Cornell astronomers win time on James Webb Space Telescope
“It’s the cutting edge of what we can achieve, with better precisions and resolutions than other instruments.”
New high-powered telescope reaches Chilean peak
The first major component of the Fred Young Submillimeter Telescope (FYST) has arrived at its final home: the Cerro Chajnantor mountaintop, more than 18,000 feet above sea level.
Clearest images yet of 380,000-year-old baby universe released
The new results confirm a simple model of the universe and have ruled out a majority of competing alternatives, says the research team.
Astronomer Anna Ho and team win Scialog award
Ho’s project will look at supermassive black holes residing in the centers of distant galaxies.
New telescope to set sail for monthlong journey to Chile
”This is a huge milestone for the project and we wish FYST bon voyage,” said Gordon Stacey, the project’s director and the David C. Duncan Professor in the Physical Sciences.
Astronomer granted 600,000 supercomputer hours by DOE
“We are going to run the largest simulations of the magnetized gas that pervades the space between stars, with the aim of understanding a crucial missing piece in our models for how stars and galaxies form."
Employee Excellence Awards honor nearly 250 employees
A&S staff member Lynda Sovocool, interim associate director/department manager for Cornell Center for Astrophysics and Planetary Science, received the Mission-Possible Award, for supporting the university’s core mission to learning, discovery and engagement.
Scientists compile library for evaluating exoplanet water
Cornell scientists are developing a library of basalt-based spectral signatures that not only will help reveal the composition of planets outside of our solar system, but also could demonstrate evidence of water on those exoplanets.
Scientists supporting mission to assess Europa’s habitability
Jupiter’s moon Europa may have conditions that could support life. To find out, NASA has launched its next flagship science mission, Europa Clipper, and Cornell scientists will play a role.
Astronomy professor Ho named Packard Fellow
The fellowship from the David and Lucille Packard Foundation includes $875,000 in unrestricted funds to be used for research over five years.
Dr. Lisa Kaltenegger Receives Polar Star Award
"The Austrian Space Forum (OeWF) has awarded Dr. Lisa Kaltenegger the Polar Star Award – the Austrian Space Prize. Gernot Grömer, Director of the Austrian Space Forum awards presented Dr Kaltenegger with the award at a ceremony on Monday 23 September."
Volcanoes may help reveal interior heat on Jupiter moon
By examining Jupiter’s moon Io – the most volcanically active place in the solar system – Cornell astronomers can study a vital process in planetary formation and evolution: tidal heating.
Webb Discovers Six New “Rogue Worlds” that Provide Clues to Star Formation
Reported in Universe Today, "a team of astronomers working with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) announced the discovery of six rogue planet candidates in an unlikely spot. The planets, which include the lightest rogue planet ever identified (with a debris disk around it), were spotted during Webb‘s deepest survey of the young nebula NGC 1333, a star-forming cluster about a thousand light-years away in the Perseus constellation. These planets could teach astronomers a great deal about the formation process of stars and planets. The team was led by Adam Langeveld, an Assistant Research Scientist in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Johns Hopkins University (JHU)" and Visiting Scholar at Cornell's Department of Astronomy.
New analysis of Cassini data yields insights into Titan’s seas
Using data from precision radar experiments, a Cornell-led research team analyzed and estimated the composition and roughness of sea surfaces on Titan.
Simons Observatory begins measurements to probe Big Bang inflation
The new Simons Observatory in Chile’s Atacama Desert may soon answer the great scientific question of what happened in the tiny fraction of a second after the Big Bang.
Simulations dampen excitement about liquid water on Mars
Cornell researchers have provided a simple and comprehensive – if less dramatic – explanation for bright radar reflections initially interpreted as liquid water beneath the ice cap on Mars’ south pole.
Astronomer Lunine appointed chief scientist of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
As chief scientist, Lunine will guide the laboratory’s scientific research and development efforts, drive innovation across JPL’s missions and programs and enhance collaborations with NASA Headquarters, NASA centers, the California Institute of Technology, academia, the science community, government agencies and industry partners.
Peter Loewen named dean of Arts and Sciences
Coming from the University of Toronto, where he was the director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, Loewen began his five-year appointment as the Harold Tanner Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Aug. 1.
Major new telescope structure completed in Germany
The newly assembled Fred Young Submillimeter Telescope (FYST), nearly the size of a five-story building, was unveiled April 4 at an event in Xanten, Germany.
Mars Sample Return a top scientific priority, Lunine testifies
Samples of Martian rock and soil could be stranded if Congress doesn't adequately fund a NASA mission to retrieve them, Astronomy Chair Jonathan Lunine told a U.S. House subcommittee on March 21.
Precious samples from Mars have been collected. Now it’s up to Congress to get them back.
Clues about our planet’s ability to support life might come from Mars – yet political storms that have hit Washington, DC, threaten to leave valuable samples stranded on Mars.
New research on microbes expands the known limits for life
The research shows how changes in salinity may affect life in aquatic habitats on Earth and widens the possibilities for where life may be found throughout our solar system.
A new way to characterize habitable planets
This "study emphasizes new directions for future missions to measure habitability on other worlds, using Saturn's icy moon Enceladus as a primary example."
