While it may not look like it, the interstellar space between stars is far from empty. Atoms, ions, molecules, and more reside in this ethereal environment known as the Interstellar Medium (ISM). The ISM has fascinated scientists for decades, as at least 200 unique molecules form in its cold, low-pressure environment. It’s a subject that … Read more
Theoretical predictions have been confirmed with the discovery of an outflow of molecular gas from a quasar when the universe was less than a billion years old. A quasar is a compact region powered by a supermassive black hole located in the center of a massive galaxy. They are extremely luminous, with a point-like appearance … Read more
Redshift, a fundamental concept in astronomy and cosmology, serves as a cornerstone for understanding the universe’s vastness, expansion, and evolution. It represents a phenomenon where the light emitted by celestial objects, such as galaxies, stars, and quasars, is shifted towards longer wavelengths as they move away from an observer. This phenomenon, discovered over a century … Read more
A newfound solar system boasting six confirmed exoplanets and a potential seventh is enriching astronomers’ understanding of planet formation and evolution. Led by researchers at the University of California, Irvine, a team has leveraged a global array of observatories and instruments to compile the most precise measurements yet of the exoplanets’ masses, orbital properties, and … Read more
The universe’s expansion, governed by the Hubble-Lemaitre constant, has sparked a cosmic conundrum known as the “Hubble tension.” This enigma arises from conflicting values obtained through different measurement methods. Enter a proposed resolution from researchers at the Universities of Bonn and St. Andrews: an alternative gravity theory. Their study, now published in the Monthly Notices … Read more
A team of researchers, led by Silke Britzen from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn, Germany, embarked on an international endeavor to delve into the mysteries of blazars. Blazars are the result of supermassive black holes at the cores of galaxies emitting jets, with some of these jets being aligned directly towards … Read more
Observations made by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) challenge current cosmological models designed to explain the early universe. These prevailing models, which are based on the concept of the big bang and an expanding universe, suggest that the universe is approximately 13.8 billion years old. In contrast, my research introduces an alternative model proposing … Read more
In a groundbreaking research study recently published in Light: Science & Applications, a group of scientists, spearheaded by Professor Junfeng Song from Jilin University in China, along with their colleagues, introduced an ingenious technique for producing Bessel-Gaussian beams (BGbs) using arrays of silicon photonic gratings. These BGbs possess an impressive propagation distance of up to … Read more