Brandon Hensley

@bhensley.bsky.social

173 Followers 161 Following

Astrophysicist trying to understand our dusty universe

“What is water stored beneath the surface of the Earth called?” Choices: A) Groundwater B) Galaxy Clusters C) Sandstone D) Dawn
Polarized emission from a z=2.6 galaxy in yellow/orange with white polarization vectors overlaid. The galaxy is lensed and multiple structures are visible in the image: two roughly circular regions and one elbow-shaped.
Wikipedia definition of "ylem": Ylem is a hypothetical original substance or condensed state of matter, which became subatomic particles and elements as we understand them today. The term was used by George Gamow, his student Ralph Alpher, and their associates in the late 1940s, having resuscitated it from Middle English after Alpher found it in Webster's Second dictionary, where it was defined as "the first substance from which the elements were supposed to have been formed."
Emission versus wavelength from 3 to 20 microns of the Orion Bar as seen by JWST. Emission features from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are highlighted in red.