The fraction of binary stars has implications in many fields of astronomy. Yet, we still don’t know this number, and even less how it varies with properties such as metallicity. Today’s paper sheds some light on this open question.
Image credits: Palomar Observatory/STScI/WikiSky
We understand cosmology by building models that we can trace back through time, but nothing about these models limits them to the past. As the universe expands, faster and faster pushed by dark energy, when does that acceleration outstrip gravity? And when do the last stars form?
Every galaxies star formation history is a story waiting to be told. Turns out log-normals cover most story lines.
Today’s paper uses gravitational lensing to find a dusty starburst galaxy so far away that it existed when the universe was less than a billion years old.
So far, Gravitational Lensing has allowed us to observe distant faint galaxies or supernovae. Its time to observe individual stars now.
Observations of stars today can reveal billions of years of history.