The world of spectroscopy has continued to expand throughout history based on the contributions of many brilliant scientists. This month we highlight prominent Black scientists whose innovations have helped shape spectroscopy as we know it today and have created space for others like them to succeed.

The fate of galaxies is determined by the initial mass distribution at the birth of a new population of stars in the diverse and vast Universe. This relationship is referred to as the Initial Mass Function (IMF

In the field of astronomy, initial mass function (IMF) is an empirical function that details the distribution of stellar masses in a newly formed population of stars.

The discovery is putting into question everything astronomers believed about ring systems.

Astronomers from the University of Sheffield discovered a new ring system around a dwarf planet on the edge of the Solar System, according to a press release. The discovery calls into question current theories about how ring systems are formed since the ring system orbits much further out than is typical for other ring systems.

Around a dwarf planet.

The ring system is located around a dwarf planet named Quaoar, which is approximately half the size of Pluto and orbits the Sun beyond Neptune.

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Paris Observatory.

The astronomers spotted the ring system by using HiPERCAM — an extremely sensitive high-speed camera developed by scientists at the University of Sheffield, which is mounted on the world’s largest optical telescope, the 10.4-meter diameter Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) on La Palma.