Department of Astronomy

UVA astronomy professor Jason Glenn led the concept study for PRIMA, a billion-dollar space telescope NASA just moved to Phase B! He joined Science Friday to talk about what it takes to get a mission like this off the ground. 

Satya Gontcho A Gontcho has received a Department of Energy Office of Science Early Career Research Award for her work mapping the universe and probing the mysteries of dark matter and dark energy. 

University of Virginia Art Professor William Wylie and Professor of Astronomy Nitya Kallivayalil transform Sloan Digital Sky Survey data into a striking visual experience at the Contemplative Sciences Center.

The lives of stars unfold over millions of years, making changes in their life cycles difficult to observe directly. But Jonathan C. Tan, a professor of astronomy at the University of Virginia and an international team of researchers have done just that, tracking two massive young stars as they come together to form a binary system.

A NASA mission to explore the history and evolution of the universe is advancing to the next phase of development, and a member of the University of Virginia’s Department of Astronomy has played a key role. Before joining UVA this fall, Professor Jason Glenn led the PRIMA concept study for NASA.

In August 2026, astronomers from around the world gathered in Teruel, Spain, for APOGEE's Galactic Odyssey, a conference celebrating the 15th anniversary of the APOGEE survey. The meeting brought together current and former members of the APOGEE collaboration, including many UVA Astronomy alumni and former postdoctoral researchers.

For more than a decade, a massive star in a distant galaxy has been putting on a spectacular show, repeatedly erupting as if it were about to explode and die – an act that has earned it the nickname “supernova impostor.” Now, astronomers have discovered what may be driving those outbursts: a hidden companion, either a neutron star or a black hole, that’s pulling material away from the star.