{"id":19219,"date":"2015-07-09T12:00:32","date_gmt":"2015-07-09T17:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/?p=19219"},"modified":"2015-10-26T11:43:35","modified_gmt":"2015-10-26T16:43:35","slug":"small-faint-galaxies-can-shine-a-light-on-early-universe-uwm-astronomer-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/small-faint-galaxies-can-shine-a-light-on-early-universe-uwm-astronomer-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Small, faint galaxies can shine a light on early universe, UWM astronomer says"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Dawn<\/a>
Dawn Erb<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dim, pint-sized galaxies are likely to point to a more complete understanding of a key characteristic of matter in the universe, according to Dawn Erb, associate professor of physics at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.<\/p>\n

Writing in the journal Nature,\u00a0Erb points out that a few hundred million years after the Big Bang, the universe became cool and dense enough for\u00a0galaxies to form,\u00a0but the resulting burst of star formation bombarded interstellar \u2013 and\u00a0intergalactic \u2013 space with radiation, separating the electrons of hydrogen gas from their protons and reionizing\u00a0most of the matter in the universe.<\/p>\n

However, we don\u2019t see enough massive, bright galaxies to supply the amount of energy thought to be needed for this \u201creionization\u201d of the universe.<\/p>\n

Low-mass galaxies are \u201cprobably the key\u201d to understanding the universe\u2019s reionization, according to Erb. But these galaxies, while probably very numerous, are inherently faint. This makes it difficult for astronomers to detect them, and also to confidently assess both their numbers and the amount of radiation they might have contributed to the reionization of interstellar gas.<\/p>\n

A better understanding of these phenomena awaits the arrival of an upcoming generation of 30-meter class telescopes that will provide high-resolution views of the faint galaxies that Erb and her colleagues are studying, she says.<\/p>\n

Erb\u2019s paper, \u201cFeedback in low-mass galaxies in the early Universe,\u201d was published in the July 9 issue of Nature.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dim, pint-sized galaxies are likely to point to a more complete understanding of a key characteristic of matter in the universe, according to Dawn Erb, associate professor of physics at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[174,200],"tags":[],"section":[],"display_categories":[],"related-coverage":[],"uwmnews-feed":[],"class_list":["post-19219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-news-in-brief"],"yoast_head":"\nSmall, faint galaxies can shine a light on early universe, UWM astronomer says<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Dim, pint-sized galaxies are likely to point to a more complete understanding of a key characteristic of matter in the universe, according to Dawn Erb, 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