequilibrium sulfur chemistry in giant exoplanets.
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