This tiny region of the JADES survey shows a mix of galaxies: some that are relatively nearby, large, highly evolved, and massive; others that are at intermediate distances and have a mix of old-and-young stars in them, and a great number of very distant or even ultra-distant galaxies that are faint, heavily reddened, and potentially from the first 5% of our cosmic history. In this one little region, the power of JWST, and the evolution of the angular scale of the Universe, is on full display. Note that all galaxies are equally sharp; the more distant galaxies exhibit no observable “blurring” compared to the nearer ones. (Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI)

Is the Universe 13.8 or 26.7 billion years old?

For many years, cosmologists have claimed the Universe is 13.8 billion years old. A new paper says no, it’s 26.7 billion. How do we decide?

Perhaps the greatest achievement of late-20th and early-21st century astrophysics is the arrival of a “consensus model” of the entire Universe…