Cosmic Dawn Center

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 ...

DAWN PhD student Pengpei Zhu et al. find ubiquitous neutral gas outflows in massive quiescent galaxies 2 billion years after the Big Bang.

However, the winds are unlikely to escape, pointing instead to quick gas recycling rather than removing the gas and kill the galaxy.
arxiv.org/abs/2602.17767

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.

arxiv.org/abs/2602.185...

James Webb finds surprisingly mature galaxies in early cosmic megastructure - Cosmic Dawn Center Using the powerful James Webb Space Telescope, an international team of researchers led by a Danish astronomy student at the Cosmic Dawn Center in Copenhagen showed that some of the most massive galax...

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

🇬🇧 cosmicdawn.dk/news/james-w...
🇩🇰 cosmicdawn.dk/news-in-dani...
@dg.dk #JamesWebb

Viola Gelli wins prize for best PhD thesis in astrophysics - Cosmic Dawn Center Congratulations and an extra happy New Year to Viola Gelli for winning the "Livio Gratton" prize, Italy's top award for the best PhD thesis in Astrophysics. The prize was awarded for Viola's thesis "D...

Congratulations to Viola Gelli for being awarded to "Livio Gratton" prize, Italy's top award for the best PhD thesis in astrophysics 😃
cosmicdawn.dk/news/viola-g...

Copenhagen researchers make the front page of Nature: Solving the mystery of the universe's ‘little red dots’ Since the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) went into operation, red dots in its images have puzzled researchers around the world. Now, researchers from the University of Copenhagen have explaine...

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

🇬🇧 nbi.ku.dk/english/news...
🇩🇰 nbi.ku.dk/Nyheder/nyhe...

The discovery provides direct clues about the gas fueling early galaxy formation, and challenges our understanding of how structure forms in the Universe, as well as how the whole Universe turned from neutral to ionized.

And by "massive", we mean so massive that, today, this would have evolved into one of the, if not 𝘵𝘩𝘦, most massive galaxy cluster in the observable Universe.

Universets udviklingshistorie omskrives på baggrund af bachelorprojekt fra NBI De største strukturer i Universet er galaksehobe – grupper af galakser, der indbyrdes holdes sammen af tyngdekraften. Deres udviklingshistorie er nu ved at blive skrevet om – på grund af en studerende...

Kasper Heintz and a bunch of other DAWN'ers and non-DAWN'ers discovered the first direct observational evidence for dense, neutral gas around a massive galaxy proto-cluster just one billion years after the Big Bang.

🇩🇰 nbi.ku.dk/Nyheder/nyhe...
🇬🇧 nbi.ku.dk/english/news...

Get all this and more:
🌍 Work with world-class scientists
✈️ Travel & housing fully covered
💸 Paid summer stipend
🎤 Funding to present your work at AAS
🧠 Independent research and strong mentoring

Are you a US citizen grad/undergrad student in astronomy, and would like to see Copenhagen? Apply here for the DAWN-IRES Scholar Program and come to DAWN to do a project over the summer. 𝗗𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝟭 𝗙𝗲𝗯𝗿𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘆.
www.dawnires.com
@dg.dk

International collaboration honored with prestigious Into Change Award for uncovering the cosmic origin of heavy elements - Cosmic Dawn Center Professor Darach Watson of the Cosmic Dawn Center at the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, is among six leading European scientists recognized with the inaugural Into Change Award, one o...

Huge congratulations to Darach Watson and the rest of the ENGRAVE team for receiving Uddannelses- og Forskningsministeriet's "Into Change Award" of 8 mio. DKK.
cosmicdawn.dk/news/interna...
@dg.dk

Cosmic Dawn Center (an international astrophysics research center based in Copenhagen, Denmark that focuses on studying the very early Universe, particularly the period known as the "cosmic dawn") leaves X (827 followers)

Bluesky: @cosmicdawncenter.bsky.social

Job openings - Cosmic Dawn Center Check this page for job openings at the Cosmic Dawn Center.

Looking for a PhD or postdoc position? Come to DAWN!

Four PhD positions and two postdoc positions are available within the areas of galaxy formation and evolution, first stars, reionization, and kilonovae.
cosmicdawn.dk/job-openings/

4MOST will observe the sky over the next 15 years, creating the largest spectroscopical atlas of the southerne hemisphere to date.

Several researchers at NBI and DAWN are involved in this project, including Johan Fynbo and affiliated assoc. prof. Jens-Kristian Krogager who lead a study on quasars.

4MOST Captures First Light On October 18, 2025, the 4-metre Multi-Object Spectroscopic Telescope (4MOST) facility, installed on the VISTA telescope at the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) Paranal Observatory in Chile, obta

The new instrument called 4MOST, mounted on @ESO's VISTA telescope in Chile, just opened its eye for the first time, and collected spectra of 2400 objects at the same time.

www.aip.de/en/news/4mos...

Astronomers spot mysterious gamma-ray explosion, unlike any detected before Astronomers have detected an explosion of gamma rays that repeated several times over the course of a day, an event unlike anything ever witnessed before. The source of the powerful radiation was disc...

