Aboard the International Space Station, Ayers pulls out physics research hardware inside the Microgravity Science Glovebox
Research shows that modern disk galaxies have two overall components: a thin disk containing higher-metallicity young stars, and a thick disk containing lower-metallicity older stars. The thin disk sits inside the thick disk. Astronomers are trying to understand how these parts form and how disk galaxies evolve. To make progress, astronomers need to observe edge-on rather than face-on galaxies. They also need to observe them in the past, something that the JWST is built to do.
