Cosmology
When darkness shines: How dark stars could illuminate the early universe
When darkness shines: How dark stars could illuminate the early universe Scientists using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have discovered three potential dark star candidates, which could alter our understanding of how ordinary stars form. Dark stars are not exactly stars and are thought to be powered by a mysterious substance called dark matter, which […]
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Mapping Dark Matter
Mapping Dark Matter NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and Chandra X-ray Observatory collaborated to visualize dark matter. The image combines data from both observatories to show galaxy clusters and their collective light emitted by stars no longer bound to individual galaxies. Researchers used the Webb telescope’s observations to carefully measure the mass of the galaxy […]
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October’s Night Sky Notes: Let’s Go, LIGO!
October’s Night Sky Notes: Let’s Go, LIGO! September 2025 marks the 10th anniversary of the first direct detection of gravitational waves by LIGO, a milestone that confirms Albert Einstein’s 1916 theory of General Relativity. Gravitational waves are ripples in space-time created by massive objects accelerating in space, such as black holes merging or stars going […]
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‘Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence’ − an astronomer explains how much evidence scientists need to claim discoveries like extraterrestrial life
‘Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence’ − an astronomer explains how much evidence scientists need to claim discoveries like extraterrestrial life Scientists searching for extraterrestrial life need extraordinary evidence to support their claims, as suggested by Carl Sagan’s phrase “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.” The detection of life on K2-18b, a planet in another star system, […]
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Dark energy may have once been ‘springier’ than it is today − DESI cosmologists explain what their collaboration’s new measurement says about the universe’s history
Dark energy may have once been ‘springier’ than it is today − DESI cosmologists explain what their collaboration’s new measurement says about the universe’s history Dark energy measurements from the DESI collaboration suggest that the universe was expanding slightly faster a few billion years ago than it is today, implying that dark energy’s “springiness” was […]
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