universe

The largest map of the universe is now available thanks to James Webb. And it can be explored as if it were Google Maps

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Astronomers They were convinced that the primitive universe was a dark place. That the galaxies took to appear after the Big Bang. But the new largest and most deep map of the universe, which extends until 13.5 billion years ago thanks to the observations of the James Webb space telescope, has just dynamited this idea. You can explore it yourself. Is called Cosmos-Weband it is not just a mosaic of images. It is a detailed catalog of almost 800,000 galaxies that covers 98% of the entire history of the universe in a specific region of heaven, thanks to the extraordinary sensitivity of the Webb Observatory. This gigantic panoramic is the result of More than 255 hours of observations of the NASA space telescope, ESA and the CSA, pointing to a region with very few stars or clouds of gas that block their vision towards the confines of the cosmos. The result is the largest contiguous image captured by the Webb to date, with more than 10,000 individual exhibitions. Comparisons are hateful. One way to understand the scale of this map is comparing it to the famous “Ultra -Profundo del Hubble”, the most detailed image of the universe in visible light. If we had a printed copy of the hubble ultraprophound field on a sheet of paper, Cosmos-Web would be a mural of almost 4 by 4 meters with the same depth. The Webb telescope observes wavelengths other than those of the Hubble, those of the nearby infrared and the middle infrared, but its instruments are so sensitive that you can see those 800,000 galaxies over 13.5 billion years in a region equivalent to three moons full in the night sky. Too much light, too soon. The great surprise of these images is not their depth, something for which the webb was designedbut what they reveal from the primitive universe. Astronomers believed that there would barely galaxies in the first 500 million years of the universe were incredibly rare, but there are approximately 10 times more galaxies than expected. “Since the James Webb space telescope went on, we have been wondering if your data They break the cosmological model“, admits Caitlin Casey, leader of the Cosmos-Web project.” The primitive universe only had about 400 million years to form one billion solar masses in stars. We just don’t know how it could happen. “ The role of Spain and open science. This monumental effort would not have been possible without a globa collaboration. And this is where Spain plays a role from the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands (IAC), which applied neural networks for the morphological classification of more than half a million catalog galaxies, an essential task to understand its evolution. But Cosmos-Web would not have been possible without the work of volunteers who, from their homes, helped for two years to process the raw data and correct artifacts of the Webb Telescope. Similarly, now anyone can explore the map and make their own discoveries. Cosmos-Web will continue to expand with new spectroscopic observations to analyze the internal chemistry of the most interesting galaxies. The main objectives are the “era of reion” (when the light of the first stars cleared the cosmic fog), the evolution of mass galaxies and how dark matter is related to visible matter. Image | Cosmos-Web In Xataka | The Webb Space Telescope observed some small red points almost as old as the Big Bang. They should not exist

We knew that the space spheres were at some point in the universe. We have a new theory about its origin

