Two sources of variability are reported in extreme horizontal branch (EHB) stars found in globular clusters, both related to the action of weak magnetic fields: large surface spots and very energetic flares. EHB stars in clusters can thus be linked to EHB field stars, and beyond, to other stars with radiative envelopes.

The establishment and maintenance of the symbiosis between a cnidarian host and its dinoflagellate symbionts is central to the success of coral reefs. To explore the metabolite production underlying this symbiosis, we focused on a group of low molecular weight secondary metabolites, biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs). BVOCs are released from an organism or environment, and can be collected in the gas phase, allowing non-invasive analysis of an organism's metabolism (i.e. 'volatilomics'). We characterised volatile profiles of the sea anemone Aiptasia (Exaiptasia diaphana), a model system for cnidarian-dinoflagellate symbiosis, using comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography coupled with time-of-flight mass spectrometry. We compared volatile profiles between: (1) symbiotic anemones containing their native symbiont, Breviolum minutum; (2) aposymbiotic anemones; and (3) cultured isolates of B. minutum. Overall, 152 BVOCs were detected, and classified into 14 groups based on their chemical structure, the most numerous groups being alkanes and aromatic compounds. A total of 53 BVOCs were differentially abundant between aposymbiotic anemones and B. minutum cultures; 13 between aposymbiotic and symbiotic anemones; and 60 between symbiotic anemones and cultures of B. minutum. More BVOCs were differentially abundant between cultured and symbiotic dinoflagellates than between aposymbiotic and symbiotic anemones, suggesting that symbiosis may modify symbiont physiology more than host physiology. This is the first volatilome analysis of the Aiptasia model system and provides a foundation from which to explore how BVOC production is perturbed under environmental stress, and ultimately the role they play in this important symbiosis.

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey V (SDSS-V) is an all-sky spectroscopic survey of >6 million objects, designed to decode the history of the Milky Way, reveal the inner workings of stars, investigate the origin of solar systems, and track the growth of supermassive black holes across the Universe. The Local Volume Mapper (LVM) is a facility designed to provide a contiguous 2,500 deg(2) integral-field survey over a 3.5 year period from Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. In this paper we provide an overview and status update for the LVM instrument (hereafter LVM-I). Each integral-field unit's spaxel probes linear scales that are sub-parsec (Milky Way) to similar to 10 pc (Magellanic Clouds) which is accomplished with an angular diameter of 36.9". LVM's spectral resolution is R = lambda/Delta lambda similar to 4, 000 which probes velocities of 33 kms(-1) (1 sigma) from 365 nm to 950 nm. LVM uses four 16-cm telescopes feeding three spectrographs. One telescope carries the bulk of the science load with similar to 1,800 fibers coupled to the field via a pair of lenslet arrays, two telescopes are used to measure the night sky spectra in fields that flank the science field, and a fourth telescope contemporaneously monitors bright standard stars to determine atmospheric extinction. We expect LVM-I to deliver percent-level precision on important line ratios down to a few Rayleigh. The three spectrographs are being built by Winlight corporation in France based on those for the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI). In this paper we present the high-level system design of LVM-I including the lenslet-coupled fiber IFUs, telescopes, guiding+acquisition system, calibration systems, enclosures, and spectrographs.

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey V (SDSS-V) is an all-sky spectroscopic survey of >6 million objects, designed to decode the history of the Milky Way, reveal the inner workings of stars, investigate the origin of solar systems, and track the growth of supermassive black holes across the Universe. The Local Volume Mapper (LVM) is a facility designed to provide a contiguous 2500 deg 2 integral-field survey over a 3.5 year period from Las Campailas Observatory (LCO) in Chile. The facility comprises four small (16 cm) telescopes that deliver science, calibration, and spectro-photometric light to three bench-mounted multi-object spectrographs, designed and build by Winlight Systems. All four telescopes will be equipped with a microlens array integral-field unit (IFU) to slice the focal plane into 35-arcsec large spatial elements while maintaining near-telecentric coupling at the fiber input. The science IFU comprises 1801 fibers, additional 143 fibers are allocated for sky-background and spectro-photometric calibration, totaling 1944 fibers. Each spectrograph will be fed by 648 fibers, which are reformatted into a linear array, forming the entrance slit. In this paper, we present the opto-mechanical design of the LVM-LCO fiber cable system.

