The Early Universe Was Surprisingly Filled With Spiral Galaxies

By Brian Koberlein - December 29, 2023 10:33 AM UTC | Extragalactic
The Milky Way is a mature, grand spiral galaxy, and so are many galaxies around us. Astronomers have assumed that spiral galaxies are the result of many mergers between dwarf galaxies and shouldn't show up until later on in the Universe's evolution. New research using JWST has shown that's not true, with a surprising number of spiral galaxies in the first few billions years of the Universe's history. Spiral arms showed up much earlier than anyone expected.
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The Atmosphere of an Exoplanet Reveals Secrets About Its Surface

By Brian Koberlein - December 23, 2023 11:29 AM UTC | Exoplanets
Astronomers have now characterized the atmospheres of several exoplanets, with JWST and upcoming missions promising to turn that into the thousands. The next era will come when our observatories can directly observe the surfaces of exoplanets. We're learning that the atmospheres of planets and their surfaces affect one another, and just by observing their atmospheres, we'll learn valuable secrets about the surfaces of those worlds.
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Could There Be a Black Hole Inside the Sun?

By Brian Koberlein - December 16, 2023 12:37 PM UTC | Stars
Primordial black holes are one explanation for dark matter, although it's not widely accepted. These black holes would have formed at the beginning of the Universe and would be at least the mass of a medium-sized asteroid. These black holes may have fallen into the stars if they are out there. These low-mass black holes would emit Hawking radiation, contributing to the star's radiation pressure. Is there a way we could know if there's a black hole inside the Sun?
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