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The universe is full of spherical objects: stars, planets, black holes and a part of the satellites that we can find in our environment have more or less round shapes. However, there are other types of spheres (or rather other types), spheres that are not formed of compact matter but whose circular nature can be captured by our instruments. Teleios. A few days ago, an international team led by researchers at the Western Sydney University announced The discovery of a unique object spherical located in our own galaxy. Although the main hypothesis about the origin of this object is in the outbreak of an IA type supernova, the team admitted that some pieces did not fit. This leaves the door open to different possibilities. One of the details we know about this object is that it can be detected “almost exclusively” in radio frequencies, something not so conventional in this type of objects. This and other details of the discovery make the object an immense enigma. An enigma that does not even escape its location. The problem of distance. We know that this sphere is found at a not very large distance from our solar system, inside the Milky Way. The problem is that the team responsible for its study has only been able to delimit two possible distances to which the object could be found: either at around 7,175 years-years of us, or about 25,114 light years of our location. This has an obvious involvement and we don’t know what size this sphere is either. If we assume that it is located at the closest point, its size would be about 45.7 light years in diameter. However, it could also be further and be larger: it would be more than 156.6 light years of length if it was found in the farthest location contemplated. Unknown age. The size is in turn a temporary implication. Being an explosion, the object would have formed from inside out, as an expansive wave. That is, if the radius of this explosion is longer, we would be facing a burst occurred longer than if we were watching a shorter radius. The team’s estimates indicate that, if located at the closest point, the supernova that this remnant would have left would have been given less than one millennium; While if it was about the location, we would be talking about an event that occurred more than 10,000 years ago. The problem of X -rays. One of the enigmas that surrounds Teleios has to do with the X -rays or, rather, with the absence of these. The models used by the equipment suggest that the remnants of a supernova as the detected should emit radiation not only in radio frequencies but also in X -rays. IAX type supernovae. The fact that this is not the case has led the team to raise a somewhat different hypothesis: that it is not the remnants of a Ia supernova but of a IAX type. The IAX supernovas are a subtype of the former. The IA Supernovas occur in binary systems dominated by a white dwarf star that absorbs the subject of its companion star until reaching a critical mass that leads it to explode. The explosions of this type of supernovas are very predictable: as they always explode when reaching the same critical conditions, these supernovas shine with a predictable intensity. But not always: There are cases in which the outbreak is lower speed and luminosity. Something that makes these supernovae unique is that they leave behind a important remnanta “zombie star” that we cannot find in conventional supernovae. This hypothesis however poses another problem, and for this to be the case, Teleios would have to be much closer to our planet than the estimates of the team itself posed. As noted, none of the hypotheses raised can answer all the issues raised by this enigmatic object, so more observations will be necessary and determine exactly what we have in front. Askap. The finding of G305.4–2.2, another designation for teleIos, was made in the context of the creation of the evolutionary map of the universe or EMU (Evolutionary Map of the Universe), A work done by the Askap Observatory (Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder). The team recently sent an article to the magazine Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia detailing the details of the finding. The drafteven under review, it can be consulted through the repository Arxiv. ORCS. In recent years it has been done relatively common Topar with strange circular objects with a certain resemblance to teleIos. Some of these objects are usually classified as a strange circle of radio or orcs (Odd Radio Circles), A name that already accounts for the strangeness they generate in astronomers. These circles usually occur in the Intergalactic space So the scale in which they are given is different from that of Teleios. Initially cataloged as Supernovas, these circles still consider an important enigma for astronomers. In Xataka | We have a new explanation for dark matter. We have found it in superconductivity Image | SUPERNOVA TYCHO, NASA/CXC/SAO/JPL-CALTECH/MPIA/HIGH CALAR/O. Krause et al.

The universe is becoming more chaotic and we don’t know why. The main suspect is dark energy

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From the first moments after the Big Bang, gravity has shaped the matter, giving rise to the intricate structures that define our universe. Galaxies, galaxy clusters and galactic filaments have evolved in ways that They almost always agree with Einstein’s general relativity theory. But something does not fit. The universe is more messy. A Recent study Directed by cosmologists from the University of Pennsylvania and the United States Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory points out that the universe has become “more messy and complicated” over time. There are fewer agglomerations of the subject that predict physical models. The research crosses two very different types of data observed by the Atacama Cosmology Telescope and the spectroscopic instrument of Arizona’s dark energy. Combining both maps, scientists discovered that almost the whole history of structure formation coincides with the predictions of Einstein’s gravity, except for a small discrepancy in the agglomeration of matter of more recent times; For about 4,000 million years. A cosmic tomography. To build a multidimensional vision of the cosmos, scientists started from the oldest light we can observe: The cosmic microwave backgrounda radiation from 14,000 million years ago, when the universe was only 380,000 years old. But the journey of this ancestral light has not been in a straight line. It has been diverting and distorting the gravitational attraction of mass structures such as galaxies clusters, a predicted phenomenon by Einstein and known as gravitational lens. Overcoming the map of these distortions with the distribution of galaxies has allowed cosmologists to infer how matter is distributed over time. “It’s like a cosmic computerized tomography,” said Mathew Madhavacheril, co -author of the study, In a statement. “We can look through different cuts of cosmic history and track how matter has been agglomerating at different times.” Something does not fit. The “agglomeration” of matter (measured by density fluctuations) seems to be slightly lower in the most recent times than the models predict from the early universe. Cosmic structures have been grouped less intensely than we expected. The researchers are cautious: it is a small discrepancy that could be the result of chance and not the test of new physics. However, if the deviation turned out to be A statistical anomalycould point to unknown physical processes that influence how cosmic structures are formed and evolved. One of the hypotheses is that It has to do with dark energythe mysterious force responsible for the accelerated expansion of the universe. Perhaps dark energy is affecting the formation of structures in ways that current models do not capture completely, acting as a powerful force that moderates the large -scale agglomeration. Image | NASA, ESA, CSA In Xataka | The Euclid European telescope is already historical: its first data revalidates Einstein and put the dark matter on the map

