News

In the belly of the beast: massive clumps reveal star factories from a bygone era of the cosmos

This artist's illustration shows a stage in the predicted merger between our Milky Way galaxy and the neighboring Andromeda galaxy, as it will unfold over the next several billion years. In this image, representing Earth's night sky in 3.75 billion years, Andromeda (left) fills the field of view and begins to distort the Milky Way with tidal pull.

Giant Magellan Telescope Advances to National Science Foundation Final Design Phase

Giant Magellan Telescope

Self-learning neural network cracks iconic black holes

Artist impression of a neural network that connects the observations (left) to the models (right).

New model helps to figure out which distant planets may host life

Some ‘water worlds’ like Jupiter’s moon Europa could potentially be habitable for life. NASA/JPL-Caltech/SETI Institute

The Giant Magellan Telescope ushers in a new era of astronomy

“The Giant Magellan Telescope will be a major upgrade for our ability to study planets around other stars, especially when we take pictures of them using the in-development instrument GMag AO-X,” said Jared Males from the University of Arizona.

NASA selects rocket for U of A-led Aspera mission

Currently scheduled to launch in 2026, an Electron rocket supplied by Rocket Lab will lift the Aspera satellite into orbit.

A vast molecular cloud, long invisible, is discovered near solar system

Eos is located within the "Local Bubble" – a relative cavity in the interstellar medium surrounding an area that contains the solar system. Thomas Müller (HdA/MPIA) and Thavisha Dharmawardena (NYU)

The bizarre space explosions scientists can't explain

(Credit: Philip Drury/ University of Sheffield)

Former U of A Astronomy Major finds coldest exoplanet ever seen, and it orbits a dead star

Mary Anne Limbach

Kaitlin Kratter and Josh Eisner, 2022 and 2020 winners of Blitzer Award, deliver joint lecture on protoplanets and protoplanetary disks - watch their talk here!

Josh Eisner and Kaitlin Kratter