A dark field is shown filled with smudges that are distant galaxies. One smudge is expanded in an inset box. This box shows a reddish elongated object. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.
图中显示一片暗场，充满了遥远星系的污迹。一个污迹在嵌图中展开。此嵌图显示一个红色细长物体。有关更多详细信息，请参阅说明。
2022年4月6日 Earendel: A Star in the Early Universe Image Credit: NASA, ESA, B. Welch (JHU), D. Coe (STScI); Processing: A. Pagan (STScI) Explanation: Is Earendel the farthest star yet discovered? This scientific possibility started when the Hubble Space Telescope observed a huge cluster of galaxies. The gravitational lens effect of this cluster was seen to magnify and distort a galaxy far in the background. This distorted background galaxy — so far away it has a redshift of 6.2 — appears in the featured image as a long red string, while beads on that string are likely to be star clusters. The galaxy cluster lens creates a line of maximum magnification line where superposed background objects may appear magnified many thousands of times. On the intersection…
2021年06月30日 Simulation: Formation of the First Stars Video Credit: Harley Katz (U. Oxford) et al. Explanation: How did the first stars form? To help find out, the SPHINX computer simulation of star formation in the very early universe was created, some results of which are shown in the featured video. Time since the Big Bang is shown in millions of years on the upper left. Even 100 million years after the Big Bang, matter was spread too uniformly across the cosmos for stars to be born. Besides background radiation, the universe was dark. Soon, slight matter clumps rich in hydrogen gas begin to coalesce into the first stars. In the time-lapse video, purple denotes gas, white denotes light, and gold shows radiation so energetic that…