The James Webb has found a galaxy when the universe was 330 million years old. Hide an entire enigma

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The immense capacity of the James Webb space telescope (JWST) to see the confines of the observable universe also allows us to see how our universe was billions of years ago. Recall that, the finitude of the speed of light implies that what we see further in space is also further in time, which makes JWST a kind of time machine. JADES-GS-Z13-1. The James Webb has detected again the light emitted by a very distant and therefore ancient galaxy. The telescope has captured the appearance of Jades-GS-Z13-1 as was 330 million years after big Bang. So old and distant is that its observation implies a new enigma: the enormous density of the universe in that era should prevent its observation billions of years later. And light was made. The original universe was a dark place. If we go back enough, we will reach an era in which the universe was too dense for the light emanating from its particles to travel the space. The cosmos cooled as it expanded, so, when the photons had space to move around, there were no particles to issue them. The thing changed when hydrogen atoms began to join to form the first stars and galaxies when the universe I was a few million years old. In this long process it is called reionization, a byloys in which hydrogen clouds were reactivated and emitted new light. Even in this context, the universe was dense enough to part of the radiation of these first galaxies was overshadowed by a dense layer of neutral hydrogen. This is the case of Lyman-Alfa or Lyman-α. Redshift 13. The team studied the luminous spectrum of the galaxy to estimate its red shift or Redshift. The expansion of the universe means that, in the long run, the frequency of the light emitted by this galaxy is reduced, that is, the universe, when expanding stretches the electromagnetic waves as if it were a magnet. This causes the visible light to store towards the red tones and to the infrared after long trips. The level at which the light comes “stretched”, its value Redshiftallows us to estimate the distance at which the galaxy is found that the broadcast. The observations made from the JWST Nircam instrument allowed the team estimate value Redshift of 12.9 (either z= 12.9) For this galaxy, but to confirm this value, the team decided to study the complete spectrum through the Nirspec instrument (Near-Infrared Spectrgraph), also aboard the space telescope. It turned out that they were infrastiming their distance, which was closer to z= 13. Lyman-α. However, the spectrum study caused the team to detect something strange in this galaxy, at a specific point of the spectrum, the Lyman-α radiation lamade, a type of electomagnetic emission associated with hydrogen atoms. The broadcast captured by James Webb’s instruments was much more intense than it should according to current cosmological models. The details of the study have been published In an article In the magazine Nature. Two possible explanations. In his article, the team speculate with possible explanations To this anomaly. The first involves the possibility that the stars of the galaxy, which would have been some of the earliest in the universe, would have created a “ionized gas bubble” around the galaxy. This possibility would imply that the primal stars would have been “more massive, hotter and more luminous” than the stars formed in later stages of the universe. This possibility would give us new clues about the enigmatic population of stars known as Population III and that represents precisely these early stars of the universe. The second possibility implies the existence of a supermassive black hole in the center of an active galactic nucleus. In Xataka | These real images were unthinkable before the Webb Telescope: they are planets orbiting other stars to 130 light years Image | ESA/WEBB, NASA, STSCI, CSA, JADES COLLLABORATION, BRANT ROBERTSON (UC SANTA CRUZ), BEN JOHNSON (CFA), SANDRO TACCHELLA (Cambridge), Phill Cargile (CFA), J. Witstok, P. Jakobsen, A. Pagan (STSCI), M. Zamani (ESA/Webb)

What if the constants of the universe are not so constant? We have taken an important step to know. The key is on the nuclear clock

