Submillimeter astronomy is a research area focused on observing electromagnetic radiation at wavelengths between the far-infrared and millimeter regimes (roughly 0.1–1 mm), where cold dust, molecular gas, and cosmic microwave background–related processes emit strongly. It probes physical conditions in dense interstellar clouds, star-forming regions, circumstellar disks, and high-redshift galaxies via rotational transitions of molecules (e.g., CO) and thermal dust emission. The field relies on high-sensitivity, high-angular-resolution instruments such as bolometer arrays and heterodyne receivers, typically deployed on high, dry sites or space platforms to mitigate atmospheric water vapor absorption.
Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), astronomers have discovered a close pair of quasars, which is a result of a distant massive galaxy merger. The detection of the quasar pair was detailed in a ...
Thirty-four years after Cornell University scientists first conceived it, the Fred Young Submillimeter Telescope (FYST) now rises above the Atacama Desert, near the summit of Cerro Chajnantor in Chile. FYST will help answer ...
Astronomy
Apr 10, 2026
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This month's NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope Picture of the Month offers us a two-for-one on brand new stars—with some potential planets thrown in as well. This visual highlights Webb's views of the protoplanetary ...
Planetary Sciences
Apr 3, 2026
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A team of University of Florida researchers used the James Webb Space Telescope to capture photos of a star-forming region known as W51 with never-before-seen clarity and resolution. The long wavelengths of JWST's infrared ...
Astronomy
Mar 31, 2026
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Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers have discovered a new red galaxy at a redshift of approximately 11.45. The newfound galaxy, which received designation EGS-z11-R0, turns out to be the most distant ...
Yale junior Donglin Wu leads a new study showing that some of the biggest stars in the universe shed some of the smallest dust particles. It's fitting that Wu's first major scientific journal article as lead author focuses ...
Astronomy
Feb 27, 2026
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Astronomers have captured the central region of our Milky Way in a striking new image, unveiling a complex network of filaments of cosmic gas in unprecedented detail. Obtained with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter ...
Astronomy
Feb 25, 2026
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A team of 48 astronomers from 14 countries, led by the University of Massachusetts Amherst, has discovered a population of dusty, star-forming galaxies at the far edges of the universe that formed only a billion years after ...
Astronomy
Feb 17, 2026
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Astronomers have, for the first time, captured a detailed snapshot of planetary systems in an era long shrouded in mystery. The ALMA survey to Resolve exoKuiper belt Substructures (ARKS), using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter ...
Astronomy
Jan 20, 2026
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Chinese researchers have braved the cold and harsh environment of Antarctica in order to get a unique view of star formation in the interstellar medium (ISM). The Chinese National Antarctica and Arctic Research Expedition ...
