Galaxies

UCLA astrophysicists have used new simulations to uncover that the earliest galaxies may have been smaller and brighter than previously believed, challenging current dark matter theories. By incorporating interactions between gas and dark matter, their research suggests that these bright dwarf galaxies, if found by the James Webb Space Telescope, could validate existing models. However, their absence would prompt a reevaluation of our understanding of dark matter and the universe’s formation.Should theories of cold dark…

By ESA/Hubble March 11, 2024This image from the Hubble Space Telescope features LEDA 42160, a dwarf galaxy located 52 million light-years away in the Virgo constellation, part of the dense Virgo cluster of galaxies. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, M. SunLEDA 42160, in the Virgo cluster, experiences significant star formation changes due to ram pressure. Classified as a Magellanic spiral galaxy, it showcases the nuanced categorization of galaxies beyond basic types.This Hubble Space Telescope image shows LEDA 42160, a…

If you want to stay grounded—which is to say, you want a haunting reminder of your own diminutive size and mortality—do I have the tool for you. Meet Galactic Compass: an app which will point the user towards the whopping black hole at the center of our galaxy, Sagittarius A*.How Dave Bautista Raised His Game For Dune: Part TwoAs you read this article, you are hurtling through space on a spinning, wobbling sphere, which is itself spinning around a hot ball of gas at the center of our solar system. But if you zoom much,…

Sample shapes of distant galaxies identified by the James Webb Space Telescope’s Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) survey. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Steve Finkelstein (UT Austin), Micaela Bagley (UT Austin), Rebecca Larson (UT Austin) Data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope suggests that many early galaxies were long and thin, not disk-like or spherical.Columbia researchers analyzing images from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have found that galaxies in the early universe are often flat and…

Scientists are baffled by a recent James Webb discovery. The discovery in question is detailed in a new study published in Nature. It details observations of a galaxy known as ZF-UDS-7329, which is estimated to have formed just 800 million years after the Big Bang. This makes it one of the earliest galaxies we know of, and yet its existence makes no sense based on our current universal models.The results of Webb’s observations show that the galaxy was observed as it existed over 11.5 billion years ago. However,…

Our Sun is about 330,000 times the mass of Earth, yet it is dwarfed by the black holes that lurk at the centers of galaxies. A team of astronomers recently found the fastest-growing of this group: a 17-billion solar mass black hole in the distant universe, which is growing at the rate of one solar mass per day.Why Bitcoin won’t reach $1,000,000The black hole is actually a quasar, aka an actively feeding black hole at the center of a galaxy. When quasars accrete matter—which is to say, as their strong gravitational fields…

Our understanding of how galaxies form and the nature of dark matter could be completely upended, after new observations of a stellar population bigger than the Milky Way from more than 11 billion years ago that should not exist.A paper published in Nature details findings using new data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The results find that a massive galaxy in the early universe – observed 11.5 billion years ago (a cosmic redshift of 3.2) – has an extremely old population of stars formed much earlier – 1.5…

US space agency NASA has been exploring space and beyond for decades and helping it do that have been quite a few telescopes, satellites and spacecraft up in the sky including the venerable Hubble Space Telescope and the new James Webb Space Telescope, both of which have shed fascinating light on the matter going as far back as almost to the beginning of time - the Big Bang itself. The space agency has contributed to amazing discoveries with its missions over the years. However, space is vast and made up of amazingly…

NASA is constantly pushing the limits, venturing into the unknown realms of air and space. Their most recent project, the UVEX mission (UltraViolet EXplorer), scheduled for launch in 2030, promises to shed more light on the mysteries of galaxy and star evolution. UVEX's primary mission is to conduct a comprehensive survey of ultraviolet light across the entire sky. But it doesn't stop there. Equipped with advanced technology, the telescope can quickly identify sources of UV radiation in the universe. This capacity is…

Orbital observatories such as the Hubble Space Telescope and James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) can see far back into the universe—so far, in fact, that they have revealed some of the earliest galaxies to form in the first 500 million years of our universe’s 13.8-billion-year-history. Much further back, we can see the remnant heat left over from the big bang, the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation, which was emitted about 400,000 years into cosmic history. But what about the period after the CMB appeared and…