Astronomy & Astrophysics
-
With Pivot Fellowship, astronomer J. Xavier Prochaska turns to oceanography
A new program from the Simons Foundation supports successful researchers who have a deep interest, curiosity, and drive to make contributions to a new discipline.
-
Pioneering radio astronomer Frank Drake dies at 92
Frank Drake, professor emeritus of astronomy and astrophysics and an eminent radio astronomer known for his pioneering efforts in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), died September 2 at his home in Aptos.
-
NASA releases Webb telescope’s first exoplanet image
UCSC astronomers led the analysis of the first exoplanet images captured by the James Webb Space Telescope.
-
Astronomer Ariadna Murguia-Berthier wins 2022 Trumpler Award for Ph.D. thesis
The Astronomical Society of the Pacific is honoring Murguia-Berthier for the research she completed as a graduate student in astronomy at UC Santa Cruz.
-
Astronomers witness star-slinging tug-of-war between merging galaxies
Observations of a newly-dormant galaxy indicate that it stopped forming stars not because it used up all of its gas but because most of its star-forming fuel was thrown out of the system as it merged with another galaxy.
-
JWST makes first unequivocal detection of carbon dioxide in an exoplanet atmosphere
UCSC astronomer Natalie Batalha leads a team that detected carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of the exoplanet WASP-39b using the James Webb Space Telescope.
-
Missing carbon monoxide in planetary disks was hiding in the ice
In planetary disks, carbon monoxide is lurking in large chunks of ice, solving the decade-old question, ‘Where is the CO?’
-
Lenses and Mirrors-Shadow the Scientists receives Heising-Simons Foundation grant
Kickstarted by UC Santa Cruz Astronomy and Astrophysics Professor Raja GuhaThakurta, Lenses and Mirrors–Shadow the Scientists brings cutting-edge scientific research to anybody’s computer screen.
-
Astrophysicist Bruce Macintosh appointed director of UC Observatories
UC President Michael Drake has appointed Bruce Macintosh director of UC Observatories, an astronomical research unit headquartered at UC Santa Cruz and serving nine UC campuses.
-
Center for Reimagining Leadership
Center for Reimagining Leadership has been established, effective July 1, 2022. Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz, professor of astronomy and astrophysics, will be the faculty director of the center.
-
Measuring the universe with star-shattering explosions
An international team of scientists has analyzed archive data for powerful cosmic explosions from the deaths of stars and found a new way to measure distances in the distant universe.
-
Simulations reveal hydrodynamics of planetary engulfment by expanding star
A new study using hydrodynamical simulations reveals the forces acting on a planet when it is swallowed by an expanding star, as will eventually happen to the inner planets of our solar system when the sun becomes a red giant.