Explore the vast range of titles available.

We examine 4 yr of Kepler 30 minutes data, and five sectors of Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite 2 minutes data for the dM3 star KIC-8507979/TIC-272272592. This rapidly rotating (P = 1.2 day) star has previously been identified as flare active, with a possible long-term decline in its flare output. Such slow changes in surface magnetic activity are potential indicators of solar-like activity cycles, which can yield important information about the structure of the stellar dynamo. We find that while TIC-272272592 shows evidence for both short- and long-timescale variations in its flare activity, it is unlikely physically motivated. Only a handful of stars have been subjected to such long-baseline point-in-time flare studies, and we urge caution in comparing results between telescopes due to differences in bandpass, signal-to-noise ratio, and cadence. In this work, we develop an approach to measure variations in the flare frequency distributions over time, which is quantified as a function of the observing baseline. For TIC-272272592, we find a 2.7σ detection of a sector which has a flare deficit, therefore indicating the short-term variation could be a result of sampling statistics. This quantifiable approach to describing flare-rate variation is a powerful new method for measuring the months-to-years changes in surface magnetic activity, and provides important constraints on activity cycles and dynamo models for low-mass stars.

We present a crossmatch between a combined catalog of X-ray sources and the Vera C. Rubin Observatory Data Preview 1 (DP1) to identify optical counterparts. The six fields targeted as part of DP1 include the Extended Chandra Deep Field South (E-CDF-S), the Euclid Deep Field South, the Fornax Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy (Fornax dSph), 47 Tucanae (47 Tuc), and science validation fields with low Galactic and ecliptic latitude (SV_95_-25 and SV_38_7, respectively). We find matches to 2314 of 3830 X-ray sources. We also compare our crossmatch to DP1 in the E-CDF-S field to previous efforts to identify optical counterparts. The probability of a chance coincidence match varies across each DP1 field, with overall high reliability in the E-CDF-S field, and a lower proportion of high-reliability matches in the other fields. The majority of previously known sources that we detect are, unsurprisingly, active galaxies. We plot the X-ray-to-optical flux ratio against optical magnitude and color in an effort to identify Galactic accreting compact objects using a Gaia color threshold transformed to LSST g − i, but do not find any strong candidates in these primarily extragalactic counterparts. The DP1 dataset contains high-cadence photometry collected over a number of nights. We calculate the Stetson J variability index for each object under the hypothesis that X-ray counterparts tend to exhibit higher optical variability; however, the evidence is inconclusive whether our sample is more variable over DP1 timescales when compared to field objects.

We construct a catalog of star clusters from Hubble Space Telescope images of the inner disk of the Triangulum Galaxy (M33) using image classifications collected by the Local Group Cluster Search, a citizen science project hosted on the Zooniverse platform. We identify 1214 star clusters within the Hubble Space Telescope imaging footprint of the Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury: Triangulum Extended Region (PHATTER) survey. Comparing this catalog to existing compilations in the literature, 68% of the clusters are newly identified. The final catalog includes multiband aperture photometry and fits for cluster properties via integrated light spectral energy distribution fitting. The cluster catalog’s 50% completeness limit is ∼1500 M ☉ at an age of 100 Myr, as derived from comprehensive synthetic cluster tests.

The Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Southern Treasury (PHAST) is a large 195-orbit Hubble Space Telescope program imaging ∼0.45 deg2 of the southern half of M31's star-forming disk at optical and near-ultraviolet (NUV) wavelengths. The PHAST survey area extends the northern coverage of the Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury (PHAT) down to the southern half of M31, covering out to a radius of ∼13 kpc along the southern major axis and in total ∼two-thirds of M31's star-forming disk. This new legacy imaging yields stellar photometry of over 90 million resolved stars using the Advanced Camera for Surveys in the optical (F475W and F814W), and the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) in the NUV (F275W and F336W). The photometry is derived using all overlapping exposures across all bands, and achieves a 50% completeness-limited depth of F475W ∼ 27.7 in the lowest surface density regions of the outer disk and F475W ∼ 26.0 in the most crowded, high surface brightness regions near M31's bulge. We provide extensive analysis of the data quality, including artificial star tests to quantify completeness, photometric uncertainties, and flux biases, all of which vary due to the background source density and the number of overlapping exposures. We also present seamless population maps of the entire M31 disk, which show relatively well-mixed distributions for stellar populations older than 1–2 Gyr, and highly structured distributions for younger populations. The combined PHAST + PHAT photometry catalog of ∼0.2 billion stars is the largest ever produced for equidistant sources and is available for public download by the community.

