Nov 13, 2024
Is the Standard Model of cosmology, the basis of our understanding of the Universe since the Big Bang, in danger? Recent observations by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), carried out by an international team including the CEA-IRFU Astrophysics Department, have revealed massive galaxies in the young Universe, sparking a lively debate within the scientific community.
Oct 21, 2024
Understanding the diverse stellar populations that make up galaxies is crucial to studying their formation over cosmic time. Nevertheless, some intractable stars continue to resist the modellers! Their complex nature and short lifetimes make stars in the asymptotic branch of thermally pulsating giants (TP-AGB) difficult to model, a subject of debate for decades. The James Webb Space Telescope is finally lifting the veil on their contribution to the spectrum of distant galaxies.
Oct 15, 2024
Zoom in on the first page of ESA's Euclid cosmic atlas
On 15 October, ESA's Euclid space mission revealed the first piece of its grand map of the Universe, showing millions of stars and galaxies. This first piece of Euclid's survey was revealed at the International Astronautical Congress in Milan by ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher and Director of Science Carole Mundell.
Mar 20, 2024
UPDATE [03/26/2024]: The optics de-icing procedure has been a success!
UPDATE [03/26/2024]: Euclid's optics de-icing procedure has produced much better results than expected. The main suspect in the blurred vision of Euclid's VIS instrument was the coldest mirror behind the telescope's main optics. After warming it by just 34 degrees, from -147°C to -113°C, was enough for all the icy water to evaporate.
Dec 21, 2023
NewAthena, a pioneering X-ray observatory, will enable us to make major scientific progress in our understanding of the hot and energetic universe.
On November 8, 2023, ESA's Science Program Committee (SPC) approved the evolution of the Athena (Advanced Telescope for High-Energy Astrophysics) mission, now named NewAthena, and confirmed its status as the flagship mission of ESA's Cosmic Vision program.
Positioned as a pioneer in X-ray astrophysics for the coming decades, NewAthena will enable the astronomical community to make major scientific advances in our understanding of the hot, energetic universe.
Oct 24, 2023
Study of the second-brightest gamma-ray burst ever observed reveals tellurium, an element rarer than platinum on Earth
An international team of scientists, including a researcher from Irfu's Astrophysics Department, used several space and ground-based telescopes, including the James Webb Space Telescope and the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope, to observe an exceptionally bright gamma-ray burst detected on March 7, 2023, GRB 230307A, and identify the neutron star merger that generated the explosion responsible for the burst.
Oct 25, 2022
For the first time since the XMM launch (1999), a cosmological analysis constraining the density of matter in the universe, from a catalog of 178 galaxy clusters detected by XMM, has been possible and in an autonomous way, i.e. with its own distance measurements and without calling upon additional information from numerical simulations or other cluster samples.
Jul 12, 2022
The dawn of a new era in astronomy has begun as the world discovers for the first time the full capabilities of the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope. The telescope's first color images and spectroscopic data, which reveal a spectacular array of previously elusive cosmic features, were released on July 12, 2022.
Jun 17, 2022
Scientists from the CosmoStat laboratory at CEA have produced within the international science collaboration UNIONS (Ultraviolet Near Infrared Optical Northern Survey) a reference catalogue of 100 million gravitationally lensed distant galaxies, one of the largest datasets ever created. This new collection is based on thousands of deep images of the northern sky captured by MegaCam, a large digital camera built at CEA, mounted on the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT).
Dec 22, 2021
DAp-AIM scientist helps uncover largest group of rogue planets yet with a panoramic camera built by CEA
Rogue planets are elusive cosmic objects that have masses comparable to the largest planets in our Solar System but do not orbit a star, instead roaming freely on their own. Not many were known until now, but a team of astronomers, using data from facilities across the world, have just discovered at least 70 new rogue planets in our galaxy just a few hundred light-years away in the Scorpion sky region.
