This composite image shows the microwave sky as imaged by three generations of spaceborne CMB missions: COBE (1990s), WMAP (2000s), and Planck (2010s). With time, we’ve become more sensitive to smaller-magnitude temperature and polarization features at progressively smaller angular scales....
The Universe itself, through a variety of nuclear processes involving stars and stellar remnants, as well as other means, can naturally copiously produce nearly 100 elements of the periodic table. Neutron star mergers are known to produce the heaviest elements,...
This visible light image shows the T Tauri system along with the nearby nebula NGC 1555. Discovered way back in 1852, it is now known to be a young triple star system with a dusty disk of material surrounding the...
The elements of the periodic table, and where they originate, are detailed in this image above. While most elements originate primarily in supernovae or merging neutron stars, many vitally important elements are created, in part or even mostly, in planetary...
This map shows the CMB’s polarization signal, as measured by the Planck satellite in 2015. The top and bottom insets show the difference between filtering the data on particular angular scales of 5 degrees and 1/3 of a degree, respectively....
The nearby dwarf galaxy Leo P, whose individual blue stars are clearly visible, was imaged by JWST in order to resolve the various old and young populations inside of it. The cosmic lessons it taught us about how star-formation proceeded...
The Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array, or ALMA, is the most powerful, highest-resolution array of radio telescopes in the world. Although it only has the light-gathering power of all its dishes, combined, it has the resolution of the space between the...
This three panel view shows Hubble’s optical views of the Ring Nebula (L), SMA’s view of the carbon monoxide in the Ring Nebula (mid), and the location of the neutral CO, in contours, versus JWST observations of various other features,...
This side-by-side view of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 shows the MIRI (left) and NIRCam (right) views of this region from JWST. Note that although there’s a bright galaxy cluster at the center of the image, the most interesting objects are...
The proton isn’t just made of three valence quarks, but rather contains a substructure that is an intricate and dynamic system of quarks (and antiquarks) and gluons inside. The nuclear force acts like a spring, with negligible force when unstretched...
