Physics Discover the Origin of Cosmic Rays
(2009-11-09)
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UCLA Physicist Rene Ong and his collaborators have used VERITAS to discover where cosmic rays come from. The team observed the nearby starburst galaxy M82 and found high-energy particles. The galaxy has no blackhole-related activity, but it has a high level of star formation so the cosmic rays have come from exploding stars and stellar winds.
More information
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Andromeda/Triangulum Galactic Encounter Revealed
(2009-09-03)
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A group of astronomers including UCLA's Mike Rich present the Pan-Andromeda Archeological Survey (PAndAS).
The survey uncovered a disperse halo around the Triangulum galaxy and a mild warp to the Andromeda galaxy's disk.
These observations point to an encounter between the two galaxies some 2 billion years ago.
More information
Nature Letter
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WISE Mission Arrives at Launch Site
(2009-08-17)
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The NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) has arrived at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. where it will liftoff in December. WISE will survey the entire sky at infrared wavelengths and its principal investigator is UCLA's Ned Wright.
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Astronomers Observe Distant Star-Forming Galaxies
(2009-07-28)
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UCLA astronomers Alice Shapley, Kevin Hainline, Katherine Kornei, and their collaborators have observed remote Lyman-break galaxies whose light has been magnified by a gravitational lens. These galaxies have high star formation rates and share some similar traits to nearby, compact galaxies known as Green Peas.
More information
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Astronomers Locate Origin of Super-Energetic Bursts Near Giant Black Hole
(2009-07-02)
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Using a worldwide combination of diverse telescopes, a group of astronomers, including Rene Ong and Chun Ly of UCLA, have discovered that a giant galaxy's bursts of very high energy gamma rays are coming from a region very close to the supermassive black hole at its core.
More information
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Radio Telescope Images Reveal Planet-Forming Disk Orbiting Twin Suns
(2009-06-10)
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UCLA astronomers David Rodriguez and Ben Zuckerman along with collaborators from RIT and CfA have used the Submillimeter Array to image the molecular disk around V4046 Sagittarii. The circumbinary disk around this 12 million year old T Tauri system offers clues into the formation of giant planets in binary systems.
More information
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WISE Mission Assembled and Preparing for Launch
(2009-06-10)
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The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, is assembled and undergoing the final preparations for its November launch. WISE will survey the entire sky at infrared wavelengths. The mission's principal investigator is Edward Wright from UCLA.
More information
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Unlikely Suns Reveal Improbable Planets
(2009-06-01)
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Astronomers Mike Jura (UCLA) and Michael Werner (JPL) have published an article in Scientific American describing the diversity of planetary systems outside our own. While many planets have been discovered around stars like the sun, there are more extreme cases of planets orbiting neutron stars, white dwarfs, and brown dwarfs.
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Eric Becklin elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
(2009-04-29)
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UCLA Emeritus Professor Eric Becklin was among 6 UCLA professors elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences this year. He is recognized for his work in imaging the nucleus of the Milky Way galaxy.
More information
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Astronomers Find 'Ballistic' Stars
(2009-01-07)
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A team of astronomers, among them Mark Morris of UCLA, have used NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to discover 14 young, runaway stars plowing through regions of dense interstellar gas. These stars are traveling at more than 112,000 miles an hour (180,000 km/h) or roughly five times faster than typical young stars.
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Spitzer Observes Dusty White Dwarfs
(2009-01-05)
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UCLA astronomers Michael Jura and Ben Zuckerman as well as Jay Farihi at Leicester University have used Spitzer to detect the remains of shredded asteroids around 6 white dwarfs. The results suggest that the same materials that make up our solar system's rocky bodies could be common in the universe.
More information
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First Pictures of Extra-Solar Planets
(2008-11-14)
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Benjamin Zuckerman from UCLA is co-author of a
paper recently published in which astronomers report obtaining
an image of a star orbited by giant planets - the first image of multiple planets orbiting a star outside of our solar system.
Five coauthors on the paper were previously either graduate students or post-doctoral fellows at UCLA.
More information
More information (Keck Observatory)
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Astronomers Selected for First Observations with SOFIA
(2008-10-23)
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Three astronomers, among them Mark Morris of UCLA, have been selected to participate in the first observations of the Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), a highly modified Boeing 747SP aircraft that carries a 2.5-meter (98-inch) diameter airborne infrared telescope.
More information
More on SOFIA
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Astronomers Find Remains of Planet Collision
(2008-09-24)
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A group of astronomers, among them UCLA's Ben Zuckerman, have studied the dust disk of the close binary star BD+20 307 and believe it to be formed within the past few hundred thousand years. This dust is believed to be the result of the collision of planets in the system.
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UCLA Professors Named Up-and-coming Astronomers by Astronomy.com.
(2008-08-01)
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In the August 2008 issue of Astronomy.com, Drs. Alice Shapley and
Steve Furlanetto were named as two of the top ten rising stars in astronomy.
More information
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The Milky Way's
Supermassive Black Hole
(2008-05-09)
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The 2008 April issue of Smithsonian magazine discusses the black hole at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy and how the observations are carried out at the Keck Observatory. Featured in the article are UCLA astronomers Andrea Ghez and Mark Morris.
More information
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Planet Formation May Occur around Many Stars
(2008-02-17)
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Thayne Currie, a UCLA astronomy graduate student, and collaborators
find evidence for circumstellar dust around many 10-30 million year old
stars, which is produced by collisions between small, rocky bodies
during the planet formation process. Currie and collaborators
determined that the dust originates in a location similar
to that of the Earth from the Sun. This study could then imply that
terrestrial planets may form around many stars.
Spitzer's Press Release
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Passings: Prof. Mirek Plavec
(2008-01-23)
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Mirek Plavec, a UCLA Astronomy Emeritus Professor, passed away on January 23, 2008.