Gamma-ray bursts are the most energetic events in the Universe, typically lasting milliseconds to a few seconds.

Now for the first time since their discovery 50 years ago, a gamma-ray burst kept gamma-ray-bursting for a full day!

🇬🇧 www.eso.org/public/news/...
🇩🇰 www.eso.org/public/denma...
@dg.dk

📸Are you a researcher in Denmark with a powerful photo that captures your science? For the eighth year in a row, the DNRF invites you to bring your research into focus through our annual photo competition. 👀Deadline Sept. 23, 2025. dg.dk/en/dnrf-phot...

PRESS RELEASE JWST illuminates the universe’s first Billion years: new Community Opinion charts breakthrough discoveries and open questions.

"…science textbooks are being rewritten in real time"
www.issibern.ch/press-releas...

The conference is chaired and co-chaired by @kosmoskasper.bsky.social and @joriswitstok.bsky.social, respectively, and is designed to be inclusive of in particular early career researchers.

More info and abstract submission (𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝟯𝟭 𝗢𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗯𝗲𝗿) in the link above 👆

The five main themes of the workshop are:

🌀 Galaxy formation at cosmic dawn,
🌀 Reionization,
🌀 Origin of massive galaxies and AGN,
🌀 Dust and chemical enrichment, and
🌀 Galaxy morphology and dynamics

in the era of JWST, ALMA, and Euclid.

Charting Cosmic Dawn in Copenhagen 2026 - Cosmic Dawn Center An overview of the 2026 workshop "Charting Cosmic Dawn in Copenhagen."

We are excited to make the first official announcement for the 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗼𝘀𝗺𝗶𝗰 𝗗𝗮𝘄𝗻 conference in Copenhagen in 12–17 April next year 🤩

cosmicdawn.dk/meetings-and...

The 150 spectra include
🌀 new deep spectroscopy of 10 key targets,
🌀 weak Hα+absorption features
🌀 2 AGNs out of 10 key targets
🌀 new Dn4000/UVJ insights

This is just the start — deep dives into stellar ages, dynamics, & more coming soon.

A public data release is also planned.

Just out: the #DeepDive survey; a new JWST program to uncover how massive galaxies quenched at z ~ 3–5.

The first results include spectra of 150 quiescent galaxies.

Big thanks to Danmark Frie Forsningsfond/Sapere Aude & @dg.dk for their support!
arxiv.org/abs/2506.22642

Currently watching the first light from
@vrubinobs.bsky.social’s 3200 megapixel camera 🤩

The COSMOS-Web team — including several DAWNers — has just released their full field of 780,000 galaxies.

Ethan @startswithabang.bsky.social Siegel provides a great overview of the survey.

You can also explore the field yourself in this interactive map: cosmos2025.iap.fr/fitsmap.html

Galactic dust reveals hidden patterns in stunning new images from James Webb Using the James Webb Space Telescope, a team of researchers led by a Danish bachelor student has uncovered surprising new details about the fine structure of cosmic dust in nearby galaxies.

Bachelor student Charlie Lind-Thomsen led this project, zooming in on astonishing details of dust clouds in nearby galaxies:
🇬🇧 nbi.ku.dk/english/news...
🇩🇰 nbi.ku.dk/Nyheder/nyhe...
@dg.dk

First light from student-built radio telescope - Cosmic Dawn Center During the last six months, academic employee Gaurav Kumar, together with master students Kaj Grimstrup, Liazhe Li, and Omar Rashdan, have built two radio telescopes. One of them now observed its firs...

Behold the homemade 1.9 m radio telescope, built by DAWNers Gaurav, Kaj, Jiazhe, and Omar📡

The telescope received its first light last week, where the team was able to observe neutral hydrogen in the Milky Way from the institute's backyard.
cosmicdawn.dk/news/first-l...
@dg.dk

Associate Professor Claudia Lagos - Pawsey Medal 2025 This is "Associate Professor Claudia Lagos - Pawsey Medal 2025" by Australian Academy of Science on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people…

Huge congrats to @cdplagos.bsky.social who has just been awarded the Pawsey Medal by the @science.org.au for her research in galaxy evolution! 🏆

The Medal is awarded to early career scientists for outstanding achievements in physics.
vimeo.com/1064968475/0...

Interview med Chamilla Terp, Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN) DK: Hun faldt som en lysende stjerne ned fra himlen med en opdagelse, der gav genlyd i den astrofysiske verden. Chamilla Terp har løst en gåde, som…

✨Chamilla Terp has unraveled a puzzle that experienced astrophysicists have long struggled to solve. Meet Chamilla and learn more about her dreams and daily life as a young astrophysicist. @cosmicdawncenter.bsky.social
vimeo.com/1072508414

Kasper Elm Heintz among Berlingske’s Top 100 Talents - Cosmic Dawn Center Congratulations to Kasper Elm Heintz, assistant professor at the Cosmic Dawn Center, who has been selected as one of the top 100 talents in Denmark 2025 in Berlingske’s annual award for his discoverie...

Congratulations to @kosmoskasper.bsky.social on being among the top 100 talents in Denmark 🥳
cosmicdawn.dk/news/kasper-...
@dg.dk