Guest: If you give a galaxy a starburst, it’ll probably quench the gas away The distribution of post-starburst regions within galaxies is linked to diverse quenching pathways that are likely driven by mergers. Guest author, Emmy Wisz, explains how different star formation his...

From Guest Emmy Wisz: The distribution of post-starburst regions within galaxies is linked to diverse quenching pathways that are likely driven by mergers. ⚛️ 🔭 ☄️ 🧪
astrobites.org/2026/04/20/q...

A Clash of Two Titans: Why GW231123 pushes the limits of scientists’ models Another day, another interesting LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA detection! Find out why the extreme parameters of GW231123 create problems for gravitational wave modelers and may have some new information about bla...

From @kelsie137.bsky.social: Another day, another interesting LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA detection! Find out why the extreme parameters of GW231123 create problems for gravitational wave modelers and may have new information about black hole formation! ⚛️ 🔭 ☄️ 🧪
astrobites.org/2026/04/18/a-clash-of-two-titans/

The Secret Language of Astrophysics Plots Ever been confused by a plot online or in a paper? This post decodes the secret language of astrophysics plots so you can finally read the universe like a pro.

From @jaydewst.bsky.social: Ever been confused by a plot online or in a paper? This post decodes the secret language of astrophysics plots so you can finally read the universe like a pro. ⚛️ 🔭 ☄️ 🧪
astrobites.org/2026/04/17/secrets-of-plots-in-astro/

Back to work to save science funding! All you need to know about the FY2027 Budget Request The president’s budget requests for NASA and the NSF were released last week. We summarizes the major cuts and their impacts while providing resources to help fight back against this attack on science...

From Tori Bonidie and Skylar Grayson: The president’s budget requests for NASA and the NSF were released last week. We summarizes the major cuts and their impacts while providing resources to help fight back against this attack on science. ⚛️ 🔭 ☄️ 🧪
astrobites.org/2026/04/16/budget-request-fy2027/

Flashy and Fashionably Late: the Fascinating Time Lag in Blazar Flares The authors of today’s featured paper investigated how a decades-long stakeout of a sample of blazars uncovered new insights into a serious case of cosmic “jet-lag”.

From Nicki Bond: The authors of today’s featured paper investigated how a decades-long stakeout of a sample of blazars uncovered new insights into a serious case of cosmic “jet-lag”. ⚛️ 🔭 ☄️ 🧪
astrobites.org/2026/04/16/flashy-and-fashionably-late-the-fascinating-time-lag-in-blazar-flares/

Dawn of the Red Monsters Today's bite reports the discovery of the most distant red galaxy ever confirmed!

From Madison VanWyngarden: Today’s bite reports the discovery of the most distant red galaxy ever confirmed! ⚛️ 🔭 ☄️ 🧪
astrobites.org/2026/04/14/dawn-of-the-red-monsters/

Tell me why? A case for Human(e) Astrophysics Artemis, AI, Astronomy, and our place in it. The author asks why do astrophysics at all. To produce results faster, or to turn graduate students into inefficient stand-ins for software? Or because ast...

From @qwasistellar.bsky.social: Artemis, AI, Astronomy, and our place in it. The author asks why do astrophysics at all. To produce results faster, or to turn graduate students into inefficient stand-ins for software? ⚛️ 🔭 ☄️ 🧪
astrobites.org/2026/04/10/tell-me-why-a-case-for-humane-astrophysics/

Exoplanets in a bottle: How laboratory experiments help us understand distant planets Characterising exoplanet atmospheres is one of the primary challenges for the coming decades and absolutely essential for our understanding of these alien worlds. Join us today as we dive into some of...

From Kasper Zoellner: Characterising exoplanet atmospheres is one of the primary challenges for the coming decades and absolutely essential for our understanding. ⚛️ 🔭 ☄️ 🧪
astrobites.org/2026/04/13/exoplanets-in-a-bottle-how-laboratory-experiments-help-us-understand-distant-planets/

From Serat Saad: A new solution to Einstein’s general relativity suggests wormholes could be real and traveling through them might be possible. ⚛️ 🔭 ☄️ 🧪
astrobites.org/2026/04/11/wormholes-might-be-more-real-than-we-thought/

From Joe Williams: How do astrophysicists research and model planet formation in protoplanetary discs? Learn how to simulate a protoplanetary disc using DustPy: software commonly used in state-of-the-art research! ⚛️ 🔭 ☄️ 🧪
astrobites.org/2026/04/09/simulating-protoplanetary-discs/

Hubble’s Dark Horse: New measurements of the Hubble constant from LIGO’s dark sirens In the race to resolve the tension between cosmological and local measurements of the Hubble constant, another method enters the contest… using gravitational wave signals without an electromagnetic co...

