Hubble observations challenge how radiation escaped the early universe
A new analysis using the Hubble Space Telescope has challenged a leading explanation for how the early universe was reionized.
Astronomers had proposed that powerful winds from exploding stars could help radiation escape galaxies and clear the dense fog of hydrogen that filled the universe roughly 13 billion years ago. Hubble observations instead indicate that these winds can prevent radiation from escaping, the opposite of their assumed role.
The result points to a more complex picture of the processes that allowed radiation to reach and ionize the surrounding cosmos during the universe’s early history.