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Julie Rathbun, an astronomy researcher in Cornell's College of Arts and Sciences, is leading the 2026 Planetary Science Workforce Survey to assess demographics, career trends and workforce diversity. Launched Oct. 27, 2026, the study will inform the 2030 decadal survey.
Please join us October 12-13, 2026, for a "“Symposium on Planetary Regolith and Aeolian Processes: A tribute to the life and career of Rob Sullivan" at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. The program will include public lectures, keynote speakers, and contributed talks.
Cornell’s Spacecraft Planetary Image Facility recovered and is restoring lost MoonKAM lunar images requested by thousands of middle school students during NASA’s GRAIL mission. The Cornell University image library also trains researchers in planetary data analysis and preserves access to decades of spacecraft imagery.
Cornell College of Arts & Sciences physicist and astronomer David Kornreich, Ph.D. ’01, died Aug. 30 in a plane crash near Ithaca while piloting his aircraft. He was researcher and science communicator known for galaxy studies and astronomy outreach.
It is with a heavy heart that we share that Professor James Lloyd passed away on July 15, 2026. In his 22 years with Cornell Jamie inspired students, colleagues, friends, and family around the world. Deep condolences go out to his family. A memorial service will be held at a later date.
Cornell University's Fred Young Submillimeter Telescope (FYST) was formally inaugurated on April 9 in Chile's Atacama Desert, marking a new era in submillimeter astronomy. The CCAT Observatory partnership telescope, led by Cornell, will map galaxy formation, cosmic microwave background radiation, and the epoch of reionization in the submillimeter range faster than any previous instrument.
Two faculty members in Cornell's College of Arts and Sciences have been named to the American Philosophical Society (APS) in honor of extraordinary accomplishments: Martha Haynes in astronomy and Caroline Levine in literature, humanities and climate change.
Cornell University celebrates April 9 inauguration of Fred Young Submillimeter Telescope in Chile. President Michael Kotlikoff marked milestone enabling wide-field submillimeter surveys to study dark energy, early universe conditions, and galaxy evolution.
Since the early days of modern cosmic exploration, Cornell scientists have led the way, from guiding rovers through the red dust of Mars to searching for other life in the universe; and from modeling exotic stars to detecting the faint ripples of gravitational waves.
Cornell’s Spacecraft Planetary Image Facility (SPIF), which manages print and online images taken by NASA missions, supports astronomy research and conducts dozens of outreach events every year.
Robert John Sullivan, Jr., one of the world’s foremost authorities on aeolian processes -- how wind can carve and change a landscape -- died Feb. 15 in Ithaca.
Ho is one of 24 early career scholars to receive $120,000 for proposals incorporating research and science education.
When two black holes merge, the collision rings like a bell, emitting specific tones characterized by two numbers.
Thanks to this innovation, scientists have discovered new radio bursts originating from dwarf stars and possibly from exoplanets.
Tasked with studying exoplanet systems around small stars, the refrigerator-sized satellite is the first in NASA’s Astrophysics Pioneers program – small-scale missions designed to train early-career scientists, including Trevor Foote, Ph.D. ’24, a former member of the research group led by faculty member Nikole Lewis.
With the 2026 Newton Lacy Pierce Prize, the American Astronomical Society recognizes Anna Y. Q. Ho’s pioneering investigations of extreme explosions powered by stellar death.
Behind a world-leading telescope bound for Chile is a team of engineers, machinists, electronics specialists and riggers at Cornell. Meet the specialized staff whose expertise is helping push cosmology to new frontiers.
These simulations, developed with significant input from Cornell researchers using code written at Cornell, help scientists analyze gravitational waves observed by the LIGO, Virgo and KAGRA detectors located in the U.S., Italy and Japan.
The LIGO-VIRGO-KAGRA team has announced a black hole merger similar to its first detection; a decade’s worth of technological advances allow unprecedented tests of General Relativity to be performed.
“It’s the cutting edge of what we can achieve, with better precisions and resolutions than other instruments.”
The first major component of the Fred Young Submillimeter Telescope (FYST) has arrived at its final home: the Cerro Chajnantor mountaintop.
The new results confirm a simple model of the universe and have ruled out a majority of competing alternatives, says the research team.
Ho’s project will look at supermassive black holes residing in the centers of distant galaxies.
”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.
“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."