James Webb Space Telescope

Canadian astronomers use Webb to uncover Milky Way’s turbulent youth through galactic twins

How galaxies assemble their stars and grow over billions of years remains one of the central questions in astronomy. Recent results from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), including reports of surprisingly massive and evolved galaxies in the early Universe, have only deepened the mystery. Understanding how our own home galaxy, the Milky Way, built itself over time provides a crucial piece of this broader cosmic puzzle.

International research led by York U prof sheds light on 'lava planets'

A new paper led by a York University professor and published today in Nature Astronomy introduces a simple theoretical framework to describe the evolution of the coupled interior–atmosphere system of hot rocky exoplanets known as “lava planets.”

Webb reveals a galaxy sparkling with the universe’s oldest star clusters

Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), researchers from the CAnadian NIRISS Unbiased Cluster Survey (CANUCS) team, including York University, have identified the most distant globular clusters ever discovered. These dense groups of millions of stars may be relics that contain the first and oldest stars in the universe.

York University scientist helps build instrument on new James Webb Space Telescope

TORONTO, Dec. XX, 2021 – The new James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) – a collaboration between NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency – is expected to launch this month with the Canadian-built Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS). It will take images and spectra of fainter objects than the Hubble Telescope ever could, and it’s creating an astronomical amount of excitement.