With unprecedented flares, stellar corpse shows signs of life
The bright, brief flashes – as short as a few minutes in duration, and as powerful as the original explosion 100 days later – appeared in the aftermath of a rare type of stellar cataclysm.
Jurassic worlds might be easier to spot than modern Earth
Telescopes could better detect potential chemical signatures of life in the atmosphere of an Earth-like exoplanet more closely resembling the age the dinosaurs inhabited than the one we know today, Cornell astronomers find.
Underwater robot updates understanding of ice shelf crevasses
Crevasses play an important role in circulating seawater beneath Antarctic ice shelves, potentially influencing their stability, finds Cornell-led research based on first-of-its-kind exploration by an underwater robot.
Nature’s missing evolutionary law identified
An interdisciplinary group of researchers has identified a missing aspect of Darwin's theory that applies to essentially everything.
Webb detects quartz crystals in clouds of hot gas giant
The quartz crystals are only about 10 nanometers across (one-millionth of one centimeter), so small that 10,000 could fit side-by-side across a human hair.
Cornell-built instrument to transform Green Bank Telescope
The new camera "is actually a very different way of observing the sky,” said A&S research scientist Amit Vishwas ’10, M.Eng.,’14, Ph.D. ’19.
Cornell astronomy to offer Brinson Prize
The Brinson Prize supports postdoctoral scholars in carrying out novel research in observational cosmology.
Webb telescope finds carbon source on Jupiter’s Europa
Astronomers using data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have identified carbon dioxide on the icy surface of Europa – one of a handful of worlds in our solar system that could potentially harbor conditions suitable for life.
Decadal survey sets agenda for biological, physical sciences in space
A&S Astronomy and Cornell Center for Astrophysical and Planetary Science (C-CAPS) faculty are key to “Thriving in Space,” released Sept. 12.
‘Thermometer’ molecule confirmed on exoplanet WASP-31b
Researchers have discovered a molecule that could determine the temperature and other characteristics in exoplanets.
James Webb Space Telescope sees Jupiter moons in a new light
A Cornell astronomer who is part of JWST’s Early Release Science program report the first detection of hydrogen peroxide on Ganymede and sulfurous fumes on Io, both the result of Jupiter’s domineering influence.
Science plans for telescope’s first light focus of CCAT Consortium meeting
“This was a critical meeting as we are less than two years out from anticipated first light with the facility," said project director Gordon Stacey.
After 15 years, gravitational waves detected as cosmic ‘hum’
A 15-year collaboration in which Cornell astrophysicists have played leading roles has found the first evidence of gravitational waves slowly undulating through the galaxy.
Scientists have found signs of a new kind of gravitational wave. It's really big
"Scientists say they are starting to find signs of an elusive type of rumbling through space that could be created by the biggest, baddest black holes in the universe."
‘Gas-trophysics’ symposium expands on work of two Cornell astronomers
“Gas-trophysics Across the Universe,” a July 15 symposium, will celebrate the work and lives of renowned Cornell astronomers Peter Gierasch and Riccardo Giovanelli.
‘Gas-trophysics’ symposium expands on work of two Cornell astronomers
“Gas-trophysics Across the Universe,” a July 15 symposium, will celebrate the work and lives of renowned Cornell astronomers Peter Gierasch and Riccardo Giovanelli.
51 Pegasi b Fellowship awarded to Dr. Rixin Li
The Heising-Simons Foundation has announced the 2023 recipients of the 51 Pegasi b Fellowship. Dr. Rixin Li is one of eight recipients.
NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship awarded to Dr. Darryl Seligman
Dr. Darryl Seligman is one of 59 recipients of the 2023 Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Research Fellows.
Reversible magnetic field found around a fast radio burst for the first time
“These new observations are another step forward in understanding the remarkable engines and the diversity of fast radio bursts.”
Neutron star’s X-rays reveal ‘photon metamorphosis’
Scientists were surprised when a NASA satellite detected that lower- and higher-energy X-rays were polarized differently, with electromagnetic fields oriented at right angles to each other.
Giant planet atmospheres vary widely, JWST confirms
Researchers discovered that the atmosphere of exoplanet HD149026b, a ‘hot Jupiter’ orbiting a star comparable to our sun, is super-abundant in the heavier elements carbon and oxygen.
First known interstellar interloper resembles ‘dark comet’
Insights from Oumuamua could advance our understanding of planet formation in this solar system and others.
Astronomers discover metal-rich galaxies in early universe
Scanning the first images of a well-known early galaxy taken by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), Cornell astronomers were intrigued to see a blob of light near its outer edge.
Robot provides unprecedented views below Antarctic ice shelf
A U.S.-New Zealand research team recognized a shift as evidence of “ice pumping” – a process important to the stability of the Ross Ice Shelf.
Astronomers discover metal-rich galaxies in early universe
Cornell astronomers discovered a companion galaxy estimated at 1.4 billion years old while scanning images from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.
Underwater robot helps explain Antarctic glacier’s retreat
First-of-their-kind observations beneath the floating shelf of a vulnerable Antarctic glacier reveal widespread cracks and crevasses where melting occurs more rapidly, contributing to the glacier’s retreat.
Spanish lagoon proposed as Mars ‘astrobiological time-analog’
Alberto G. Fairén led an inaugural study of a dynamic analogous Earth environment where changes can be analyzed over many years.