DAWN - The Cosmic Dawn Center

Our esteemed associate, Kate Whitaker from UMass Amherst, has revived our previous "DAWN-IRES" program:

Over the summer, 7 students from the US are visiting DAWN to work on various projects, mentored by DAWNers.

Here is Emilie Burnham from Penn State presenting her current work.

And cake.

We're delighted to share that Takumi Kakimoto, PhD student at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan and a DAWN collaborator, has been featured in a short documentary!

The film offers a glimpse into the realities of life as a young researcher — the curiosity, the challenges, and the passion that drives the next generation of astronomers.

Takumi visited Cosmic Dawn Center as a close collaborator at the end of 2024 and into early 2025. We're thrilled to see his journey in the spotlight.

『われわれは星を見ているのではない、問いを見ている』｜国立天文台の学生研究者を追った短編ドキュメンタリー 『われわれは星を見ているのではない、問いを見ている』国立天文台で研究を続ける学生研究者・柿元拓実さんを追った短編ドキュメンタリーです。銀河の謎に向き合いながら、「何かを解明したい」という思いを胸に、研...

Huge congratulations to Kasper Elm Heintz and his coauthors for winning the 𝗔𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝘆 & 𝗔𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗵𝘆𝘀𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗢𝘂𝘁𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗘𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗔𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗹𝗲 😃

The prize was awarded for the paper "𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘑𝘞𝘚𝘛-𝘗𝘙𝘐𝘔𝘈𝘓 𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘺: 𝘈 𝘑𝘞𝘚𝘛/𝘕𝘐𝘙𝘚𝘱𝘦𝘤 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘩𝘺𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘓𝘺𝘮𝘢𝘯-α 𝘢𝘣𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 ∼600 𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘹𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘵 𝘻 = 5.0 − 13.4"
https://www.aanda.org/2026-press-releases/3180-a-a-announces-2026-awards-for-outstanding-early-career-researchers
The study made heavy use of the DAWN JWST Archive.
Read our press release about Kasper's paper here:
https://cosmicdawn.dk/news/webb-provides-a-new-detailed-look-into-the-formation-of-the-first-galaxies/

Astronomy & Astrophysics (A&A) Astronomy & Astrophysics (A&A) is an international journal which publishes papers on all aspects of astronomy and astrophysics

Do you have a 3D printer, and would you like your own version of our best probe of the history of the Universe?

The Euclid Consortium just released the instructions for printing Euclid. The default scale is 1:16, or 29.5 cm tall.
https://www.euclid-ec.org/public/3d-model/

There and back again:

In a new study, DAWN PhD student Pengpei Zhu and collaborators find ubiquitous outflows of neutral gas in massive quiescent galaxies just 2 billion years after the Big Bang.

While these winds can temporarily suppress star formation, they are unlikely to escape their galaxies, pointing instead to quick gas recycling rather than removing the gas and kill the galaxy.

There and back again? Neutral outflows in z~3.5 quiescent galaxies Neutral gas outflows play a crucial role in the baryon cycle of galaxies, their properties provide key insights into the transition from star formation to quiescence. In this work, we investigate the neutral gas outflow of 23 massive ($M_\star = 10^{10.1-11.6}\, m M_\odot$) quiescent galaxies (QGs)....

In a new study out today, Steven Gillman et al. show that dust-obscured, star-forming galaxies, observed with both James Webb and ALMA and seen 10–12 billion years ago, were already metal-rich and rapidly forming stars.

https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.18558v1

A new study, led by DAWN PhD student Nikolaj B. Sillassen, finds that a proto-cluster of galaxies seen less than 2 billion years after the Big Bang already hosts many "dead" galaxies.

🇬🇧 https://cosmicdawn.dk/news/james-webb-finds-surprisingly-mature-galaxies-in-early-cosmic-megastructure/
🇩🇰 https://cosmicdawn.dk/news-in-danish/james-webb-finder-overraskende-modne-galakser-i-tidlig-kosmisk-megastruktur/

James Webb finder overraskende modne galakser i tidlig kosmisk megastruktur - Cosmic Dawn Center Ved hjælp af rumteleskopet James Webb har et internationalt forskerhold, ledet af en dansk astronomistuderende ved Cosmic Dawn Center i København, vist at nogle af de tungeste galakser i det tidlige Univers udviklede sig hurtigere end forventet. Ved at studere en gigantisk, nyligt opdaget galakseh...

DAWN on the front page of Nature! 😃
The enigmatic population of galaxies, known as "little red dots" and discovered by James Webb, may finally have an explanation.

🇬🇧 https://nbi.ku.dk/english/news/news26/copenhagen-researchers-make-the-front-page-of-nature-solving-the-mystery-of-the-universes-little-red-dots/
🇩🇰 https://nbi.ku.dk/Nyheder/nyheder_2026/ku-forskere-indtager-forsiden-af-nature-loeser-mysteriet-om-universets-roede-prikker/

KU-forskere indtager forsiden af Nature: Løser mysteriet om Universets røde prikker Siden James Webb-teleskopet gik i luften, har røde prikker på billederne forundret videnskabsfolk verden over. Nu kan forskere fra Københavns Universitet forklare de gådefulde prikker, som gemmer på de voldsomste kræfter i Universet skjult i en puppe af gas.