Jan 11, 2021
he "cosmic noon", when the universe was 4 to 5 billion years old, marked a very active period of star formation for most galaxies. Paradoxically, about a third of the most massive galaxies at that time were dead and no longer forming stars. To date, the shut down of star formation in galaxies is often attributed to gas outflows caused by the feedback of supermassive black holes, but their impact on the galaxies of the young Universe has not yet been definitively established.
Jun 04, 2020
On May 18th 2020, ESO formally closed the preliminary design review of the ELT/METIS thermal infrared instrument. Following this important milestone, the instrument enters into the final design phase (phase C) in which the its design will be frozen just before its building.
Dec 21, 2019
The European Space Agency is shaping its science programme for the period 2035-2050
After the Horizon 2000 programme started in 1983, followed by its extension Horizon 2000 Plus, the European Space Agency (ESA) is committed until 2035 into the Cosmic Vision programme that includes the launches of Athena (2031) and LISA (2034). To plan its scientific priorities beyond this date, ESA has solicited the community through a call for ideas/projects.
Aug 07, 2019
"Invisible" galaxies that question the models of the Universe evolution
A study conducted by astrophysicists of the Department of Astrophysics-AIM Laboratory of CEA-Irfu has revealed a large number of galaxies as massive as the Milky Way in the distant universe, thanks to the large interferometer ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array) in Chile. These galaxies have hitherto remained invisible due to the attenuation of their brightness by interstellar dust.
Mar 04, 2019
The large ALMA interferometer reveals a population of galaxies not yet detected by the Hubble Space Telescope
An international team, led by researchers from the Department of Astrophysics/AIM Laboratory of CEA-Irfu has just highlighted a new population of very remote galaxies, which had so far escaped the deepest observations of the Universe. During the summer of 2016, at more than 5000 meters of altitude on the Chilean highlands, the antennas of the large interferometer ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array) scrutinized for more than 20 hours one of the best studied regions of the sky.
Oct 01, 2018
Impressing results from a large X-ray catalog of galaxy clusters
Using the ESA's XMM-Newton observatory, an international team, led by Marguerite Pierre of the Astrophysics Department of CEA-Irfu, has revealed the latest results of the XXL survey, the largest observation program X-ray produced to date by the XMM satellite. The second batch of data just published in a special issue of the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, includes information on 365 galaxy clusters and 26,000 active galactic nuclei (AGN).
May 23, 2018
The European Spatial Agency retains the mission of exploration of galaxies
The SPICA infrared space telescope has been shortlisted by the European Space Agency (ESA) to participate in the final competition which will see in September 2021 the choice of the next mission of medium size ESA (M5 mission). SPICA is a large infrared telescope (diameter 2.5 m) fully cooled to a temperature of only a few degrees above absolute zero.
Feb 05, 2018
A galactic cohabitation more hectic than expected
The MegaCam camera developed at CEA-Irfu has revealed previously unsuspected structures within the famous Stephan Quintet, a spectacular combination of five galaxies. The discovery of a very large red halo, consisting of old stars, centered on one of the elliptical galaxies, NGC 7317, shows that the group of galaxies is still in very strong interaction, an aspect totally ignored in previous studies.
Jan 19, 2018
Giant galaxies that no longer form stars have 100 times more gas than expected.
By succeeding for the first time to analyze the light of nearly 1000 very distant elliptical galaxies, more than 10 billions light-years away, a team of researchers including three astrophysicists from the Astrophysics Department of CEA-Irfu has just revealed that these galaxies of the beginning of the universe contain a lot of gas but do not form stars. A real enigma that challenges our understanding of the evolution of these giant galaxies.
Nov 28, 2017
TO BE TRANSLATED
Après une sélection sévère, les premières cibles d'observation du télescope spatial James Web (JWST) qui doit être lancé au printemps 2019, viennent d'être dévoilées.
Aug 30, 2017
An international team including two researchers from the Department of Astrophysics-Laboratory AIM of CEA-Irfu detected for the first time the presence of the CH+ molecule in distant galaxies of the young universe, thanks to the large ALMA interferometer. The presence of this particular molecule demonstrates the existence around the young galaxies of large turbulent reservoirs of low-density cold gas.
