Vol. 692 5. Galactic structure, stellar clusters and populations Improving constraints on the extended mass distribution in the Galactic center with stellar orbits by The GRAVITY Collaboration 2024, A&A, 692, A242 The recent “image” of the supermassive black hole of our Galaxy from the Event Horizon Telescope and previous, associated Nobel Prizes have spawned great interest in the very center of our Milky Way. In the present study, the interferometric GRAVITY instrument has been used to precisely monitor the orbits of stars around the central source in the Milky Way, Sgr A*, in order to d ..read more

Vol. 692 10. Planets, planetary systems, and small bodies An impact-free mechanism to deliver water to terrestrial planets and exoplanets by Quentin Kral, Paul Huet, Camille Bergez-Casalou, Philippe Thébault, Sébastien Charnoz, Sonia Fornasier 2024, A&A, 692, A70 It is usually assumed that water was delivered to Earth by impactors. In this study, the authors address the possibility that water was delivered by a viscous gaseous disk. The water present in this disk would have itself been the result of sublimation of the ice on asteroids. To perform this study, the authors developed a new mo ..read more

Vol. 692 Review Article Asteroseismic modelling of fast rotators and its opportunities for astrophysics by Conny Aerts, Andrew Tkachenko 2024, A&A, 692, R1 The first A&A Review, "Asteroseismic modelling of fast rotators and its opportunities for astrophysics," by Aerts and Tkachenko summarizes recent advancements in asteroseismology, focusing on fast-rotating stars. The review highlights the importance of asteroseismology in probing the internal structure of stars, discussing their rotation, magnetic fields, and transport mechanisms. The review explains how asteroseismic data from spa ..read more

Vol. 686 10. Planets and planetary systems Atmospheric entry and fragmentation of the small asteroid 2024 BX1: Bolide trajectory, orbit, dynamics, light curve, and spectrum by P. Spurny, J. Borovicka , L. Shrbeny, M. Hankey, R. Neubert 2024, A&A, 686, A67 The asteroid 2024 BX1 collided with Earth on January 21, 2024, a few hours after its discovery. In this paper, the authors analyze the fireball associated with the atmospheric entry and fragmentation of this asteroid. They utilize data recorded by the European Fireball Network, particularly its Czech component, and the AllSky7 network ..read more

Vol. 691 7. Stellar structure and evolution Main sequence dynamo magnetic fields emerging in the white dwarf phase by Maria Camisassa, J.R. Fuentes, Matthias R. Schreiber, Alberto Rebassa-Mansergas, Santiago Torres, Roberto Raddi, Inma Dominguez 2024, A&A, 691, L21 Observations reveal a higher incidence of magnetism in older white dwarfs (WDs) with fully or partially crystallized cores compared to those with entirely liquid cores. The crystallization-driven dynamo mechanism invoked to explain these results has been challenged by recent numerical simulations, and in this work the authors ..read more

Vol. 690 4. Extragalactic astronomy Multi-wavelength spectroscopic analysis of the ULX Holmberg II X-1 and its nebula suggests the presence of a heavy black hole accreting from a B-type donor by S. Reyero Serantes, L. Oskinova, W.-R. Hamann, et al. 2024, A&A, 690, A347 UltraLuminous X-ray sources (ULXs) are extragalactic X-ray sources brighter than ~5x1039 erg s-1, so that the radiation pressure, in normal conditions, can stop accretion unless the central object has a mass larger than ~40 M⊙. ULXs were discovered in the first X-ray images obtained by the Einstein satellite, back in the 19 ..read more

Vol. 690 4. Extragalactic astronomy Multi-wavelength spectroscopic analysis of the ULX Holmberg II X-1 and its nebula suggests the presence of a heavy black hole accreting from a B-type donor by S. Reyero Serantes, L. Oskinova, W.-R. Hamann, et al. 2024, A&A, 690, Axxx UltraLuminous X-ray sources (ULXs) are extragalactic X-ray sources brighter than ~5x1039 erg s-1, so that the radiation pressure, in normal conditions, can stop accretion unless the central object has a mass larger than ~40 M⊙. ULXs were discovered in the first X-ray images obtained by the Einstein satellite, back in the 19 ..read more

Vol. 690 9. The Sun and the Heliosphere The solar beryllium abundance revisited with 3D non-LTE models by A. M. Amarsi, D. Ogneva, G. Buldgen, N. Grevesse, Y. Zhou, P. S. Barklem 2024, A&A, 690, A128 The solar chemical composition is a key reference in astronomy, serving as a yardstick against which all other cosmic objects may be compared, and as a test of stellar evolution models. In this study, the authors revisit the beryllium abundance in the solar atmosphere by analyzing the Be II 313.107 nm resonance line in the solar spectrum. This is the first work to employ 3D non-LTE models tog ..read more

Vol. 690 7. Stellar structure and evolution Asymmetries in asymptotic giant branch stars and their winds. I. From 3D RHD models to synthetic observables by Joachim Wiegert, Bernd Freytag, Susanne Höfner 2024, A&A, 690, A Between JWST and ALMA, the ability to spatially resolve the environments of evolved stars has become almost routine. This paper illustrates the wealth of possible structures that can result from asymptotic giant branch evolution. Combining state-of-the-art hydrodynamic modeling and a suite of radiative transfer models, this study presents synthetic spectral energy distri ..read more

Vol. 689 14. Catalogs and data The VISTA Variables in the Vía Láctea eXtended (VVVX) ESO public survey: Completion of the observations and legacy by R. K. Saito, M. Hempel, J. Alonso-García, P. W. Lucas, et al. 2024, A&A, 689, A148 The low-latitude regions of the Milky Way are a hostile environment for optical astronomers, owing to the high extinction obscuring the targets of interest. Therefore, it is imperative to resort to large-scale, infrared surveys to unravel the diverse populations and astrophysics that make up the central parts of our Galaxy. With the final release of its vast da ..read more