We present our current best estimate of the plausible observing scenarios for the Advanced LIGO, Advanced Virgo and KAGRA gravitational-wave detectors over the next several years, with the intention of providing information to facilitate planning for multi-messenger astronomy with gravitational waves. We estimate the sensitivity of the network to transient gravitational-wave signals for the third (O3), fourth (O4) and fifth observing (O5) runs, including the planned upgrades of the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors. We study the capability of the network to determine the sky location of the source for gravitational-wave signals from the inspiral of binary systems of compact objects, that is binary neutron star, neutron star–black hole, and binary black hole systems. The ability to localize the sources is given as a sky-area probability, luminosity distance, and comoving volume. The median sky localization area (90% credible region) is expected to be a few hundreds of square degrees for all types of binary systems during O3 with the Advanced LIGO and Virgo (HLV) network. The median sky localization area will improve to a few tens of square degrees during O4 with the Advanced LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA (HLVK) network. During O3, the median localization volume (90% credible region) is expected to be on the order of $$10^{5}, 10^{6}, 10^{7}\mathrm {\ Mpc}^3$$ 10 5 , 10 6 , 10 7 Mpc 3 for binary neutron star, neutron star–black hole, and binary black hole systems, respectively. The localization volume in O4 is expected to be about a factor two smaller than in O3. We predict a detection count of $$1^{+12}_{-1}$$ 1 - 1 + 12 ($$10^{+52}_{-10}$$ 10 - 10 + 52 ) for binary neutron star mergers, of $$0^{+19}_{-0}$$ 0 - 0 + 19 ($$1^{+91}_{-1}$$ 1 - 1 + 91 ) for neutron star–black hole mergers, and $$17^{+22}_{-11}$$ 17 - 11 + 22 ($$79^{+89}_{-44}$$ 79 - 44 + 89 ) for binary black hole mergers in a one-calendar-year observing run of the HLV network during O3 (HLVK network during O4). We evaluate sensitivity and localization expectations for unmodeled signal searches, including the search for intermediate mass black hole binary mergers.

We report the observation of gravitational waves from two compact binary coalescences in LIGO's and Virgo's third observing run with properties consistent with neutron star-black hole (NSBH) binaries. The two events are named GW200105_162426 and GW200115_042309, abbreviated as GW200105 and GW200115; the first was observed by LIGO Livingston and Virgo and the second by all three LIGO-Virgo detectors. The source of GW200105 has component masses -+ 8.9 1.5 1.2 and 130 Gpc yr 69 112 3 1 under the assumption of a broader distribution of component masses.

The Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image (MAXI) mission is the first astronomical payload to be installed on the Japanese Experiment Module — Exposed Facility (JEM-EF or Kibo-EF) on the International Space Station. It has two types of X-ray slit cameras with wide FOVs and two kinds of X-ray detectors consisting of gas proportional counters covering the energy range of 2 to 30 keV and X-ray CCDs covering the energy range of 0.5 to 12 keV. MAXI will be more powerful than any previous X-ray All Sky Monitor payloads, being able to monitor hundreds of Active Galactic Nuclei. A realistic simulation under optimal observation conditions suggests that MAXI will provide all-sky images of X-ray sources of $\sim $20 mCrab ($\sim $7 $\times$ 10$^{-10} $erg cm$^{-2} $s$^{-1}$ in the energy band of 2–30 keV) from observations during one ISS orbit (90 min), $\sim $4.5 mCrab for one day, and $\sim $2 mCrab for one week. The final detectability of MAXI could be $\sim $0.2 mCrab for two years, which is comparable to the source confusion limit of the MAXI field of view (FOV). The MAXI objectives are: (1) to alert the community to X-ray novae and transient X-ray sources, (2) to monitor long-term variabilities of X-ray sources, (3) to stimulate multi-wavelength observations of variable objects, (4) to create unbiased X-ray source cataloges, and (5) to observe diffuse cosmic X-ray emissions, especially with better energy resolution for soft X-rays down to 0.5 keV.

We present the Suzaku broadband observations of two AGNs detected by the Swift BAT hard X-ray (115 keV) survey that did not have previous X-ray data, SWIFT J0601.9Ϫ8636 and SWIFT J0138.6Ϫ4001. The Suzaku spectra reveal in both objects a heavily absorbed power-law component with a column density of 23.5 24 Ϫ2N Ӎ 10 -10 cm H that dominates above 10 keV and an intense reflection component with a solid angle տ2p from a cold, optically thick medium. We find that these AGNs have an extremely small fraction of scattered light from the nucleus, Շ0.5% with respect to the intrinsic power-law component. This indicates that they are buried in a very geometrically thick torus with a small opening angle and/or have an unusually small amount of gas responsible for scattering. In the former case, the geometry of SWIFT J0601.9Ϫ8636 should be nearly face-on as inferred from the small absorption for the reflection component. The discovery of two such objects in this small sample implies that there must be a significant number of yet unrecognized, very Compton thick AGNs viewed at larger inclination angles in the local universe, which are difficult to detect even in the currently most sensitive optical or hard X-ray surveys.

We present observations of the unusual microlensing event OGLE 2003-BLG-235/MOA 2003-BLG-53. In this event a short duration (∼7 days) low amplitude deviation in the light curve due a single lens profile was observed in both the MOA and OGLE survey observations. We find that the observed features of the light curve can only be reproduced using a binary microlensing model with an extreme (planetary) mass ratio of 0.0039 +11 −07 for the lensing system. If the lens system comprises a main