Universe Expansion

Universe Expansion

JWST most distant galaxy proto-cluster
Finding out how the Universe grew up was the biggest science goal of JWST. This ultra-early proto-galaxy cluster is one amazing discovery.
jwst background galaxies
From quarks and gluons to giant galaxy clusters, everything that exists in our Universe is determined by what is (and isn't) bound together.
an abstract image of a circular object surrounded by lines and dots.
The LHC has a long, productive life ahead of it. An upgraded version, called the “High Luminosity LHC,” will be available in 2028.
JWST deep field vs hubble
JWST has brought us more distant views of the early Universe than ever before. Is the Big Bang, and all of modern cosmology, in trouble?
An image of a galaxy with a centrally-located star, illustrating the standard model of cosmology.
Cosmologists are largely still in the dark about the forces that drive the Universe.
a large egg with stars on it sitting in the middle of the universe
What would become the Big Bang model started from a crucial idea: that the young Universe was denser and hotter.
JWST vs Hubble deep field
With infrared capabilities and image sharpness far beyond Hubble's limits, JWST looked at Hubble's deepest field, revealing so much more.
the night sky is filled with stars and trees.
For many years, some cosmologists embraced the idea of an eternal, steady state universe. But science triumphed over philosophical prejudice.
quantum superposition
With a massive, charged nucleus orbited by tiny electrons, atoms are such simple objects. Miraculously, they make up everything we know.
a very large cluster of stars in the sky.
Stars orbiting black holes were observed to move significantly slower than expected. One explanation centers on dark matter.
Uranus 1986 Voyager 2 2023 JWST
Voyager 2 flew past Uranus in 1986, finding a bland, featureless world. Now, in 2023, JWST's sights are similar. There's a reason for that.
two colliding white dwarfs trigger a type Ia supernova
When white dwarfs explode, they create a type Ia supernovae. After decades of following the leading theory, here's the complete overhaul!
Millikan Lemaitre and Einstein
Einstein called his idea "abominable," but the world of physics came around to embracing the views of Georges Lemaître.
wormholes
Leading a scientific revolution is easy: you just have to succeed where the current theory fails while equaling its successes. Good luck!
a very large spiral shaped object in the sky.
Finding this missing piece of water’s path through the universe offers clues to how it came to be on Earth.
inflation spawn parallel universes
Our huge, expanding Universe may truly be infinite. But if the set of possible quantum outcomes is also infinite, which "infinity" wins?
a group of open doors in front of a blue sky.
The multiverse is an idea that has gained a lot of traction in popular culture. But what does science have to say about it?
cosmic epochs lookback hubble 13.8 billion
With a finite 13.8 billion years having passed since the Big Bang, there's an edge to what we can see: the cosmic horizon. What's it like?
a clock that is in the middle of a picture.
If the evolution of the Universe is a movie, what happens when we rewind it all the way backward?
Hubble view of galaxy containing GRB 221009A BOAT
Gamma-ray bursts are among the most energetic cosmic events of all. On October 9, 2022, a remarkable one occurred: the brightest ever seen.
a blurry photo of a city street at night.
Time gets a little strange as you approach the speed of light.
an astronaut contemplates a black hole
That scary swirling void from which nothing can escape is our perfect universal translation tool.
JWST CEERS 1 hour field
Many galaxies really are ultra-distant, but some are just intrinsically red or dusty. Only with spectroscopy can JWST tell which is which.
a star burst in the middle of the night sky.
We are about to learn a lot more about the most elusive of cosmic particles.
inside of xenon
With a bigger, better, and more sensitive detector, the XENON collaboration joins LZ and PANDA-X in constraining WIMP dark matter.
a drawing of a mountain and a satellite dish.
Theory without experiment is blind, and experiment without theory is lame.
photon paths around black hole
What do we mean by a black hole's size? A photon sphere? The minimal stable orbit? The event horizon? The singularity? Which one is right?
runaway supermassive black hole
Speeding through the Universe and leaving a wake of new stars, this runaway supermassive black hole is likely the first among thousands.
WR 124 JWST composite
This beautiful JWST image of Wolf-Rayet star WR 124 has been called a "prelude to a supernova" by NASA. That might be entirely wrong.