From @kelsie137.bsky.social: In the race to resolve the tension between cosmological and local measurements of the Hubble constant, another method enters the contest… using gravitational wave signals without an electromagnetic counterpart!! ⚛️ 🔭 ☄️ 🧪
astrobites.org/2026/04/08/hubbles-dark-horse/

Too Massive, Too Early… and Still Not Massive Enough? What if JWST’s early massive galaxies are not overestimated, but underestimated? A bottom-heavy IMF could hide tons of mass in faint stars.

From @astroneal.bsky.social: What if JWST’s early massive galaxies are not overestimated, but underestimated? A bottom-heavy IMF could hide tons of mass in faint stars. ⚛️ 🔭 ☄️ 🧪
astrobites.org/2026/04/07/too-massive-too-early/

Admiring the Atmospheric Egg Shell of Sub-Neptune TOI-270d Whether you’re a six-year-old scouring the backyard on Easter morning, or an exoplanet astronomer with observing time on the James Webb Space Telescope, nothing beats the feeling of finding what you’r...

From @evannelles.bsky.social: Nothing beats the feeling of finding what you’re looking for. You can imagine the authors excitement when they received transmission spectroscopy data of sub-Neptune, TOI-270d. ⚛️ 🔭 ☄️ 🧪 astrobites.org/2026/04/06/admiring-the-atmospheric-egg-shell-of-sub-neptune-toi-270d/

The Case of the Extremely Energetic Gamma Rays: an LS I +61 303 Mystery In today's bite, the LHAASO collaboration tackle a gamma ray mystery in the LS I +61 303 system, investigating just who (or what) might be responsible.

From @jaidai.bsky.social: The LHAASO collaboration tackle a gamma ray mystery in the LS I +61 303 system, investigating just who (or what) might be responsible. ⚛️ 🔭 ☄️🧪
astrobites.org/2026/04/04/gamma-rays-lhaaso-lsi61303/

Deblurring the Dark Compact Object Picture with Microlensing Lenses aren’t always made of glass, sometimes they’re made of dark matter compact objects! Today’s paper explores if and how we can tell primordial black holes apart from dark black holes using gravit...

From @laurie-amen.bsky.social: Lenses aren’t always made of glass, sometimes they’re made of dark matter! How can we tell primordial black holes apart from dark black holes using gravitational microlensing. ⚛️ 🔭 ☄️🧪
astrobites.org/2026/04/02/deblurring-dark-compact-objects-with-microlensing/

Thanks to Katherine Lee, Samantha Wong, Maria Vincent, Sparrow Roch, Jayde Willingham, Roel Lefever, Kelsie Taylor, Nicki Bond, and Akshita Mittal for 'reviewing' these papers.

[Beyond] Why Go Back to the Moon? Artemis II, Explained Artemis II successfully launched on April 1st, 2026! But, why are we going back over 53 years later?

From Nathan Whitsett: Artemis II successfully launched on April 1st, 2026! But, why are we going back over 53 years later? ⚛️ 🔭 ☄️🧪
astrobites.org/2026/04/05/a...

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The April Fools Paper Review Process – 2026 There is a tradition in Astronomy to post silly science papers to the arXiv on Aprils Fools day. We’ve collected them all for 2026 and provided some “peer review”.

There is a tradition in Astronomy to post silly science papers to the arXiv on Aprils Fools day. We’ve collected them all for 2026 and provided some “peer review”.
astrobites.org/2026/04/06/april-fools-2026/

[Beyond] Undergraduate astronomy degrees vary widely. Here’s what could be done to fix that. A survey of physics and astronomy departments across the country has shown that degrees in astronomy can be pretty different. Read more about the AAS SURGE committee's findings and recommendations!

From Skylar Grayson and Nathalie Korhonen Cuestas: A survey of physics and astronomy departments across the country has shown that degrees in astronomy can be pretty different. Read more about the AAS SURGE committee’s findings and recommendations! ⚛️ 🔭 ☄️ 🧪
astrobites.org/2026/04/01/surge-findings/

Recycle your paper, plastic, and… pulsars? Most pulsars gradually spin slower and slower, making weaker and weaker radio pulses until the pulses stop altogether. Today’s paper is about a star that has spun its neutron star companion back up, r...

