NASA’s Webb, Hubble Telescopes Affirm Universe’s Expansion Rate, Puzzle Persists

The best measurements from Hubble show the universe is now expanding faster than predicted based on observations of how it looked shortly after the big bang. Some scientists suggested that Hubble observations are wrong due to some creeping inaccuracy in its deep-space yardstick. However, Webb’s sharp infrared views of milepost markers known as Cepheids agree with Hubble data.

Experiment to Capture Universe’s Earliest Moments Reaches Funding Milestone

The National Science Foundation has awarded up to $21.4 million for the design of telescopes for CMB-S4, an international experiment that will study the cosmic microwave background and help us understand the beginning, history, and makeup of the universe. Berkeley Lab leads the project for DOE and also plays a lead role in technology development.

Three Argonne scientists receive 2023 DOE Early Career Awards

Argonne researchers received three DOE Early Career Awards, which will help early-career researchers establish themselves as experts in their fields.

When the First Stars Turned On: The Origins of the Universe

All stories start somewhere – even the incomprehensibly vast expanse above us has a beginning. Scientists have long studied the cosmos, searching for answers to the “how’s” and “why’s” of life, and that effort continues to this day.  From concepts such as ‘Cosmic Dawn’ and ‘redshift,’ UNLV astronomer and computer scientist Paul La Plante focuses on topics that improve our understanding of where it all began.

DESI Early Data Release Holds Nearly Two Million Objects

The universe is big, and it’s getting bigger. To study dark energy, the mysterious force behind the accelerating expansion of our universe, scientists are using the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) to map more than 40 million galaxies, quasars, and stars. Today, the collaboration publicly released its first batch of data, with nearly 2 million objects for researchers to explore.

First-of-its-kind measurement of the Universe’s expansion rate weighs in on a longstanding debate in physics and astronomy

A University of Minnesota Twin Cities-led team used a first-of-its-kind technique to measure the expansion rate of the Universe, providing insight that could help more accurately determine the Universe’s age and help physicists and astronomers better understand the cosmos.

Lost Video of Georges Lemaître, Father of the Big Bang Theory, Recovered

Fans of science history can now access a new gem: a 20-minute video interview with the father of the Big Bang theory, Georges Lemaître. European broadcast network VRT found the 20-minute recording that is thought to be the only video of Lemaître. His interview, originally aired in 1964 and conducted in French, has now been transcribed and translated into English by physicists at Berkeley Lab and the Vatican Observatory.

After Fire and Monsoons, DESI Resumes Cataloguing the Cosmos

In June, the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument survived a massive wildfire, followed by rains and mudslides. After cleaning and testing the equipment, DESI collaborators successfully restarted the experiment and began imaging the night sky again on Sept. 10. The survey is creating the largest 3D map of the universe ever made to study a phenomenon called dark energy.

Secrets from space: Advanced Photon Source helps illuminate the journey of a 4 billion-year-old asteroid

An international collaboration of scientists has published results of their studies into the makeup and history of asteroid 163173 Ryugu. These results tell us more about the formation of our solar system and the history of this nearby neighbor.

Particle Physicists Lay Out Future Goals at ‘Snowmass’ Meeting

With a picturesque backdrop of Mt. Rainier, particle physicists from across the United States gathered in Seattle (with more tuning in virtually) to assess the most important science opportunities in their field over the next decade. The Particle Physics Community Planning Exercise was held July 17-26, 2022, at the University of Washington.

SLAC expands and centralizes computing infrastructure to prepare for data challenges of the future

A computing facility at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory is doubling in size, preparing the lab for new scientific endeavors that promise to revolutionize our understanding of the world from atomic to cosmic scales but also require handling unprecedented data streams.

FSU astrophysicist chosen for key role in international science collaboration mapping remnant light from the Big Bang

A Florida State University cosmologist has been selected to co-lead a Department of Energy and National Science Foundation project investigating the faint leftover radiation from the Big Bang known as the cosmic microwave background, or CMB.FSU Associate Professor of Physics Kevin Huffenberger and University of Chicago Associate Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics Jeff McMahon will serve as co-spokespersons for the so-called CMB-S4 science collaboration, a project to provide insight into the most energetic processes in the universe and probe physics from the universe to subatomic particles.

A bigger nursery for the solar system’s first formed solids

The earliest solids formed in the solar system give clues to what radioactive species were made by the young sun, and which ones were inherited. By studying isotopic variations of the elements vanadium (V) and strontium (Sr), an international team of researchers including scientists from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory found that those variations are not caused by irradiation from the sun but are produced by condensation and evaporation reactions in the early solar system.

Space odyssey: Argonne scientists among the first to study asteroid fragments

Argonne scientists at the Advanced Photon Source are among the first to study tiny fragments of near-Earth asteroid 162173 Ryugu, collected by a Japanese space mission. These fragments could tell us long-hidden secrets about how our planet and solar system were formed.

Hubble Snapshot of ‘Molten Ring’ Galaxy Prompts New Research

In this image, a remote galaxy is greatly magnified and distorted by the effects of gravitationally warped space. After its public release, astronomers used the picture to measure the galaxy’s distance of 9.4 billion light-years. This places the galaxy at the peak epoch of star formation in cosmic evolution.

