The Mystery of Cosmic Dust: Weighing a Galaxy ⚡ экспресс
Original: "Stellar masses of optically dark galaxies: uncertainty introduced by the attenuation law and star-formation histories"
Webb data made astronomers recalculate the mass of early galaxies: now it's a bit less, but still mind-blowingly huge.
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A thick layer of cosmic dust prevents accurately weighing distant galaxies. New data from the Webb telescope showed: by tweaking the dust and growth models, the mass can be lowered by half. Three heavyweight galaxies became a bit lighter, but two still defy theory. Perhaps the early Universe grew stars faster than we thought.
🎯 Cosmic dust grains are solid microparticles (mostly carbon and silicates) the size of a virus, born in the shells of old stars; together they create a translucent veil capable of masking whole armies of luminaries.