Supernova from the Universe’s Childhood
A massive galaxy cluster acts as a giant lens. Its gravity warps the fabric of space, and the light of distant objects, bending around this curvature, is amplified and split into multiple images.
The Galaxy That Burned Out Too Soon
The galaxy CEERS2-588 flared up like a bonfire fed with an armful of wood all at once. Just 400 million years after the Big Bang, it had already built up a mass of a billion suns and ignited countless stars. But then the fuel ran out, and over the last 10 million years, star formation in it has almost completely ceased.
Two Dust Grains in an Optical Trap
Two tiny dust grains hover at the crossing of laser beams. Each is held by its own 'tweezer'—a focused beam that keeps the particle from falling. Inside a mirrored cavity, light bounces between the walls, and its oscillations are coupled to the trembling of the grains.
Star Chefs of the Early Universe: Nitrogen Excess
For thirteen billion years, light battled through cosmic emptiness. It bent around massive galaxy clusters that, as Einstein predicted, acted as giant lenses — amplifying and distorting the distant glow. In 2023, the NIRSpec instrument on the James Webb Space Telescope captured this light and spread it into spectra.