Is it possible to understand the Universe without understanding the largest structures that reside in it? In principle, not likely. In practical terms? Definitely not. Extremely large objects can distort our understanding of the cosmos. Astronomers have found the largest structure in the Universe so far, named Quipu after an Incan measuring system. It contains … Read more
Giant, gas-rich planets may have been able to form more easily in the very early universe than they do today, according to astounding new findings from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) that corroborate earlier Hubble Space Telescope evidence. In 2003, Hubble found a massive exoplanet. There’s nothing too unusual about that, but closer inspection … Read more
It’s axiomatic that the Universe is expanding. However, the rate of expansion hasn’t remained the same. It appears that the Universe is expanding more quickly now than it did in the past. Astronomers have struggled to understand this and have wondered if the apparent acceleration is due to instrument errors. The JWST has put that … Read more
Napping after overfeeding on food is a dilemma many of us will be fortunate to face on Christmas Day. New research has shown that, billions of years ago, some early black holes also had to nap after overindulging. Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers spotted a dormant supermassive black hole that existed just … Read more
Not long ago, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) peered into Cosmic Dawn, the cosmological period when the first galaxies formed less than one billion years after the Big Bang. In the process, it discovered something rather surprising. Not only were there more galaxies (and brighter ones, too!) than expected, but these galaxies had supermassive … Read more
New observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have corroborated data from its predecessor, the Hubble Space Telescope, to determine something is missing from our recipe of the cosmos. The JWST conducted its largest survey yet of the accelerating expansion of the cosmos as scientists attempt to discover why the universe is expanding faster … Read more
The most detailed map of the universe ever created using gravitational waves could reveal hidden black holes, merging supermassive black holes and even the large-scale structure of the cosmos. The study, conducted by a team led by astronomers from Swinburne University of Technology, also presented the largest-ever galactic-scale detector of gravitational waves, which are basically … Read more