Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences
- At 6:51 p.m. on April 18, a rocket carrying NASA鈥檚 latest space satellite, called the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), blasted off from Cape Canaveral. CU 抖阴传媒在线 Assistant Professor Zach Berta-Thompson was there. He called the experience 鈥渢errifying but incredible.鈥
- Researchers at CU 抖阴传媒在线 have completed an unprecedented 鈥渄issection鈥 of twin galaxies in the final stages of merging.
- Researchers have caught a supermassive black hole in a distant galaxy snacking on gas and then "burping"鈥攏ot once, but twice.
- The cross-campus Grand Challenge initiative this week announced the selection of three new additions to the Grand Challenge portfolio starting this fall.
- After a highly successful mission, the Cassini spacecraft will give up Saturn's last secrets to CU 抖阴传媒在线 scientists before disintegrating in the planet's dense atmosphere Sept. 15.
- Tremendous amounts of soot following a massive asteroid strike 66 million years ago would have plunged Earth into darkness for nearly two years, according to a news release from NCAR.
- CU 抖阴传媒在线 program helps underserved and underrepresented students in the STEM fields gain valuable research experience for graduate school.
- Three 抖阴传媒在线 students are among 36 nationwide who have won 2017 Brooke Owens Fellowships for 鈥渆xceptional undergraduate women鈥 seeking careers in aviation and space exploration.
- Solar wind and radiation are responsible for stripping the Martian atmosphere, transforming Mars from a planet that could have supported life billions of years ago into a frigid desert world.
- A team of astronomers, including one from CU 抖阴传媒在线, used the super-sharp radio vision of the National Science Foundation's Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) to find the shredded remains of a galaxy that passed through a larger galaxy, leaving only the smaller galaxy's nearly-naked supermassive black hole to emerge and speed away at more than 2,000 miles per second.