Astronomy

Astronomers have found the most massive galaxy ever seen in the early universe, and it’s about to get bigger. The researchers involved include the UA's Dan Marrone.

For the first time, scientists including the UA's David Sand have directly detected gravitational waves — ripples in space and time — in addition to light from the spectacular collision of two neutron stars. The implications are profound for our understanding of the cosmos.

Tabby's Star has attracted attention from astronomers and invited speculation about whether it could be surrounded by a vast structure built by an alien civilization.

Produced in collaboration with NASA and NOVA, the show will take audiences on a simulated flight to a super-massive black hole that lurks at the center of the Milky Way.

Electromagnetic radiation streaming from the Crab Nebula has its origin in one population of electrons and must be produced differently than scientists have thought. UA scientist Federico Fraschetti calls it "a significant advance in our understanding of particle acceleration at shock waves."

Astronomers have caught the fleeting explosion of a Type Ia supernova in detail. Understanding how they form could have implications for dark energy measurements.

"Synthetic observations" simulating nascent planetary systems could help explain a puzzle — how planets form — that has vexed astronomers for a long time.

UA astronomer Kate Su talks about her experience aboard the "jetliner observatory" SOFIA. Su and her team confirmed that a nearby star system resembles our solar system in its youth.

From a pool of eight proposed missions competing for funding in NASA's Explorer category, the space agency has chosen to fund the UA-led GUSTO mission. The goal of the $40 million endeavor is to send a balloon to near-space, carrying a telescope that will study the interstellar medium.

The appointment of Robert Shelton is further evidence of the UA's central role in the Giant Magellan Telescope — the first of a new crop of extremely large observatories tasked with studying the first stars and galaxies in the universe and the exploration of planets orbiting other stars.