Tag

Galaxy Formation

All articles tagged with #galaxy formation

science4 days ago•51 min saved

James Webb maps the cosmic web in unprecedented detail, tracing galaxy growth across 13 billion years

Using JWST’s COSMOS-Web survey, astronomers have produced the most detailed map of the cosmic web to date, showing how galaxies formed and moved within dense filaments over roughly 13 billion years. The 255-hour survey catalogs about 164,000 galaxies and reveals that dense regions boosted early galaxy growth, while in the later universe environmental effects and massive dark-matter halos quenched star formation, clarifying how the universe’s large‑scale skeleton shaped galaxy evolution.

via Yahoo|

#cosmic-web #cosmos-web #galaxy-formation

science10 days ago•3 min saved

Third Dark-Matter-Free Galaxy Upends Galaxy Formation Theories

Yale-led researchers using Keck's KCWI measured the faint dwarf galaxy DF9, part of a 45-million-light-year linear chain with DF2 and DF4, to have a mass around 100 million solar masses that matches only its visible matter, showing no dark matter and supporting a violent-collision formation scenario that could strip dark matter from newborn galaxies; the finding strengthens the case for galaxies forming without dark-matter halos and prompts follow-up observations (including with the Mothra telescope) to search for residual gas and validate the proposed formation mechanism, with the study published June 16 in The Astrophysical Journal.

via Universe Today|

#dark-matter #dwarf-galaxies #galaxies

science25 days ago•9 min saved

Webb and Hubble Uncover Terzan 5 as a Milky Way Bulge Fossil Fragment

Using Webb’s infrared observations and Hubble’s precise proper motions, researchers confirm Terzan 5 is not a globular cluster but a self-enriching relic in the Milky Way’s bulge, hosting up to four distinct star populations formed 12.5, 4.7, 3.8 and 2.5 billion years ago. The system likely survived as a remnant of a much more massive progenitor, offering clues to how galactic bulges form and evolve over cosmic time.

via NASA Science (.gov)|

#bulge-fossil-fragment #galaxy-formation #milky-way-bulge

science1 month ago•2 min saved

Spinless Galaxy Forces a Rethink of Early Galaxy Birth

Using JWST’s sensitive observations of three early galaxies, scientists found XMM-VID1-2075—a massive galaxy from about 12 billion years ago with stars moving chaotically rather than in rotation. This non‑rotating state likely results from a head‑on merger that canceled the galaxy’s spin, with hints of a nearby absorbing companion. While simulations predict such spinless objects but only rarely, finding more would challenge current ideas about how galaxies form and spin up in the early universe.

via Universe Today|

#astronomy #galaxies #galaxy-formation

space1 month ago•74 min saved

JWST Finds Black Hole Born Before Its Galaxy, Challenging Growth Theories

Using JWST’s observations of Abell2744-QSO1, scientists directly measured a central black hole of about 50 million solar masses that accounts for roughly 66% of the object's mass just 700 million years after the Big Bang. The finding implies the black hole formed before its host galaxy, challenging traditional growth models that rely on stellar remnants and suggesting a heavy-seed or direct-collapse origin for early supermassive black holes.

via Space|

#black-holes #early-universe #galaxy-formation

science1 month ago•12 min saved

Massive star clusters break free from birth clouds in 5 million years, reshaping galaxy growth models

NASA/ESA observations with Webb and Hubble identified ~9,000 young star clusters in four nearby galaxies, revealing that the most massive clusters clear their birth gas in about 5 million years, while smaller clusters take roughly 7–8 million years. This challenges the simple expectation that bigger clusters clear faster and provides a sharper clock for how stellar feedback heats and pushes gas, influencing galaxy evolution models and the potential role of early massive clusters in cosmic reionization. The result tightens constraints for simulations of star formation and feedback and has implications for planet-forming disks in dense cluster environments. Future work will expand the survey to more galaxies and distant systems to test if local trends scale to the early universe.

via Space Daily|

#galaxy-formation #james-webb-space-telescope #reionization

science1 month ago•11 min saved

JWST discovers surprisingly mature galaxies early, fueling debate on cosmic age

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has detected bright, massive galaxies at redshifts around 11–14 (within ~300 million years after the Big Bang) that contain heavy elements like oxygen, challenging standard galaxy-formation timelines. A minority peer‑reviewed paper even suggests a universe age of 26.7 billion years by combining ideas like tired light and time‑varying constants, but the mainstream view remains ~13.8 billion years; the JWST findings continue to test and possibly reshape our cosmological models.

