News | Steward Observatory

AAS Announces 2026 Shapley Lecturers - Including Steward Observatory Astronomer Chris Impey

Shapley lecturers

Newly discovered star opens 'laboratory' for solving cosmic dust mystery

Art by Thordis Maaske

2026 Rieke Prize Awarded to Dr. Dennis Zaritsky

Dennis Zaritsky

A galaxy next door is transforming, and astronomers can see it happening

Small Magellanic Cloud Imaged by Herschel mission, Planck observatory, Infrared Astronomical Satellite, and Cosmic Background Explorer.

AstroNuc 2026: Prize Fellow Aldana Grichener organizes a packed astrophysics workshop

Aldana Grichener, Prize Fellow in Theoretical & Computational Astrophysics, organizes a growing nuclear astrophysics workshop that brings together theorists, observers, and experimentalists to tackle some of the Universe's most fundamental questions.

U of A to build instruments for new space telescope

Postdoctoral researcher Hyukmo Kang (left) and Optical Sciences graduate student Solvay Blomquist align space telescope optics in the U of A's Applied Research building.

U of A space scientists reflect on Galaxy Slam's debut

(From left) University of Arizona scientists Daewook Kim, Marcia Rieke, Carlos Vargas, Tyler Robinson, Kristopher Klein and Kate Alexander, together on the McKale Memorial Center court.

Cosmic predators: How supermassive black holes slow star growth in nearby galaxies

Artist's concept of a galaxy with a brilliant quasar – an active supermassive black hole millions to billions of times the mass of the sun – at its center. Among the brightest objects in the universe, quasars feed on infalling matter and unleash torrents of winds and radiation, shaping the galaxies in which they reside.

Preparing the Next Generation: Arizona Winter School Sets Stage for Roman Space Telescope Launch

Winter School

How reaching for the hoop prepared Marcia Rieke to reach for the stars

Regents Professor Marcia Rieke (center with ball) is the University of Arizona honoree for the Big 12 Faculty of the Year award, announced Feb. 9. Rieke, alongside (from left) Provost Patricia Prelock, President Suresh Garimella, R. Ken Coit Director of Athletics Desireé Reed-Francois, and Senior Vice President for Research and Partnerships Tomás Díaz de la Rubia accepted the award as part of Galaxy Slam, a weeklong celebration of the U of A's legacy of space and athletics. Mike Christy/Arizona Athletics