Star Formation At Virginia
Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) at Virginia
Instrumentation Laboratory at Virginia
Theoretical and Computational Astrophysics at Virginia
Astrochemistry at Virginia
World Class Facilities at Virginia
Planetary Science at Virginia
Astronomy Professor Kelsey Johnson recently gave a TED Talk on Light Pollution and 5 ridiculously easy was to fix it! You can watch her talk at Kelsey Johnson TED Talk.
Astronomy Professor Ilse Cleeves was awarded a Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering to support her research on astrochemistry and the formation of planets. The award was announced by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation on Tuesday, October 15. These Fellowships are among the most prestigious and selective in American science. Previous Fellows include scientists who went on to be awarded Nobel Prizes in Chemistry and Physics, the Fields Medal in Mathematics, the Alan T.
UVa Astronomy graduate student Thankful Cromartie led a paper published in Nature Astronomy detailing the discovery of the most massive neutron star ever observed. This work was conducted along with her advisor Scott Ransom (of UVa and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory) and the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav) collaboration. The team used pulsar timing — accounting for every rotation of dense, rapidly rotating stellar remnants — to measure the mass of J0740+6620, a 2.89-ms pulsar with a binary white dwarf companion.
A group of astronomers, including Craig Sarazin from U.Va., have made the first high-resolution, high-frequency radio map of the Moon. The image, at a radio frequency of 90 GHz, was made with the MUSTANG2 camera on the Green Bank Telescope, the world’s largest steerable telescope. At this radio frequency, the image shows heat radiation form the lunar surface, and brighter regions are hotter. The image shows many of the same features as seen in more familiar optical images. However, because temperature variations across the lunar surface are smaller than the variations
While our solar system contains dozens of moons orbiting the planets, there is as yet no clear detection of a moon orbiting an extrasolar planet. A group of astronomers and planetary scientists, led by former UVa graduate student Apurva Oza, have a new paper accepted to the Astrophysical Journal (http://arxiv.org/abs/1908.10732) which shows that these exo-moons may have been hiding in plain sight.
Nitya Kallivayalil, an associate professor in Astronomy, has been award a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). This is the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on outstanding scientists and engineers who are beginning their independent research careers and show exceptional promise for leadership in science and technology. Nitya was nominated by the National Science Foundation. The award was announced in a press release from the White House. The press release can be found here:
Steve Layman, an amateur astronomer who’s made a career in music, works with the astronomy department to bring telescopes to schools and Scouts. (Photo by Sanjay Suchak, University Communications)
Friday | July 12 | 6:30 - 9:30 p.m. | FREE
Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Apollo 11's moon landing at Light House Studio/Vinegar Hill Theatre. Enjoy a special screening from the new PBS American Experience series,Chasing the Moon, followed by a panel discussion with distinguished experts that represent the past, present and future of space research and exploration. This event is free, but registration is required.
The Astronomy Department is pleased to announce the creation of the Timothy P. McCullough, Jr. Scholarship in Astronomy, named for Dr. McCullough (1910-2004), who was a research physicist and radio astronomer at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC. Dr. McCullough made some of the first radio measurements of many objects in the Solar System. His radio measurements of Venus were among the first to indicate that Venus had a very high surface temperature. He also studied Mars and Jupiter. Later, his interest turned to supernovas, galaxies, and solar flares. Dr.
Astronomers, including Craig Sarazin from U.Va., have discovered jets shooting out at nearly the speed of light from the regions around a black hole, and which are changing their direction rapidly (minutes to hours). This reorientation of the jets is due to the Lense-Thirring Precession, an effect predicted by Einstein's Theory of General Relativity. This effect is expected to occur near a rotating black hole, and is caused by the rotating black hole dragging space and time around with it as it rotates. This is believed to be the first direct observation of the Lense-Thirring Precession
Astronomy Professor Kelsey Johnson recently gave a TED Talk on Light Pollution and 5 ridiculously easy was to fix it! You can watch her talk at... Read»
Astronomy Professor Ilse Cleeves was awarded a Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering to support her research on astrochemistry and the formation of planets. The award was announced by... Read»
UVa Astronomy graduate student Thankful Cromartie led a paper published in Nature Astronomy detailing the discovery of the most massive neutron star ever observed. This work was conducted along... Read»