This paper presents a systematic study of the photoionization and thermodynamic properties of the cool circumgalactic medium (CGM) as traced by rest-frame ultraviolet absorption lines around 26 galaxies at redshift z less than or similar to 1. The study utilizes both high-quality far-ultraviolet and optical spectra of background QSOs and deep galaxy redshift surveys to characterize the gas density, temperature, and pressure of individual absorbing components and to resolve their internal non-thermal motions. The derived gas density spans more than three decades, from log(n(H)/cm(-3)) approximate to -4 to -1, while the temperature of the gas is confined in a narrow range of log (T/K) approximate to 4.3 +/- 0.3. In addition, a weak anticorrelation between gas density and temperature is observed, consistent with the expectation of the gas being in photoionization equilibrium. Furthermore, decomposing the observed line widths into thermal and non-thermal contributions reveals that more than 30 per cent of the components at z less than or similar to 1 exhibit line widths driven by non-thermal motions, in comparison to <20 per cent found at z approximate to 2-3. Attributing the observed non-thermal line widths to intra-clump turbulence, we find that massive quenched galaxies on average exhibit higher non-thermal broadening/turbulent energy in their CGM compared to star-forming galaxies at z less than or similar to 1. Finally, strong absorption features from multiple ions covering a wide range of ionization energy (e.g. from Mg II to O IV) can be present simultaneously in a single absorption system with kinematically aligned component structure, but the inferred pressure in different phases may differ by a factor of approximate to 10.

In the hierarchical view of star formation, giant molecular clouds (GMCs) undergo fragmentation to form small-scale structures made up of stars and star clusters. Here we study the connection between young star clusters and cold gas across a range of extragalactic environments by combining the high resolution (1 '') PHANGS-ALMA catalogue of GMCs with the star cluster catalogues from PHANGS-HST. The star clusters are spatially matched with the GMCs across a sample of 11 nearby star-forming galaxies with a range of galactic environments (centres, bars, spiral arms, etc.). We find that after 4 - 6 Myr the star clusters are no longer associated with any gas clouds. Additionally, we measure the autocorrelation of the star clusters and GMCs as well as their cross-correlation to quantify the fractal nature of hierarchical star formation. Young (<= 10 Myr) star clusters are more strongly autocorrelated on kpc and smaller spatial scales than the > 10 Myr stellar populations, indicating that the hierarchical structure dissolves over time.

The chromatin associated with the nuclear lamina (NL) is referred to as lamina-associated domains (LADs). Here, we present an adaptation of the tyramide-signal amplification sequencing (TSA-seq) protocol, which we call chromatin pull down-based TSA-seq (cTSA-seq), that can be used to map chromatin regions at or near the NL from as little as 50 000 cells. The cTSA-seq mapped regions are composed of previously defined LADs and smaller chromatin regions that fall within the Hi-C defined B-compartment containing nuclear peripheral heterochromatin. We used cTSA-seq to map chromatin at or near the assembling NL in cultured cells progressing through early G1. cTSA-seq revealed that the distal ends of chromosomes are near or at the reassembling NL during early G1, a feature similar to those found in senescent cells. We expand the use of cTSA-seq to the mapping of chromatin at or near the NL from fixed-frozen mouse cerebellar tissue sections. This mapping reveals a general conservation of NL-associated chromatin and identifies global and local changes during cerebellar development. The cTSA-seq method reported here is useful for analyzing chromatin at or near the NL from small numbers of cells derived from both in vitro and in vivo sources.

The Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) Commissioning Camera (ComCam) is an all-refractive, focal reducing camera intended for the evaluation of telescope performance in both natural seeing and ground layer adaptive optics modes across a six arcminute field of view. As the first purpose-built, large imager for the GMT, it also provides unique public outreach functions and scientific research opportunities by enabling both narrowband and broadband imaging and photometric measurements at wavelengths between 360 and 950 nm. In addition to a discrete set of narrowband and broadband filters, inclusion of a deployable Fabry-Perot etalon will greatly enhance ComCam's capabilities. With an image scale of 0.06 arcseconds per pixel, ComCam will be able to take full advantage of the GMT's GLAO-corrected image quality under the best predicted conditions. ComCam has undergone a conceptual design review and is now under development in the preliminary design phase. Instrumental first light will be concurrent with that of the GMT.

The Magellan Infrared Multi-object Spectrograph (MIRMOS) is a near-infrared (NIR) multi-object spectrograph (MOS) and integral field unit (IFU) to be deployed at the Magellan 6.5-meter telescopes at Las Campafias Observatory. MIRMOS is designed to address frontier scientific questions in extragalactic, cosmological, and exoplanetary science. These scientific questions led us to spectrograph with an instantaneous wavelength range from 0.89-2.4 mu m with a spectral resolution > 3, 700. The spectrograph is fed by a front end that switches between a robotic mechanical slit mask capable of deploying nearly 90 slits over a 13' x 3' field, or by an image slicer IFU with a wide field of 26 '' x 20 ''. MIRMOS is currently under design at the Carnegie Observatories.