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...
These six “little red dot” galaxies are examples of objects that, if their brightness was caused by the stars within them alone, could not have grown to such high masses in such short amounts of cosmic time under our currently...
This artist’s depiction shows a tidal disruption event around an active black hole. Whereas most active black holes that have jets are seen to possess those jets constantly, the first example of a jetless active black hole having a radio...
The galaxy Centaurus A is the closest example of an active galaxy to Earth, with its high-energy jets caused by electromagnetic acceleration around the central black hole. The extent of its jets are far smaller than the jets that Chandra...
The featured image shows the star RR Lyrae, as imaged by the digitized sky survey back at the turn of the century, using data from the Palomar and UK Schmidt telescopes. (Credit: Digitized Sky Survey — STScI/NASA)Most stars shine with...
Today, Feynman diagrams are used in calculating every fundamental interaction spanning the strong, weak, and electromagnetic forces, including in high-energy and low-temperature/condensed conditions. The electromagnetic interactions, shown here, are all governed by a single force-carrying particle: the photon, and can...
A black hole is famous for absorbing matter and having an event horizon from which nothing can escape,and for cannibalizing its neighbors. But there isn’t any ‘sucking’ going on to cause it, simply the disruption of matter and an occasional...
The open star cluster NGC 290, imaged by Hubble, is on the younger side of star clusters, with an estimated age of 60 million years. Even at such a young age, there are no stars within it that are 10...
The idea that the forces, particles, and interactions that we see today are only part of a grander, larger-dimensional structure is compelling and intriguing, but also tightly constrained. If there are extra dimensions in the Universe, there are severe limitations...