How to catch a perfect wave: Scientists take a closer look inside the perfect fluid

Scientists have reported new clues to solving a cosmic conundrum: How the quark-gluon plasma – nature’s perfect fluid – evolved into the building blocks of matter during the birth of the early universe.

DOE names six Argonne scientists to receive Early Career Research Program awards

Six Argonne scientists receive Department of Energy’s Early Career Research Program Awards.

36 Dwarf Galaxies Had Simultaneous “Baby Boom” of New Stars

Three dozen dwarf galaxies far from each other had a simultaneous “baby boom” of new stars, an unexpected discovery that challenges current theories on how galaxies grow and may enhance our understanding of the universe. Galaxies more than 1 million light-years apart should have completely independent lives in terms of when they give birth to new stars. But galaxies separated by up to 13 million light-years slowed down and then simultaneously accelerated their birth rate of stars, according to a Rutgers-led study published in the Astrophysical Journal.

Successful Start of Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) Follows Record-Setting Trial Run

A five-year quest to map the universe and unravel the mysteries of “dark energy” is beginning officially today, May 17, at Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson, Arizona. To complete its quest, the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) will capture and study the light from tens of millions of galaxies and other distant objects in the universe.

Science Snapshots From Berkeley Lab

Science Snapshots From Berkeley Lab – Water purification, infant-warming device, cuff-based heart disease monitor, ancient magnetic fields

Unlocking the secrets of Earth’s early atmosphere

Research partly conducted at the Advanced Photon Source helped scientists discover the composition of Earth’s first atmosphere. What they found raises questions about the origin of life on Earth.

Argonne’s 2021 Maria Goeppert Mayer Fellows bring new energy, promise to their fields

The Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory is proud to welcome five new FY21 Maria Goeppert Mayer Fellows to campus, each chosen for their incredible promise in their respective fields.

Fermilab scientist Juan Estrada wins American Physical Society Instrumentation Award

A physicist making great advances in particle detector technology, Estrada is recognized by the American Physical Society Division of Particles and Fields for his creation and development of novel applications for CCD technology that probe wide-ranging areas of particle physics, including cosmology, dark matter searches, neutrino detection and quantum imaging.

Precision measurements of intracluster light suggest possible link to dark matter

Faint light from rogue stars not bound to galaxies has been something of a mystery to scientists. The dimness of this intracluster light makes it difficult to measure, and no one knows how much there is. Scientists on the Dark Energy Survey, led by Fermilab, have made the most radially extended measurement of this light ever, and they’ve found that its distribution might point to the distribution of dark matter.

Mira’s Last Journey: exploring the dark universe

Scientists used a supercomputer to perform one of the five largest cosmological simulations ever — the Last Journey. This simulation will provide crucial data for sky maps to aid leading cosmological experiments.

Sensors of world’s largest digital camera snap first 3,200-megapixel images at SLAC

Crews at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have taken the first 3,200-megapixel digital photos – the largest ever taken in a single shot – with an extraordinary array of imaging sensors that will become the heart and soul of the future camera of Vera C. Rubin Observatory.

NRAO’s Baseline Episode 4: Measuring the Expanding Universe

How fast is the universe expanding? We don’t know for sure.Astronomers study cosmic expansion by measuring the Hubble constant. They have measured this constant in several different ways, but some of their results don’t agree with each other. This disagreement, or tension, in the Hubble constant is a growing controversy in astronomy.

Dark Energy Survey census of the smallest galaxies hones the search for dark matter

Scientists on the Dark Energy Survey have used observations of the smallest known galaxies to better understand dark matter, the mysterious substance that makes up 85% of the matter in the universe. The smallest galaxies can contain hundreds to thousands of times more dark matter than normal visible matter, making them ideal laboratories for studying this mysterious substance. By performing a rigorous census of small galaxies surrounding our Milky Way, scientists on the Dark Energy Survey have been able to constrain the fundamental particle physics that governs dark matter.

Scientists publish largest 3D map of the universe ever created

A new three-dimensional map, built after decades of collecting and analyzing data from the skies, shows how the universe has changed and expanded over an 11-billion-year period. The map, published online late Sunday, is the largest 3D map of the universe ever created, and shows that about 6 billion years ago, the universe began accelerating more rapidly than it had in the 8 billion years that came before.

Five thousand eyes on the skies: Scientists choreograph robots to observe distant galaxies

Scientists have begun operating the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument, or DESI, to create a 3-D map of over 30 million galaxies and quasars that will help them understand the nature of dark energy. The new instrument is the most advanced of its kind, with 5,000 robotic positioners that will enable scientists to gather more than 20 times more data than previous surveys. Researchers at Fermilab helped develop the software that will direct these positioners to focus on galaxies several billion light-years away and are currently in the process of fine-tuning the programs used before the last round of testing later this year.

Drones Help Calibrate Radio Telescope at Brookhaven Lab

Cosmologists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory are experimenting with a prototype radio telescope, called the Baryon Mapping Experiment (BMX). Built at the Lab in 2017, the prototype serves as a testbed for managing radio interference and developing calibration techniques. Lessons learned from the prototype could pave the way for Brookhaven to develop a much larger radio telescope in collaboration with other national Labs, universities, and international partners.