All articles tagged with #ancient universe
The discovery of the ancient interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, believed to be over seven billion years old and rich in water ice, offers new insights into the early universe and challenges existing models, with future detections expected to expand our understanding of cosmic history.
Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have discovered the oldest "dead" galaxy, JADES-GS-z7-01-QU, which ceased star formation over 13 billion years ago, challenging current models of the early universe. The galaxy's sudden halt in star formation contradicts the abundance of necessary dust and gas at that time, prompting a need to revisit models based on the modern universe. The rapid burst of star formation observed in the galaxy may have exhausted its reservoir of dust and gas, and further research aims to understand galactic evolution in the early universe and create more accurate models of that time period.
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has discovered an "extremely red" supermassive black hole in one of the oldest parts of the universe, suggesting it formed just 700 million years after the Big Bang. This rare find challenges current understanding of how supermassive black holes grow relative to their host galaxies and raises questions about the relationship between the two. The black hole was spotted in the central core of Pandora's Cluster, 4 billion light-years from Earth, and its massive size and unique properties have astronomers rethinking early black hole formation and growth.
The Webb Space Telescope has captured images of a supernova in the ancient universe, magnified by a gravitational lensed galaxy. Named Encore, this is the second supernova spotted in the lensed region, with the first one, Requiem, expected to reappear in 2035. Gravitational lenses allow astronomers to observe faint and distant light sources, providing insights into the size and expansion rate of the universe. Encore and Requiem are Type 1a supernovae, which are crucial for calculating the Hubble Constant and addressing the Hubble Tension.