The Latest Breaking News from the Big Bang

An overlooked era of cosmology is stealing the show in the quest to understand the cosmos

Could you imagine if pagers made a comeback? Sure, your smartphone would still be your notepad-flashlight-camera-personal assistant-MP3 player-wallet-social media browser. But imagine if pagers made it so easy to do that one important thing – pinging your friends and associates – that we all brought them back into our lives,…

The Conversation · Sep 25

The first rocky planets may have formed just 100 million years after the Big Bang, scientists say — and they could have been surprisingly Earth-like

New simulations indicate rocky planets may have formed just 100 million years after the Big Bang. Massive stars exploded, scattering heavy elements needed for planet formation. These enriched pockets of debris could have quickly formed planetesimals. Water may have also arrived early, providing key habitability ingredients. This suggests early cosmic…

The Economic Times · Sep 5

Black hole star? Solar-system-size 'dot' from the early universe is our best evidence yet of a brand-new type of cosmic object

The James Webb Space Telescope has identified the most promising candidate yet for a black hole star, lurking 660 million years after the Big Bang. The hypothetical entity, which shines 100 billion times brighter than a typical star, could shed light on the origins of the mysterious "little red dots."

LiveScience · Aug 20

James Webb telescope uses trippy Einstein prediction to probe the farthest reaches of the universe — Space photo of the week

The James Webb telescope peers through a warped bubble of space-time to study galaxies from the first billion years after the Big Bang.

LiveScience · Jul 19

Earth's largest particle accelerator opens new window into the early universe just after the Big Bang: 'A culmination of a decades-long quest'

According to one researcher, this observation "promises new insights into the evolution of the early universe."

Space · Jul 17

A ravenous black hole in our backyard could be our window into the ancient universe

A feeding black hole at the heart of a nearby galaxy is behaving similarly to cosmic titans that existed just after the Big Bang.

Space · Jul 10

Scientists have discovered the oldest quasar ever seen, and it shines with the light of a trillion suns

Using the ESA's Euclid space telescope, astronomers have discovered a treasure trove of black hole-powered quasars in the early universe, including the most ancient and distant ever seen.

Space · Jul 9

Cristiano Ronaldo's famous CR7 nickname inspired the name of a galaxy. Here's its origin and how it got its name

Cosmic Redshift 7, a galaxy discovered in 2015, holds significance for early universe study. Its name honors footballer Cristiano Ronaldo's famous nickname, a deliberate astronomical coincidence. This distant galaxy, observed over 800 million years after the Big Bang, is unusually bright. Researchers initially hoped it contained the universe's first stars,…

The Economic Times · Jul 7

What came before the Big Bang?

It’s a question big enough to make your head spin! Eight-year-old Ellie from Atlanta, Georgia, wants to know what came before the Big Bang?

The Conversation · Jun 16

This gas led to the formation of stars and expansion of galaxies: New study reveals how neutral gas shaped the early Universe

This gas led to the formation of stars and expansion of galaxies during the early stages of the Universe. A new study by an international team of researchers has provided direct evidence of neutral gas in distant galaxies. Using ALMA and data from JWST, scientists detected a signal that helped…

The Economic Times · Jun 15