Simons Foundation

News

July 27, 2023

Twinkling of Giant Stars Reveals How Their Innards Churn in First-Ever Simulations By Thomas Sumner

August 08, 2022

Watch: Suzanne Staggs and the Signatures of the Primordial Universe

July 26, 2023

Shirley Ho Named a Finalist for the 2023 Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists

June 28, 2023

Clamor of Gravitational Waves From Universe’s Merging Supermassive Black Holes ‘Heard’ for First Time By Thomas Sumner

May 23, 2023

Finding Order in the Chaos of the Cosmos By Mara Johnson-Groh

April 11, 2023

Map of Space-Time Distortions Reveals Universe’s Dark Matter Distribution, Proving Einstein Right By Thomas Sumner

March 23, 2023

Artificial Intelligence Discovers Secret Equation for ‘Weighing’ Galaxy Clusters

At first glance, this image is dominated by the vibrant glow of the swirling spiral to the lower left of the frame. However, this galaxy is far from the most interesting spectacle here — behind it sits a galaxy cluster. Galaxies are not randomly distributed in space; they swarm together, gathered up by the unyielding hand of gravity, to form groups and clusters. The Milky Way is a member of the Local Group, which is part of the Virgo Cluster, which in turn is part of the 100 000-galaxy-strong Laniakea Supercluster. The galaxy cluster seen in this image is known as SDSS J0333+0651. Clusters such as this can help astronomers understand the distant — and therefore early — Universe. SDSS J0333+0651 was imaged as part of a study of star formation in far-flung galaxies. Star-forming regions are typically not very large, stretching out for a few hundred light-years at most, so it is difficult for telescopes to resolve them at a distance. Even using its most sensitive and highest-resolution cameras, Hubble cannot resolve very distant star-forming regions, so astronomers use a cosmic trick: they search instead for galaxy clusters, which have a gravitational influence so immense that they warp the spacetime around them. This distortion acts like a lens, magnifying the light of galaxies sitting far behind the cluster and producing elongated arcs like the one seen to the left of centre in this image.

March 20, 2023

Advancing Astronomy With Statistics By Mara Johnson-Groh

March 01, 2023

2023 CCA Predoctoral Program: Call for Applications

February 16, 2023

Simons Foundation Scientists Named as Sloan Research Fellows

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