Best wishes upon this Solstice

Today, as we mark the solstice, the students, staff, and faculty of Steward Observatory and the Department of Astronomy send our warmest greetings to all of you. From our very beginning, we have been transformed by the generosity of those who care about what we do. Lavinia Steward got us started with her generous gift of $60,000 for a telescope of “huge size,” the 36-inch telescope now on Kitt Peak.  Richard F. Caris enabled us to join the Giant Magellan Telescope as a Founding institution through his gift of $20,000,000 in 2015.  As we look to our future, we can not do it without the on-going support from all of you.

This past year has been full of extraordinary achievements for which we are tremendously thankful. Our astronomers discovered the most distant galaxy ever observed by humans and identified spectacular evidence of unseen planets circling a nearby star. Steward Observatory helped document the brightest gamma ray burst ever seen and Richard F. Caris Mirror Lab began casting the seventh (and last required) primary mirror segment for the Giant Magellan Telecope (GMT). Together with our sister departments LPL and Planetary Sciences, Steward Observatory and Astronomy ranked #1 in the NSF HERD rankings (research dollars expended) for a remarkable 35th consecutive year.

Our outreach and education programs continue to grow and excel. We currently have the largest number of undergraduate majors (over 400) and PhD students (51) that we have ever had. Our retention and graduate rates have been increased each of the past four years. Our students are grateful for the scholarship and research assistance provided by the Friends of Steward.