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Atomic watches have meant a before and after in our ability to measure time in an outraged way. These types of watches are precise at such a level that some of the most exact ones would be discouraged in less than a second at the time in which the universe has been existing. Despite this, these watches are not precise enough to solve one of the most important unknowns in physics. Closer to the nuclear clock. Now, however, we are a little closer to achieving a milestone that can open the door to solve this type of doubts, Nuclear watches. These watches will allow us to advance several orders of magnitude in the creation of time measurement apparatus, ultra -precise watches to investigate the new physics. From atomic to nuclear. The nomenclature can lead to confusion, and when we talk about atomic watches and nuclear watches we are not talking about the same technology. While the mechanism of atomic watches depends on the state of excitation of the atom electrons; in the Nuclear watchesthis depends on the particles in nucleus. As its name indicates. Atomic watches depend on the transitions in the state of their electrons. When they absorb energy, they can “jump” in their state. Jumps that can be reversed, only when this occurs, it is the electron that emits energy in the form of electromagnetic radiation. Something similar occurs in the nucleus of atoms, only that, being the most isolated nucleus of other physical interactions external to the atom, the transitions of their subatomic particles would be even more precise and reliable than those that occur in the atomic “shell” formed by electrons. Torio-229. To make a nuclear clock work, we also need to transfer energy to the atom, to its nucleus, of course. When we hit the nucleus with a specific frequency of electromagnetic radiation, we can change its energy state, as if it were a switch. Nuclear watches, such as atomic, would only have to tell the energy changes in this context. The problem is that causing these jumps in the atomic nucleus is also more difficult. The main difficulty is to excite atomic nuclei enough to cause the “jumps.” To do this we must hit these coherent X -rays nuclei, a high frequency X -ray type and therefore high energy. So much that, in general we do not have the necessary instruments to produce them. “In general”. And, as with electrons, not all these “jumps” require the same energy. Almost half a century ago, researchers realized that the isotope atomic nuclei Torio-229 (229th) It had a jump that required the energy equivalent to that of ultraviolet light. When requiring less energy, building a laser capable of transferring energy to the nucleus, it became Something feasible. Half a century of work. The “Nuclear Transition” of Torio It was discovered in 1976. But that was just the beginning. And it would not be until 2016 that we would observe and measure it. Measure it is key, since if we want to force the transition we must know the exact frequency with which we have to “bombard” the atomic nucleus of this isotope to be able to force it and activate the process. How close are we really? A few months ago, a group of researchers He tested Some of the key elements behind this technology, which allows us to get an idea of ​​how close we are to be able to create a nuclear clock based on 229th. The team tested an ultraviolet laser capable of creating precise energy to force jumps in the state of the nucleus. He also studied a “frequency grid” to directly measure these jumps. In addition, they also studied the transition from Torio-229. The details of the study were Published in an article In the magazine Nature. From dark matter to universal constants. And all this for what? Do we really need more precise watches than atomic? The truth is that this new technology would have important benefits, first for the scientific community, but also for all citizens. These watches They can help us to improve technologies such as GPS and other navigation systems; And also global Internet synchronization, also making the connection faster and safer communications. We would also open the door to more precise measurements that help us clarify some of the mysteries that persecute physicists such as dark matter. Maybe more importantly, these watches could help us develop experiments that resolve One of the most important doubts of physics, the one of universal constants They are really constant And they do not change depending on factors such as the age of the universe or the frame of reference in which we find ourselves, as we until now assumed. In Xataka | Cosmologists are increasingly clear where the most energy particles in the universe come from Image | Nsit

that our universe is inside a black hole

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The observations of the James Webb space telescope (JWST) have allowed us to realize a strange trend, and that is that a surprisingly high part of the galaxies of our environment revolve in the same direction. This has led them to ask a unique question: is our universe inside a black hole? Two thirds. A survey of more than 260 galaxies made from the observations of James Webb have given a curious result. According to these data, about two thirds of the observed galaxies They turn in the direction of the clock needleswhile the other third revolves in the opposite direction. 263 Galaxies. The data has been obtained in the context of the Jades survey (James Webb Space Telescope Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey), which analyzed A region of the universe located in the surroundings of our galactic pole. In this, the sense of rotation of 263 galaxies could be identified. These numbers have caught the attention of experts. In a recent articlepublished in the magazine Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical SocietyLior Shamir, from the Kansas state of the state, pointed out this apparent imbalance and proposed various hypotheses to explain it. Explaining the phenomenon. If the Jades sample is representative of what happens in the observable universe, it could be indicative that galaxies have a “preference” for rotating in a certain directionwhich in turn could be the indication that the universe as a whole “was born” rotating. According to Shamir himself explainsthis rotation inherent in the cosmos is not consistent with contemporary cosmological models, which would make them “incomplete” theories. However, this would be consistent with the so -called “black hole cosmology.” The cosmology of the black hole postulates that the entire observable universe would be inside a black hole and also contemplate the possibility that black holes in our universe in turn content other universes inside. Diverse hypotheses. The black hole hypothesis may be the most fascinating, but not the only one. We pointed out before the possibility that the hypothesis of the existence of a preferential rotation direction was assuming that the sample observed was representative of the rest of the observable universe. However, the possibility of a bias in the sample is not negligible. Doppler effect. According to Shamir himself indicatesthe sample could be overrepresenting the galaxies that revolve in a certain direction. The reason is on the Doppler effect, an effect that links the frequency of the waves that reach a certain point based on the relative speed between such a point and the wave emission focus. When emitter and receiver approach, the waves are compressed, while if they move away, the wavelength increases. This could be occurring with the electromagnetic waves of these galaxies due to the displacement of our solar system when orbiting the center of our galaxy. According to Shamir, the galaxies that rotate in the opposite direction to the rotation of our planet become lougenous, so they can identify better from our point of view. The rotational speed of our planet had been considered too small to alter the data due to the Doppler effect. However, the data can also be alerting that this is not the case, which in turn would imply that we must emphasize some of our measures of the distant universe. In Xataka | We believed to know how many moons Saturn had. After a year studying them, an astronomer team has taken a surprise Image | Lior Shamir, 2025

