In the early universe, a few hundred million years after the Big Bang, the first stars emerged from vast, untouched clouds of hydrogen and helium. Recent observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) suggest that some of these early stars may have been unlike the familiar (nuclear fusion-powered) starsContinue Reading
A team of astronomers led by Northwestern University has captured the clearest and most detailed view ever of a dying star before its dramatic explosion. Using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the international group identified the source of a supernova, known as its progenitor, in mid-infrared light for theContinue Reading
Many galaxies, including our own Milky Way, are characterized by a flat, extended, rotating stellar disk. These disk galaxies commonly contain two main parts: a thin disk and a thick disk. The thin disk contains younger, metal-rich stars, while the thick disk contains older, metal-poor stars. These distinct components holdContinue Reading
