Transmission spectroscopy 1-3 of exoplanets has revealed signatures of water vapour, aerosols and alkali metals in a few dozen exoplanet atmospheres 4,5. However, these previous inferences with the Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes were hindered by the observations' relatively narrow wavelength range and spectral resolving power, which precluded

Carbon dioxide (CO 2) is a key chemical species that is found in a wide range of planetary atmospheres. In the context of exoplanets, CO 2 is an indicator of the metal enrichment (that is, elements heavier than helium, also called `metallicity') 1-3, and thus the formation processes of the primary atmospheres of hot gas giants 4-6. It is also one

The epoch in which galactic discs settle is a major benchmark for testing models of galaxy formation and evolution but remains largely unknown. Once discs settle and become sufficiently self-gravitating, stellar bars are able to form; therefore, determining the ages of bars can shed light on the epoch of disc settling, and on the onset of secular

Context. In the accretion-driven growth scenario, part of the intracluster light is formed in the group environment. Aims: We report the serendipitous discovery of a group of galaxies with signs of diffuse light in the foreground of the known galaxy cluster MACS J0329−0211 at z ∼ 0.45. Methods: Our investigation began with the detection of diffuse

Accretion disks around compact objects are expected to enter an unstable phase at high luminosity 1. One instability may occur when the radiation pressure generated by accretion modifies the disk viscosity, resulting in the cyclic depletion and refilling of the inner disk on short timescales 2. Such a scenario, however, has only been quantitatively