South Dakota Research Facility Helping NASA Space Discoveries

You may be familiar with NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and the extraordinary photos that it returned to Earth.

Well, one South Dakota physicist, Mark Hanhardt, compares those photos to taking selfies with a cell phone. These images show galaxies and stars as they were 13 billion years ago. It's "a bit like turning a cell phone camera on ourselves. Those images are us, in a very primordial form."

The JWST aims to help us understand the universe's evolution, discovering early stars and galaxies formed less than 400 million years after the Big Bang. But the JWST cannot see inside stars.

However, the Compact Accelerator System for Performing Astrophysical Research (CASPAR) at Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) can. CASPAR is decoding the complex reactions in stars, allowing physicists to predict how stars evolve.

So it is incredible to think a South Dakota institution, like the Sanford Underground Research Facility, has a part in the scientific search for answers to understanding our universe and ourselves.

Do You Remember These 10 Crazy Snowstorms In South Dakota?

Here's some news that some South Dakotans prefer not to hear this time of year. Winter is coming. In denial? The dropping temperatures and early snowstorms out west by Deadwood speak for themselves.

Slowly but surely, people of the Sioux Empire are bracing for colder weather and snow-covered roads. Even though snow will soon be gracing the Sioux Empire with its presence, some snow showers will not compare to these ten dreadful snowstorms that hit South Dakota.

Only In Your State highlights these ten snowstorms in South Dakota as a reminder for people to always be aware of the roads during the winter. These South Dakotan winters can be harsh, which is why it is always a good idea to plan ahead and prepare for the worst.

Do you remember any major snowstorms that hit South Dakota?

Gallery Credit: Christine Manika