The 10 biggest physics and astronomy lies from 2023

The structure of the Fomalhaut stellar system is revealed for the first time in this annotated JWST image. A central inner disk, followed by a (likely planet-caused) gap, an intermediate belt, more planets (and another gap), and finally a Kuiper belt analog, complete with what’s been dubbed the “great dust cloud” newly forming inside, are all revealed. (<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-023-01962-6" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Credit</a>: NASA, ESA, CSA, A. Gáspár (University of Arizona) et al., Nature Astronomy, 2023) And sometimes, dubious work on its frontiers masquerades as revolutionary truths. <img alt="" src="https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:630/0*ZXAVh5Egsf6Y0J2J" style="height:490px; width:700px" /> Although there are magnified, ultra-distant, very red and even infrared galaxies like the ones identified here in the Hubble eXtreme Deep Field, many of these candidate galaxies have turned out to be either intrinsically red and/or closer interlopers, not the ultra-distant objects we hoped they were. Without spectroscopic confirmation, fooling ourselves as to an object’s cosmic distance is an unfortunate, but commonplace occurrence. (<a href="http://(credit:%20NASA,%20ESA,%20R.%20Bouwens%20and%20G.%20Illingsworth%20(UC,%20Santa%20Cruz))/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Credit</a>: NASA, ESA, R. Bouwens and G. Illingsworth (UC, Santa Cruz)) <a href="https://medium.com/starts-with-a-bang/the-10-biggest-physics-and-astronomy-lies-from-2023-a0d52216ae4d">Visit Now</a>