We measure homogeneous distances to M31 and 38 associated stellar systems (-16.8 <= M ( V ) <= -6.0), using time-series observations of RR Lyrae stars taken as part of the Hubble Space Telescope Treasury Survey of M31 Satellites. From >700 orbits of new/archival Advanced Camera for Surveys imaging, we identify >4700 RR Lyrae stars and determine their periods and mean magnitudes to a typical precision of 0.01 day and 0.04 mag. Based on period-Wesenheit-metallicity relationships consistent with the Gaia eDR3 distance scale, we uniformly measure heliocentric and M31-centric distances to a typical precision of similar to 20 kpc (3%) and similar to 10 kpc (8%), respectively. We revise the 3D structure of the M31 galactic ecosystem and: (i) confirm a highly anisotropic spatial distribution such that similar to 80% of M31's satellites reside on the near side of M31; this feature is not easily explained by observational effects; (ii) affirm the thin (rms 7-23 kpc) planar "arc" of satellites that comprises roughly half (15) of the galaxies within 300 kpc from M31; (iii) reassess the physical proximity of notable associations such as the NGC 147/185 pair and M33/AND xxii; and (iv) illustrate challenges in tip-of-the-red-giant branch distances for galaxies with M ( V ) > - 9.5, which can be biased by up to 35%. We emphasize the importance of RR Lyrae for accurate distances to faint galaxies that should be discovered by upcoming facilities (e.g., Rubin Observatory). We provide updated luminosities and sizes for our sample. Our distances will serve as the basis for future investigation of the star formation and orbital histories of the entire known M31 satellite system.

MegaMapper is a 6.5m Magellan-like telescope fitted with a wide-field-corrector (WFC) and atmospheric-dispersion-corrector (ADC) that delivers a 3. diameter corrected field-of-view. The telescope's focal surface is populated by similar to 25, 000 robotic fiber-positioners feeding a cluster of 36 DESI-like medium resolution spectrographs. We present the facility concept for MegaMapper including: conceptual optical and opto-mechanical designs for the telescope and WFC/ADC that deliver less than or similar to 0.4 '' image quality over the full FOV for zenith distances <= 50 degrees; the development of a new and modular robotic fiber-positioner focal plane design that can populate the focal surface at high densities (6.2 mm pitch or similar to 1 per arcmin(2)); and concepts for hosting the MegaMapper spectrograph cluster under environmentally controlled conditions inside the telescope enclosure. Building on existing and proven designs and technologies, MegaMapper aims to minimize the project's technical risk and cost while delivering a competitive next-generation massively multiplexed spectroscopic facility. MegaMapper will lead the study of inflation, dark energy, dark matter, and time-domain astronomy over the next decades by carrying out wide-field cosmological galaxy-redshift surveys, massive spectroscopic surveys of stars in the Milky Way halo and satellites, and by providing a spectroscopic follow-up counterpart to wide field imaging facilities like the Vera C. Rubin Observatory and the Nancy Grace Roman space telescope.

As the Milky Way and its satellite system become more entrenched in near field cosmology efforts, the need for an accurate mass estimate of the Milky Way's dark matter halo is increasingly critical. With the second and early third data releases of stellar proper motions from Gaia, several groups calculated full 6D phase-space information for the population of Milky Way satellite galaxies. Utilizing these data in comparison to subhalo properties drawn from the Phat ELVIS simulations, we constrain the Milky Way dark matter halo mass to be similar to 1-1.2 x 10(12) M-circle dot. We find that the kinematics of subhaloes drawn from more- or less-massive hosts (i.e. >1.2 x 10(12) M-circle dot or <10(12) M-circle dot) are inconsistent, at the 3 sigma confidence level, with the observed velocities of the Milky Way satellites. The preferred host halo mass for the Milky Way is largely insensitive to the exclusion of systems associated with the Large Magellanic Cloud, changes in galaxy formation thresholds, and variations in observational completeness. As more Milky Way satellites are discovered, their velocities (radial, tangential, and total) plus Galactocentric distances will provide further insight into the mass of the Milky Way dark matter halo.

The angular momentum (AM) evolution of stellar interiors, along with the resulting rotation rates of stellar remnants, remains poorly understood. Asteroseismic measurements of red giant stars reveal that their cores rotate much faster than their surfaces, but much slower than theoretically predicted, indicating an unidentified source of AM transport operates in their radiative cores. Motivated by this, we investigate the magnetic Tayler instability and argue that it saturates when turbulent dissipation of the perturbed magnetic field energy is equal to magnetic energy generation via winding. This leads to larger magnetic field amplitudes, more efficient AM transport, and smaller shears than predicted by the classic Tayler-Spruit dynamo. We provide prescriptions for the effective AM diffusivity and incorporate them into numerical stellar models, finding they largely reproduce (1) the nearly rigid rotation of the Sun and main sequence stars, (2) the core rotation rates of low-mass red giants during hydrogen shell and helium burning, and (3) the rotation rates of white dwarfs. We discuss implications for stellar rotational evolution, internal rotation profiles, rotational mixing, and the spins of compact objects.