From Chris Layden: Today’s paper is about a star that has spun its neutron star companion back up, recycling it into a millisecond pulsar. ⚛️ 🔭 ☄️ 🧪
astrobites.org/2026/03/31/transitional_millisecond_pulsar/

Dancing with the Blazars: Variability you can groove to In today’s paper, we explore how blazar light curves can be transformed into music and the benefits of this for both scientists and science communication.

From Nicki Bond: In today’s paper, we explore how blazar light curves can be transformed into music and the benefits of this for both scientists and science communication. ⚛️ 🔭 ☄️ 🧪
astrobites.org/2026/03/30/dancing-with-the-blazars/

Life on the (Red) Edge Today’s bite explores life on the vegetation red edge...and how we might find it on other worlds.

From @astronokaz.bsky.social: Today’s bite explores life on the vegetation red edge…and how we might find it on other worlds. ⚛️ 🔭 ☄️ 🧪
astrobites.org/2026/03/28/r...

An introduction to Obsidian for the busy astronomer Whether you're looking for a new way to organize your thoughts or just want to experiment with a different workflow, Obsidian offers a refreshing, local-first approach to note-taking. Here is a quick,...

From Kasper Zoellner: Whether you’re looking for a new way to organize your thoughts or just want to experiment with a different workflow, Obsidian offers a refreshing, local-first approach to note-taking. ⚛️ 🔭 ☄️ 🧪
astrobites.org/2026/03/27/an-introduction-to-obsidian-for-the-busy-astronomer/

Found in our own Backyard: A Child of the First Stars? A direct descendant of the first stars! Read today's bite to learn how the authors found it.

From @neevshah101.bsky.social: A direct descendant of the first stars! Read today’s bite to learn how the authors found it. ⚛️ 🔭 ☄️ 🧪
astrobites.org/2026/03/26/child-of-first-stars/

Looking through the eccentricity pinhole Only a tiny fraction of black hole binaries produce gravitational waves with measurable eccentricity. What does the eccentricity distribution tell us about how these binaries formed?

From Viviana Cáceres: Only a tiny fraction of black hole binaries produce gravitational waves with measurable eccentricity. What does the eccentricity distribution tell us about how these binaries formed? ⚛️ 🔭 ☄️ 🧪
astrobites.org/2026/03/25/pinhole-eccentricity-distribution/

Guest: A Pricey Path to Habitable Planets: Expanding the VLTI to Directly Probe Exoplanets Today’s authors propose upgrades to the VLTI that will allow us to search for signs of life on distant worlds.

From Grace Piroscia: Today’s authors propose upgrades to the VLTI that will allow us to search for signs of life on distant worlds. ⚛️ 🔭 ☄️ 🧪
astrobites.org/2026/03/23/guest-a-pricey-path-to-habitable-planets-expanding-the-vlti-to-directly-probe-exoplanets/

Hunting for Exomoons Around a Lonely Planet Moons are abundant within our own solar system, but astronomers have historically struggled to find moons (exomoons) within other systems beyond our own. Yet, today’s authors suggest that the James We...

From Jared Bull: Moons are abundant within our own solar system, but astronomers have historically struggled to find moons (exomoons) within other systems beyond our own. ⚛️ 🔭 ☄️ 🧪
astrobites.org/2026/03/24/hunting-for-exomoons-around-a-lonely-planet/

Guest: The closest look into the largest nearby cosmic structures: a foray into the Fornax galaxy cluster Galaxy clusters are collections of galaxies that are bound together by gravity. They are the largest structures that exist in our Universe, and their mass is dominated by the hot gas that lies between...

From guest Affan Khadir: One of the closest galaxy clusters is Fornax, and it was recently studied in detail using the MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa. ⚛️ 🔭 ☄️ 🧪
astrobites.org/2026/03/20/guest-the-closest-look-into-the-largest-nearby-cosmic-structures-a-foray-into-the-fornax-galaxy-cluster/

From Sarah Stevenson: If you have a cosmic mystery on your hands, surely it helps to examine it from as many angles as possible? Today’s authors do that, literally, while investigating the highest-energy particles in the universe. ⚛️ 🔭 ☄️ 🧪
astrobites.org/2026/03/21/auger-uhecr-spectrum-2025/