early universe tagged posts

Galaxies Reveal Hidden Maps of Dark Matter in the Early Universe

Rutgers researchers uncover “fingerprints” that show how these cosmic systems expand and evolve

A Rutgers-led team of scientists has uncovered evidence of how galaxies expand by tracing the invisible scaffolding of the universe created by a mysterious substance known as dark matter.

In a newly published study in Astrophysical Journal Letters, researchers used what they said are the largest-ever samples of special galaxies called Lyman-alpha emitters to study how galaxies clumped together over billions of years. In doing so, they gained an improved understanding of how galaxies relate to the surrounding dark matter and how they evolve over time.

“Analyzing these fingerprints gives us insight into the mass of dark matter surrounding the galaxies,” said Eric Gawiser, a Disti...

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Mysterious ‘red dots’ in early universe may be ‘black hole star’ atmospheres

Mysterious 'red dots' in early universe may be 'black hole star' atmospheres
Artist’s impression of a black hole star (not to scale). Mysterious tiny pinpoints of light discovered at the dawn of the universe may be giant spheres of hot gas that are so dense they look like the atmospheres of typical nuclear fusion-powered stars; however, instead of fusion, they are powered by supermassive black holes in their center that rapidly pull in matter, converting it into energy and giving off light. Credit: T. Müller/A. de Graaff/Max Planck Institute for Astronomy

Tiny red objects spotted by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) are offering scientists new insights into the origins of galaxies in the universe—and may represent an entirely new class of celestial object: a black hole swallowing massive amounts of matter and spitting out light.

Using the first dat...

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Discovery of ‘mini halo’ points to how the early universe was formed

A distant galaxy cluster with a newly discovered radio mini-halo
This stunning image reveals a distant galaxy cluster teeming with energy: galaxies shine in visible light (white), ghostly red clouds unveil a newly discovered radio mini-halo—the most distant ever detected—and blue wisps trace the hot gas glowing in X-rays.
Credit: Chandra X-ray Center (X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI; Radio: ASTRON/LOFAR; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/N. Wolk)

Astronomers have uncovered a vast cloud of energetic particles—a “mini halo”—surrounding one of the most distant galaxy clusters ever observed, marking a major step forward in understanding the hidden forces that shape the cosmos.

The mini-halo is at a distance so great that it takes light 10 billion years to reach Earth, making it the most distant ever found, doubling the previous dista...

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Black Hole at the Center of a Galaxy in the Early Universe received Less Mass Influx than expected, astronomers find

Reddish vortex seen from from the side above with a bright centre and a thin ray protruding vertically from the plane
Cosmic powerhouse: Artist’s impression of a quasar whose core region was literally set in motion in the early universe. While galaxies often merged with each other at that time, large amounts of matter were thrown into the centres of the galaxies. When matter orbits the supermassive black hole in the centre of a galaxy, energy is released, which explains the enormous brightness of an active galaxy. The quasar can therefore still be observed from a great distance today.
© ESO / M. Kornmesser

With the upgraded GRAVITY-instrument at the Very Large Telescope Interferometer of the European Southern Observatory, a team of astronomers led by the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics has determined the mass of a black hole in a galaxy only 2 billion years after the Big Bang...

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