Star formation occurs within dusty molecular clouds that are then disrupted by stellar feedback. However, the timing and physical mechanisms that govern the transition from deeply embedded to exposed stars remain uncertain. Using the STARFORGE simulations, we analyze the evolution of “embeddedness,” identifying what drives emergence. We find the transition from embedded to exposed is fast for individual stars, within 1.3 Myr after the star reaches its maximum mass. This rapid transition is dominated by massive stars, which accrete while remaining highly obscured until their feedback eventually balances, then overcomes, the local accretion. For these massive stars, their maximum mass is reached simultaneously with their emergence. Once these stars are revealed, their localized, pre-supernova feedback then impacts the cloud, driving gas clearance. Because massive stars dominate the luminosity, their fast, local evolution dominates the light emergence from the dust. We calculate the dependence of these processes on the mass of the cloud and find that emergence always depends on when massive stars form, which scales with the cloud’s free-fall time. We also measure the evolution of dust and Hα luminosities, where for ∼2 Myr, these tracers outshine the emerging stellar continuum, reaching their peak when gas and dust remain tightly coupled to the massive stars. These results closely resemble observationally observed lifetimes, tying the observable dust and line emission directly to the same localized processes that drive stellar emergence, evidence that our simulated de-embedding physics is representative of real star-forming regions. Thus, because the initial embedding of the most luminous stars is highly local, the emergence of stars is a faster, earlier, more local event than the overall disruption of the cloud by gas expulsion.

We measure the high-mass stellar initial mass function (IMF) from resolved stars in M33 young stellar clusters. Leveraging the Hubble Space Telescope’s high resolving power, we fully model the IMF probabilistically. We first model the optical color–magnitude diagram of each cluster to constrain its power-law slope Γ, marginalized over other cluster parameters in the fit (e.g., cluster age, mass, and radius). We then probabilistically model the distribution of mass function (MF) slopes for a highly strict cluster sample of nine clusters more massive than log(Mass/M ⊙) = 3.6; above this mass, all clusters have well-populated main sequences of massive stars and should have accurate recovery of their MF slopes, based on extensive tests with artificial clusters. We find that the ensemble IMF is best described by a mean high-mass slope of Γ¯=1.49±0.18 , with an intrinsic scatter of σΓ2=0.020.00+0.16 , consistent with a universal IMF. We find no dependence of the IMF on environmental impacts such as the local star formation rate (SFR) or galactocentric radius within M33, which serves as a proxy for metallicity. This Γ¯ measurement is consistent with similar measurements in M31, despite M33 having a much higher SFR intensity. While this measurement is formally consistent with the canonical Kroupa (Γ = 1.30) IMF, as well as the Salpeter (Γ = 1.35) value, it is the second Local Group cluster sample to show evidence for a somewhat steeper high-mass IMF slope. We explore the impacts a steeper IMF slope has on a number of astronomical subfields.