We present and analyse a new tidal disruption event (TDE), AT2017eqx at redshift z = 0.1089, discovered by Pan-STARRS and ATLAS. The position of the transient is consistent with the nucleus of its host galaxy; the spectrum shows a persistent blackbody temperature T greater than or similar to 20 000 K with broad HI and He II emission; and it peaks at a blackbody luminosity of L approximate to 10(44) erg s(-1). The lines are initially centred at zero velocity, but by 100 d, the HI lines disappear while the He II develops a blueshift of greater than or similar to 5000 km s(-1). Both the early- and late-time morphologies have been seen in other TDEs, but the complete transition between them is unprecedented. The evolution can be explained by combining an extended atmosphere, undergoing slow contraction, with a wind in the polar direction becoming visible at late times. Our observations confirm that a lack of hydrogen a TDE spectrum does not indicate a stripped star, while the proposed model implies that much of the diversity in TDEs may be due to the observer viewing angle. Modelling the light curve suggests AT2017eqx resulted from the complete disruption of a solar-mass star by a black hole of similar to 10(6.3) M-circle dot. The host is another Balmer-strong absorption galaxy, though fainter and less centrally concentrated than most TDE hosts. Radio limits rule out a relativistic jet, while X-ray limits at 500 d are among the deepest for a TDE at this phase.

Although there has recently been tremendous progress in studies of fast radio bursts (FRBs), the nature of their progenitors remains a mystery. We study the fluence and dispersion measure (DM) distributions of the ASKAP sample to better understand their energetics and statistics. We first consider a simplified model of a power-law volumetric rate per unit isotropic energy dN/dE proportional to E-gamma) with a maximum energy E-max in a uniform Euclidean universe. This provides analytic insights for what can be learned from these distributions. We find that the observed cumulative DM distribution scales as N(>DM) proportional to DM5-2 gamma (for gamma > 1) until a maximum DM max above which bursts near E-max fall below the fluence threshold of a given telescope. Comparing this model with the observed fluence and DM distributions, we find a reasonable fit for gamma similar to 1.7 and E-max similar to 10(33) erg Hz(-1). We then carry out a full Bayesian analysis based on a Schechter rate function with cosmological factors. We find roughly consistent results with our analytical approach, although with large errors on the inferred parameters due to the small sample size. The power-law index and the maximum energy are constrained to be gamma similar or equal to 1.6 +/- 0.3 and log E-max (erg Hz(-1) ) similar or equal to 34.1(-0.7)(+1.1) (68% confidence), respectively. From the survey exposure time, we further infer a cumulative local volumetric rate of log N(E > 10(32) erg Hz(-1))(Gpc(-3) yr(-1)) similar or equal to 2.6 +/- 0.4 (68% confidence). The methods presented here will be useful for the much larger FRB samples expected in the near future to study their distributions, energetics, and rates.

Tidal interactions can play an important role as compact white dwarf (WD) binaries are driven together by gravitational waves (GWs). This will modify the strain evolution measured by future space-based GW detectors and impact the potential outcome of the mergers. Surveys now and in the near future will generate an unprecedented population of detached WD binaries to constrain tidal interactions. Motivated by this, I summarize the deviations between a binary evolving under the influence of only GW emission and a binary that is also experiencing some degree of tidal locking. I present analytic relations for the first and second derivative of the orbital period and braking index. Measurements of these quantities will allow the inference of tidal interactions, even when the masses of the component WDs are not well constrained. Finally, I discuss tidal heating and how it can provide complimentary information.

An intriguing, growing class of planets are the "super-puffs," objects with exceptionally large radii for their masses and thus correspondingly low densities (less than or similar to 0.3 g cm(-3)). Here we consider whether they could have large inferred radii because they are in fact ringed. This would naturally explain why super-puffs have thus far only shown featureless transit spectra. We find that this hypothesis can work in some cases but not all. The close proximity of the super-puffs to their parent stars necessitates rings with a rocky rather than icy composition. This limits the radius of the rings, and makes it challenging to explain the large size of Kepler 51b, 51c, 51d, and 79d unless the rings are composed of porous material. Furthermore, the short tidal locking timescales for Kepler 18d, 223d, and 223e mean that these planets may be spinning too slowly, resulting in a small oblateness and rings that are warped by their parent star. Kepler 87c and 177c have the best chance of being explained by rings. Using transit simulations, we show that testing this hypothesis requires photometry with a precision of somewhere between similar to 10 ppm and similar to 50 ppm, which roughly scales with the ratio of the planet and star's radii. We conclude with a note about the recently discovered super-puff HIP 41378f.

Many Type II supernovae (SNe) show hot early (similar to 30 days) emission, and a diversity in their light curves extending from the Type IIP to the Type IIL, which can be explained by interaction with dense and confined circumstellar material (CSM). We perform hydrodynamical simulations of red supergiants to model the ejection of CSM caused by wave heating during late-stage nuclear burning. Even a small amount of deposited energy (10(46)-10(47) erg), which is roughly that expected due to waves excited by convection in the core, is sufficient to change the shapes of SN light curves and bring them into better agreement with observations. As a test case, we consider the specific example of supernova (SN) 2017eaw, which shows that a nuclear burning episode is able to explain the light curve if it occurs similar to 150-450 days prior to core collapse. Due to the long timescale that it takes for the low-energy shock to traverse the star, this would manifest as a pre-SN outburst similar to 50-350 days prior to the full-fledged SN. Applying work like this to other SNe will provide a direct connection between the SN and pre-SN outburst properties, which can be tested by future wide field surveys. In addition, we show that our models can qualitatively explain the short-lived "flash-ionization" lines seen in the early spectra of many Type II SNe.