When researchers glimpsed the first images and data from the James Webb Space Telescope, humanity’s largest and most powerful space telescope, they noticed something peculiar. A large number of bright galaxies deep in the universe formed during a period called “Cosmic Dawn,” when the first stars and galaxies formed within 500 million years after the Big Bang. New research published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters shows that a theoretical model produced roughly five years ago predicted these very observations and credits them to bursty star formation.
A mathematician working in the life sciences and an astrophysicist studying dark matter from the College of Letters and Science at UC Davis are among the recent cohort awarded Chancellor’s Fellowships for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. The fellowships recognize exceptional contributions in supporting, tutoring, mentoring and advising underrepresented students and/or students from underserved communities. In letters to the recipients, Chancellor May cited their “commitment to reducing opportunity gaps.”
A study using data from telescopes on Earth and in the sky resolves a problem plaguing astronomers working in the infrared and could help make better observations of the composition of the universe with the James Webb Space Telescope and other instruments. The work is published April 20 in Nature Astronomy.
To glimpse the earliest days of the cosmos, astronomers like UC Davis Associate Professor Tucker Jones rely not only on the magnification of telescopes, but also on powerful natural magnification from our cosmic neighbors in the form of gravitational lenses. For Jones, identifying these gravitational lenses is a first step to understanding the origin of the cosmos.
A new study of an old meteorite contradicts current thinking about how rocky planets like the Earth and Mars acquire volatile elements such as hydrogen, carbon, oxygen, nitrogen and noble gases as they form.
The first three recipients of the UC Davis College of Letters and Science Dean’s Faculty Fellowships will give talks about the research they have been conducting with support from the fellowship. All talks are online and begin at 4 p.m. on April 5, 19 and May 17.
Asteroid 179223 was officially named Tonytyson in February in honor of Tyson’s vision and leadership in building the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile. Scheduled to start full science observations in 2024, the Rubin Observatory will image the entire visible night sky every three nights for 10 years.
Kyle Crabtree, associate professor of chemistry, has been recognized with the 2022 Early Career Award from the Laboratory Astrophysics Division of the American Astronomical Society (AAS). Crabtree has established a unique career at the intersection of molecular laboratory astrophysics, astronomical observations and astrochemical modeling, the AAS said in a statement.
An international team of astronomers has observed the first example of a new type of supernova. The discovery, confirming a prediction made four decades ago, could lead to new insights into the life and death of stars.
Astronomers are getting a look at the dusty part of the distant universe with a huge field of telescopes in the high, dry Atacama desert of Chile. New results are telling us about the structure of the distant universe and yielding surprises about the evolution of galaxies.
The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, or ALMA, collects infrared light, so astronomers can learn more about distant galaxies as well as picking up objects that they could not see at all in the visible or ultraviolet spectrum.
