Nebula encasing RCW 38 (credit:ESO/VVVX survey) Our modern, highly efficient cameras and massive telescopes allow us to not only do massive surveys, they also allow us to see specific objects in previously unimagined detail. The 4-m Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope, or VISTA, in Chile recently completed a highly detailed mosaic of the RCW 38 star forming region. Just 5500 light years away, this system is less than a million years old. By studying its 2000 young stars, we can gain new insights into how stars and their surrounding solar systems form.  With even larger telescopes, we...

A color-composite image of PEARLSDG made with JWST NIRCAM data. Individual stars are visible as small points of light in the image. Its somewhat dull color and lack of many bright stars is consistent with its old age and lack of ongoing star formation. Credit: Image...

Artist’s impression of an outflow of molecular gas from the quasar J2054-0005. Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO) Gas dynamics are more than a little complicated no matter where you look. The dynamics of gas in and around forming galaxies makes is particularly...

A composite of Stephan’s Quintet, a visual grouping of five galaxies, constructed from almost 1,000 separate image files from the James Webb Space Telescope. UCLA astrophysicists believe if cold dark matter theories are correct, the Webb telescope should find tiny,...

LST-1 during observations at CTAO-North, La Palma, Spain. Credit: CTAO gGmbH. Credit: CTAO gGmbH Astronomy is theoretically the study of how our universe formed, evolved, and will one day die. But to get answers to those high-concept questions, we need to start by...