Texas Tech assistant professor Elias Aydi led an international team of astronomers in publishing new findings on how stellar explosions, called novae, unfold. Using a high-resolution imaging technique, the team captured two eruptions within days of their onset and revealed their structure in unprecedented detail. The research shows novae are far more complex than previously thought, involving multiple flows of material and delayed ejections.

Two new awards totaling $4.8 million will fund next-generation instruments for mid-sized telescopes at Lick and McDonald Observatories, enabling researchers to study how planets and stars form. The projects—supported by The Kavli Foundation, the WoodNext Foundation, and philanthropist Kevin Wells—will develop an astrophotonics instrument suite and an infrared polarimeter, expanding the scientific capabilities of established observatories.

The RISTRETTO project, dedicated to observing Proxima b –the closest exoplanet to the Solar System — is reaching a new milestone: several key components of this high-precision spectrograph have been prototyped and successfully tested by the workshops of the Department of Astronomy at the University of Geneva (UNIGE). In addition, comprehensive simulations of the instrument indicate that RISTRETTO will be able to detect Proxima b, along with potential signs of oxygen or water in its atmosphere — a planet similar in size and temperature to Earth. These findings are detailed in two studies published in Astronomy & Astrophysics.