via Space Daily|

#cosmology #early-galaxies #galaxy-formation

science1 month ago•10 min saved

JWST Spots Mature, Chaotic Galaxies in the Early Universe, Forcing Revisions to Early Formation Models

JWST observations of galaxies formed within the universe’s first billion years reveal unexpectedly massive, non-rotating, and dust-rich systems with chaotic morphologies. These findings strain the standard Lambda-CDM prescriptions for early star formation efficiency, feedback, and assembly, suggesting the need to revise the models rather than overturn the overall cosmology. Spectroscopic follow-up and updated cosmological simulations are underway to identify which parameters (star-formation efficiency, IMF, dust corrections, etc.) must be adjusted, while Lambda-CDM itself remains intact at large scales.

via Space Daily|

#early-universe #galaxy-formation #high-redshift-galaxies

astronomy1 month ago•6 min saved

Cosmic Web in Sharp Focus: Direct Picture Maps the Universe’s Hidden Gas Highways

Astronomers using the VLT's MUSE instrument captured the clearest image yet of a cosmic filament—about 3 million light-years long—connecting two actively forming galaxies when the universe was ~2 billion years old. The direct detection of faint intergalactic gas, traveling roughly 12 billion years to Earth, aligns with simulations and offers new insight into how gas flows through the cosmic web to fuel galaxy growth and star formation.

via ScienceDaily|

#astronomy #cosmic-web #dark-matter

science-and-astronomy1 month ago•4 min saved

Chemical fingerprints map the 12-billion-year saga of NGC 1365

Astronomers used high-resolution chemical maps of oxygen in the spiral galaxy NGC 1365, paired with simulations, to rewind its history over about 12 billion years—early central enrichment and slower outer-disk growth largely due to mergers with smaller galaxies—revealing a new way to study distant galaxies’ assembly.

via The Conversation|

#astronomy #chemical-archaeology #galaxies

astronomy2 months ago•5 min saved

Behemoth Galaxy From 12 Billion Years Ago Defies Spin, Outnumbers Milky Way in Stars

The James Webb Space Telescope revealed XMM-VID1-2075, a massive galaxy from about 12 billion years ago with several times more stars than the Milky Way, yet showing no detectable rotation, challenging current ideas about early galaxy dynamics and suggesting a possible single high-energy interaction rather than multiple mergers.

via The Daily Galaxy|

#astronomy #early-universe #galaxy-formation

space2 months ago•72 min saved

Ultra-Large FLAMINGO Simulations Build a Virtual Universe the Size of 500,000 HD Movies

Astronomers released the FLAMINGO project, one of the largest cosmological simulation datasets ever created, totaling over 2.5 petabytes and designed to model dark matter, baryons, and dark energy across cosmic time. Publicly accessible, the virtual universes help researchers study large-scale structure and galaxy formation, test competing cosmological models, and explore rare objects like massive clusters—aimed at accelerating interpretation of upcoming observations. The data release was submitted to Astronomy & Computing and is available via arXiv.

via Space|

#cosmological-simulations #dark-energy #flamingo

science2 months ago•36 min saved

Astronomers unveil one of the universe’s largest simulated universes for galaxy and dark‑energy studies

The FLAMINGO project released a self‑consistent, hydrodynamical cosmological dataset (over 2.5 PB) that simulates dark matter, ordinary matter, and dark energy across vast scales, enabling study of galaxy formation and rare cosmic events while providing open access for researchers to compare models with upcoming observations.

via Yahoo|

#cosmological-simulations #dark-energy #dark-matter

science2 months ago•42 min saved

JWST Dots May Be Black Hole–Powered Clouds, New X-Ray Clue Emerges

A match between JWST observations of distant, cool “little red dots” and archival Chandra X-ray data has found an X-ray source at one dot’s location, bolstering the idea that these objects are gas clouds hosting growing supermassive black holes and possibly representing a transitional stage in how black holes and their host galaxies form.

via Yahoo|

#black-holes #galaxy-formation #james-webb-space-telescope

space2 months ago•75 min saved

Webb’s X-ray Finds Hint that ‘Little Red Dots’ Harbor Baby Black Holes

JWST observations of the enigmatic 'little red dots' align with a Chandra X-ray source at 3DHST-AEGIS-12014, bolstering the idea that these distant, cool gas clouds host growing supermassive black holes. The X-ray detection suggests a transitional phase in SMBH growth inside a gas cloud, offering a potential window into how black holes and their host galaxies form and evolve in the early universe (around 11.8–12 billion years ago).

via Space|

#black-holes #galaxy-formation #james-webb-space-telescope