Jun 12, 2017
A new link between the dynamics of galaxies and the activity of their central black hole
Using images obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope, an international team of researchers led by Yu-Yen Chang from the Service d’Astrophysique-Laboratoire AIM at CEA–IRFU showed that some galaxies hosting an active nucleus are much more compact than those without nuclear activity. This discovery sheds new light on the physical processes driving the evolution of super-massive black holes at the center of distant galaxies.
May 19, 2017
An old galaxy with unexpected features
An international team including a researcher from the AIM Laboratory-Astrophysics Department of CEA-Irfu has just discovered an elliptical galaxy of completely unexpected shape within the galaxy cluster Abell 2670. Deep observations made by the new MUSE multi-spectrograph recently put into operation at the European Observatory VLT in Chile revealed a highly deformed elliptical galaxy, showing in particular long gas tails and star formation regions normally absent in this type of galaxy.
Apr 16, 2017
The PILOT astrophysics experiment has been launched the 17th April under a stratospheric balloon from Alice Springs in central Australia. The aim is to observe the polarization of the emission of dust particles present in the interstellar medium of our Galaxy and the nearby galaxies. With a mass of nearly one ton, PILOT [1] uses the biggest balloons launched by the National Center for Space Studies (CNES).
Feb 11, 2017
At the center of a small galaxy located about 1.8 billion light-years from Earth, a giant black hole swallowed a star for about a decade, which is exceptionally longer than any observed episode of this kind. This discovery was made by an international collaboration involving an astrophysicist from IRFU, thanks to a trio of orbiting X-ray telescopes.
Jan 08, 2017
The most energetic events of the Universe
A team of researchers led by Rémi Adam (Laboratoire Lagrange - OCA, UCA, LPSC Grenoble, CNES), Iacopo Bartalucci and Gabriel Pratt (Astrophysics Department- AIM Laboratory at CEA-Irfu) obtained for the first time an image of the gas velocity in colliding clusters of galaxies with NIKA [1], a new generation millimeter camera, at the focus of the 30 m diameter IRAM telescope of Pico Veleta (Spain).
Sep 30, 2016
New light on the formation of giant galaxies
Observations of Malin 1, a nearby galaxy and a perfect prototype of the "giant galaxies with low surface brightness," have allowed scientists from an international team including a researcher from the Astrophysics Laboratory-Service AIM CEA-IRFU to make an unexpected discovery that challenges the assumptions about galaxy formation process of this type.
Sep 28, 2016
The deepest millimetric observations of the young Universe
An international team of astronomers used the Atacama Large (Sub) Millimeter Array (ALMA) to explore the farthest part of the universe revealed by the Ultra Deep Field of the Hubble satellite (HUDF). These new observations from ALMA are significantly deeper and more resolved than previous surveys in the millimeter range. They clearly demonstrate the existence of a close relationship between the star formation rate in young galaxies and their total stellar mass.
Aug 30, 2016
A group of galaxies in turmoil
Through a unique combination of observations made by the largest telescopes in the world, an international collaboration led by researchers from the Astrophysics Department- AIM Laboratory of CEA-IRFU has detected the most distant galaxy cluster ever discovered in the Universe . Back 11.5 billion years in the past of the Universe, the snapshot of this cluster shows 17 galaxies in a strong starburst activity, a period of intense star formation.
Aug 07, 2016
Discovery of a giant blob of ionized hydrogen in a galaxy cluster of the distant Universe
An international team led by researchers from the “Service d'Astrophysique / Laboratoire AIM” of CEA-IRFU has discovered a giant nebula of ionized gas in the central region of the distant galaxy cluster CL J1449+0856. Extending over 300,000 light-years, this nebula was detected from an emission line of hydrogen, arising from a gigantic reservoir of warm gas probably ionized by two luminous quasars of the cluster.
