Department of Astronomy

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

Astronomers from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) reached the conclusion that after a “lazy” start of star formation for the first few billion years of their lives, both the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds are now forming new stars at a rapid rate. They made the first-ever detailed chemical maps of galaxies beyond our own.

Anne Verbiscer,  Research Professor in Astronomy, is the Assistant Project Scientist for NASA’s New Horizons Mission, which flew by Ultima Thule on January 1, producing the picture shown above.  Ultima Thule is the most distant object ever visited by a spacecraft.  Verbiscer was interviewed for the NOVA TV program which aired the following night.  She said: "When I first saw the images, I think I probably said ‘wow’ a million times.”  The NOVA program is available at