Strange Galaxies in the Early Universe Were Shaped by Weird Stars

These massive stars could explain Webb’s strangest galaxies

Hubble observations of massive stars in metal-poor dwarf galaxies are revealing clues to why the early universe looks so unusual. Researchers found that stellar winds weaken sharply at extremely low metallicities, potentially allowing massive stars to retain more material and evolve in unexpected ways. The team also found large differences in iron abundance, a key ingredient in stellar winds and supernovae.

Strange Galaxies in the Early Universe Were Shaped by Weird Stars

Galaxies and their stars in the early Universe look a lot weirder than those we see today, and astronomers want to know why. A team of researchers at the University of Utah decided to survey certain stars in nearby galaxies as analogs of those that existed when the Universe was still in its infancy. The survey, called the "Treasury of Extremely Metal-Poor O Stars (TEMPOS), used the ultraviolet (UV) light streaming from those relatively close-by …

Some Massive Stars Aren’t Blowing as Hard as Astronomers Expected. That Could Change Our Picture of the Early Universe

Galaxies in the early universe are weird. These stars may have some answers.

Weak Stellar Winds May Explain The Universe's Oddest Galaxies

Since launching in 2021, the James Webb Space Telescope has turned up early galaxies that behave nothing like the ones nearby, and astronomers have struggled to explain why.