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According to the Standard Model of Cosmology, the expansion of our universe is driven by the simplest possible version of dark energy: an unchanging 'cosmological constant' called lambda.  "It's the start of a new era," says Will Percival, professor and director of the Waterloo Centre for Astrophysics at the University of Waterloo, and associate faculty at Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics.

Using the James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers led by UdeM graduate student Louis-Philippe Coulombe investigate the extreme weather patterns and atmospheric properties of LTT 9779 b. The exotic atmosphere of LTT 9779 b, a rare "ultra-hot Neptune," is coming to light thanks to observations via the James Webb Space Telescope led by Louis-Philippe Coulombe, a graduate student at Université de Montréal's Trottier Institute for Research on Exoplanets (IREx).

"Out of science fiction": First 3D observations of an exoplanet's atmosphere reveal a unique climate The first three-dimensional observations of the atmosphere of the exoplanet Tylos, in which astronomers from IREx participated, have revealed its unique climate. Joost Wardenier and Romain Allart, both IREx postdoctoral reseachers who contributed to the study.

A Canadian-led team of international astronomers has made a groundbreaking discovery about how young planets form and grow using a creative approach with unique tools of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The telescope was used to study PDS 70, a young star orbited by two growing planets. This remarkable system, located 370 light-years away, gives scientists a rare chance to see how planets form and evolve during their earliest stages of development.

Stays of six months to a year in weightlessness on the International Space Station affect ocular biomechanics, but the changes don't last, according to a study led by UdeM's Santiago Costantino. The low levels of gravity (microgravity) in space cause significant changes in astronauts' eyes and vision after six to 12 months aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

McGill astronomers place FRB 20240209A in a region of space associated with a 'dead' galaxy, one that is no longer forming stars Astronomers studying the origins of enigmatic fast radio   bursts (FRBs) have made a groundbreaking discovery that could transform our understanding of the universe's most powerful and mysterious signals.

McGill-led research team's findings point to neutron stars as the probable source of fast radio bursts, one of the universe's most perplexing phenomena   An international team of scientists led by McGill researchers has provided the clearest evidence yet that some fast radio bursts (FRBs) - enigmatic, millisecond-long flashes of radio waves from space - originate from neutron stars, the ultra-dense remnants of massive stars that have exploded in a supernova.

HFC-125 is a greenhouse gas becoming a major contributor to global warming, and in the first study to use satellites to measure its concentration in the atmosphere, researchers found it has increased exponentially in the past 20 years. The Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment, a research group at the University of Waterloo, and under contract with the Canadian Space Agency, is the first to measure from space the atmospheric concentration of HFC-125, a hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) commonly found in fire extinguishers and commercial cooling systems.

A high-energy gamma-ray flare from the super-massive black hole in the Messier 87 (M87) galaxy was observed in 2018 for the first time in nearly a decade, thanks to an international effort involving McGill researchers. This discovery has yielded important insights into the physics of black hole jets, which are among the most efficient engines for distributing energy from the inside of a galaxy to the expanse of the Universe.

Remarkable encounter during 2022 Niagara fireball event leads to discovery of tiniest asteroid known In an international study led by Western University and Lowell Observatory , scientists describe a pioneering, integrative approach for studying near-Earth asteroids based largely on a November 2022 fireball event that dropped meteorites in the Niagara region.

Led by a team at UdeM's IREx, scientists explore the exoplanet GJ 9827 d'and find a significant amount of water vapor in its atmosphere. A Canadian-led international study has revealed new insights into the atmosphere of GJ 9827 d - an exoplanet orbiting the star GJ 9827 in the constellation Pisces, about 98 light-years from Earth - using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

UdeM astronomers find a way to measure temperature changes in a star with greater-than-ever precision, a breakthrough that promises to be particularly useful for detecting and studying exoplanets. Étienne Artigau, the UdeM astrophysicist who led the development of an innovative technique that provides precise information on a star's temperature variations.

Scientists have uncovered how space travel profoundly alters the gut microbiome, yielding insights that could shape future space missions. The groundbreaking study, led by a McGill University researcher in collaboration with University College Dublin (UCD), NASA's GeneLab and an international consortium, offers the most detailed profile to date of how space travel affects gut microbes.

An international research team has identified the specific origins of most of the Martian meteorites that are now on Earth. They've traced the meteorites to five craters where they were launched off Mars after impact. The craters are located within two volcanic regions on the red planet called Tharsis (the region containing Olympus Mons, the largest shield volcano in the solar system) and Elysium.

A team of astronomers from UdeM has made an exciting discovery about the temperate exoplanet LHS 1140 b: it could be a promising "super-Earth" covered in ice or water. When the exoplanet LHS 1140 b was first discovered, astronomers speculated that it might be a mini-Neptune: an essentially gaseous planet, but very small in size compared to Neptune.

A Canadian team led by René Doyon will help design and build the ANDES spectrograph, which will search for signs of life outside the solar system. In 2014, the European Southern Observatory (ESO) began construction of the world's largest telescope, the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), in Chile's Atacama Desert, 3,000 metres above sea level.

For the last seven decades, astrophysicists have theorized the existence of "kugelblitze," black holes caused by extremely high concentrations of light. These special black holes, they speculated, might be linked to astronomical phenomena such as dark matter, and have even been suggested as the power source of hypothetical spaceship engines in the far future.

In 2014, the European Southern Observatory (ESO) began construction of the world's largest telescope, the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), at an altitude of over 3,000 m in Chile's Atacama Desert. Scheduled to enter service in 2028, this giant telescope promises to mark a new era in ground-based astronomy.

For more than a decade, Western University planetary geologist Gordon "Oz" Osinski has led expeditions to Kamestastin Lake in Labrador. The environment is a perfect training ground because the properties and rock formations - created by the violent impact (and extreme heat) of an asteroid 36 million years ago - uniquely mimic the surface on the Moon.

Astronomy professor Jonathan Gagné will be part of the Landolt space mission, solving problems caused by errors in astronomical calibrations. A major scientific breakthrough will be taking place soon thanks to NASA's Landolt space mission. The mission, at a cost of $19.5 million, will make it possible to measure stellar luminosities more accurately.