We present the first integrated-light, TESS-based light curves for star clusters in the Milky Way, Small Magellanic Cloud, and Large Magellanic Cloud. We explore the information encoded in these light curves, with particular emphasis on variability. We describe our publicly available package elk, which is designed to extract the light curves by applying principal component analysis to perform background light correction and incorporating corrections for TESS systematics, allowing us to detect variability on timescales shorter than ∼10 days. We perform a series of checks to ensure the quality of our light curves, removing observations where systematics are identified as dominant features, and deliver light curves for 348 previously cataloged open and globular clusters. Where TESS has observed a cluster in more than one observing sector, we provide separate light curves for each sector (for a total of 2204 light curves). We explore in detail the light curves of star clusters known to contain high-amplitude Cepheid and RR Lyrae variable stars, and we confirm that the variability of these known variables is still detectable when summed together with the light from thousands of other stars. We also demonstrate that even some low-amplitude stellar variability is preserved when integrating over a stellar population.

We measure the star cluster mass function (CMF) for the Local Group galaxy M33. We use the catalog of stellar clusters selected from the Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury: Triangulum Extended Region survey. We analyze 711 clusters in M33 with 7.0 3.0 as determined from color–magnitude diagram fits to individual stars. The M33 CMF is best described by a Schechter function with power-law slope α = − 2.06−0.13+0.14 , and truncation mass log(M c /M ⊙) =4.24−0.13+0.16 . The data show strong evidence for a high-mass truncation, thus strongly favoring a Schechter function fit over a pure power law. M33's truncation mass is consistent with the previously identified linear trend between M c , and star formation rate surface density, ΣSFR. We also explore the effect that individual cluster mass uncertainties have on derived mass function parameters, and find evidence to suggest that large cluster mass uncertainties have the potential to bias the truncation mass of fitted mass functions at the 1σ level.

Star formation occurs within dusty molecular clouds that are then disrupted by stellar feedback. However, the timing and physical mechanisms that govern the transition from deeply embedded to exposed stars remain uncertain. Using the STARFORGE simulations, we analyze the evolution of ``embeddedness'', identifying what drives emergence. We find the transition from embedded to exposed is fast for individual stars, within 1.3 Myr after the star reaches its maximum mass. This rapid transition is dominated by massive stars, which accrete while remaining highly obscured until their feedback eventually balances, then overcomes, the local accretion. For these massive stars, their maximum mass is reached simultaneously with their emergence. Once these stars are revealed, their localized, pre-supernova feedback then impacts the cloud, driving gas clearance. Because massive stars dominate the luminosity, their fast, local evolution dominates the light emergence from the dust. We calculate the dependence of these processes on the mass of the cloud and find that emergence always depends on when massive stars form, which scales with the cloud's free-fall time. We also measure the evolution of dust and H\\(\\) luminosities, where for \\(\\)2 Myr, these tracers outshine the emerging stellar continuum, reaching their peak when gas and dust remain tightly coupled to the massive stars. These results closely resemble observationally observed lifetimes, tying the observable dust and line emission directly to the same localized processes that drive stellar emergence, evidence that our simulated de-embedding physics is representative of real star-forming regions. Thus, because the initial embedding of the most luminous stars is highly local, the emergence of stars is a faster, earlier, more local event than the overall disruption of the cloud by gas expulsion.

We examine 4 years of Kepler 30-min data, and 5 Sectors of TESS 2-min data for the dM3 star KIC-8507979/TIC-272272592. This rapidly rotating (P=1.2 day) star has previously been identified as flare active, with a possible long-term decline in its flare output. Such slow changes in surface magnetic activity are potential indicators of Solar-like activity cycles, which can yield important information about the structure of the stellar dynamo. We find that while TIC-272272592 shows evidence for both short and long timescale variations in its flare activity, it is unlikely physically motivated. Only a handful of stars have been subjected to such long baseline point-in-time flare studies, and we urge caution in comparing results between telescopes due to differences in bandpass, signal to noise, and cadence. In this work, we develop an approach to measure variations in the flare frequency distributions over time, which is quantified as a function of the observing baseline. For TIC-272272592, we find a \\(2.7\\) detection of a Sector which has a flare deficit, therefore indicating the short term variation could be a result of sampling statistics. This quantifiable approach to describing flare rate variation is a powerful new method for measuring the months-to-years changes in surface magnetic activity, and provides important constraints on activity cycles and dynamo models for low mass stars.