Cosmologists are increasingly clear where the most energy particles in the universe come from

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Cosmic radiation bathes our solar system, and therefore also our planet, from the moment in which it was formed from A gigantic cloud of gas and dust does more than 4.5 billion years. During most of our history we have not been aware of its existence, so to find the first scientist who told us about the presence of a form of radiation that had to proceed from the outer space we must go back to 1912. The Austrian physicist Victor Franz HESS was the first to identify the origin of a form of radiation whose intensity increases with altitude and its abundance varies with latitude. To carry out his experiments he used probe balloons inside whose measurement devices expressly designed to measure the radiation present in the atmosphere. His valuable scientific findings were rewarded with several awards, among which is the Nobel Prize in Physics, which he shared with the American physicist Carl David Anderson in 1936. Many other scientists continued HESS’s research, and thanks to all of them we know today a little better A radiation form that transports to our planet very valuable information about the universe to which we belong. Kilonovas seem to be responsible for the most energy radiation Cosmic radiation is constituted by high -energy ionized atomic nuclei that move through space at a speed very close to that of light (which is approximately 300,000 km/s). That they are ionized indicates that they have acquired electric charge because they have been stripped of their electrons, but these atomic nuclei are made of the same matter that constitutes us and everything that surrounds us, a quality that reveals to some extent their origin. One of the most important characteristics of cosmic radiation is its essentially perfect isotropy. This parameter reflects that the rays arrive from all directions with the same frequency, which indicates that they must coexist simultaneously numerous sources capable of generating them. And this invites us to ask ourselves one more question: where cosmic radiation comes from. A good part of the cosmic rays we receive comes from outside our solar system. Of other stars An important part of the radiation that permeates the atmosphere of our planet comes from the sun, which, as we all know, is the closest star. However, it is not at all the only source of external radiation that reaches the earth. A good part of the cosmic rays we receive comes from outside our solar system. Of other stars. And travel through space with enormous energy until impacting with the atoms present in the upper layers of the atmosphere of our planet. What astrophysics did not know with certainty until very recently was the nature of the source that originates the most energy particles that we can find in the universe. But researchers from the University of New York have published a scientific study in Physical Review Letters in which they argue that this form of radiation proceeds with a high probability of kilonovaswhich are nothing other than the clash and fusion of two neutron stars to give rise to the formation of a black hole. “After six decades of effort it is likely that we have identified the origin of the mysterious most energy particles in the universe. This discovery provides a new tool to understand the most aggressive events of the universe: the fusion of two neutron stars to form a black hole, the process responsible for the creation of many precious and exotic elements, such as, for example, gold, platinum, uranium, iodine or xenon. Gennys R. Farrar points outPhysics professor and one of the people who sign the study. When they are close enough, gravity takes control and the two neutron stars are condemned to collide Neutron stars are not always lonely. Sometimes one of them is part of a binary system next to a “living” star, and if the appropriate conditions are given, the latter can also become a neutron star. In this scenario the binary system ends up being constituted by Two neutron stars that turn around the other. As time goes by, angular momentum is being lost, which causes their orbits to narrow and approach more and more. And when they are close enough, gravity takes control and the two neutron stars are condemned to collide. The main contribution made by Farrar and their research partners is their defense of the existence of a very close relationship between the energy of the most intense cosmic rays and their electric charge. Their conclusions have to be experimentally endorsed, but they represent a breath of fresh air in a field in which it is not easy to elaborate new knowledge. Image | Generated by Xataka with Dall-e More information | Physical Review Letters In Xataka | The great challenge of cosmology: what happened to the universe in its first moments to expand so fast

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