A memorial service will be held on Saturday, March 29, 2008 at the Cal State
University-Northridge Planetarium at 2:00PM. See maps and directions below.
Obituary
Map of CSUN
Directions to CSUN from UCLA
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$200 Million Support For Thirty-Meter Telescope
(2007-12-05)
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The California Institute of Technology and the University of California have received a $200 million commitment over nine years from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation toward the further development and construction of the Thirty-Meter Telescope (TMT). When built, TMT will be the largest telescope in the world.
More information
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Astronomers Study High Speed Cluster
(2007-11-27)
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UCLA astronomer Andrea Stolte, among others, has tracked the trajectory of the Arches cluster with the Very Large Telescope in Chile and the Keck Observatory in Hawaii.
The Arches cluster is a group of young stars very close to the galactic center whose fast motion of 200km/s puzzles astronomers.
More information
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Planet Formation in the Pleiades
(2007-11-14)
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Astronomers, among them Joseph Rhee and Ben Zuckerman both of UCLA, using the Gemini Observatory in Hawaii and the Spitzer Space Telescope discovered a large number of hot dust particles around one of the stars in the Pleiades. These particles could have been produced by collisions as rocky terrestrial planets are formed.
More information
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Detection of High-Energy Particles from Active Black Holes
(2007-11-09)
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A team of scientists including Katsushi Arisaka and Alexander Kusenko of UCLA have detected ultra-high-energy particles from just outside enormous, active black holes in nearby galaxies. These particles interact with Earth's atmosphere creating a shower of secondary particles which were detected by the Pierre Auger Observatory in Argentina.
More information
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Astronomers Detect Dust in Black Hole Wind
(2007-10-09)
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A group of astronomers, including Sarah Gallagher of UCLA, using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope have found dust forming in a quasar 8 billion light-years away. Quasars and early supernovae could have provided the dust needed to make the first generations of stars in the early universe.
More information
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Astronomers Detect Water Vapor in Young Star System
(2007-08-29)
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Astronomers, including Elise Furlan of UCLA, have used Spitzer to detect water
vapor inside the collapsing nest of a forming star system. The new data indicate
that ice from the stellar embryo's outer cocoon is falling toward the forming
star and vaporizing as it hits the disk.
More information
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Astronomers Find Earth-like Material in White Dwarf Atmosphere
(2007-08-16)
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UCLA astronomers Ben Zuckerman, Michael Jura, and Brad Hansen report that a white dwarf star known as GD 362 has been contaminated by a large asteroid that left more than a dozen observable chemical elements in the white dwarf's atmosphere.
More information
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Astronomers Find a Dusty Disk in a Four-Star System
(2007-07-24)
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UCLA Astronomer Elise Furlan and others using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope
report finding a dusty disk swirling around a pair of stars in the quadruple-star
system HD 98800. The disk has gaps that could be caused by the gravitational
relationship between the system's four stars or by the presence of planet
formation.
More information
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NASA's GALEX Sees Nova's Expelled Gas
(2007-03-07)
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Astronomers including Michael Rich (UCLA) used the space-based
GALEX telescope to
study the remnant from an eruption in Z Cam, a binary star system.
More Information
MSNBC News Article
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NASA's Spitzer Sees Day and Night on Exotic World
(2006-10-12)
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UCLA professor, Brad Hansen and others have made the first measurement of the day and
night temperature of an extrasolar planet with NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.
More Information
Prof. Brad Hansen's UCLA homepage
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Hubble sees faintest stars in a globular cluster
(2006-08-17)
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UCLA astronomers, Brad Hansen and Michael Rich, and colleagues discover the
faintest stars in a globular cluster, which is one of the oldest objects in
the Milky Way.
More Information
Prof. Brad Hansen's UCLA homepage
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COBE Team wins 2006 Gruber Cosmology Prize
(2006-08-15)
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John Mather and the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) team, among them Edward L. Wright from UCLA, today received the 2006 Gruber Cosmology Prize for their ground-breaking studies confirming that our universe was born in a hot Big Bang.
More information
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UCLA Astronomers Discover
Neutron Star Where a Black
Hole Was Expected
(2005-11-03)
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A search for intermediate-mass black holes in Westerlund 1 yielded
an unexpected neutron star. Astronomers report that making stellar
mass black holes may prove more difficult than expected.
More information
Dr. Muno's UCLA homepage
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UCLA Planetarium Website
Gets A Makeover
(2005-09-01)
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The UCLA Planetarium's website has a new look.
Find out about upcoming planetarium events and
let us know what you think.
Planetarium Website
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Astronomers Confirm the First Image of a Planet Outside
of Our Solar System
(2005-05-06)
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Prof. Ben Zuckerman and international collaboraters confirm
the first image of a giant planet around a young brown dwarf."
More Information
Prof. Ben Zuckerman's UCLA homepage
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Becklinfest: A Tribute to Eric Becklin
(2005-01-25)
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"Celebrating 40 years of Infrared Astronomy: A
Tribute to Eric Becklin." A two-day meeting to
celebrate the 65th birthday of Professor Eric E.
Becklin will be held at UCLA in April 2005.
More Information
Dr. Eric Becklin's UCLA homepage
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Chandra Finds a Black Hole Swarm Near Milky Way Center
(2005-01-15)
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The Case of the Missing Disk
(2005-01-10)
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Keck Laser Illuminates AGN in the Distant Universe
(2005-01-10)
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Prof. Edward Wright to Serve as Principal
Investigator for New NASA Mission (WISE)
(2004-10-14)
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Prof. Edward Wright will serve as the principal investigator
for the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) which will
seek the nearest stars and brightest galaxies.
Press Release
Dr. Ned Wright's UCLA Faculty page
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Is This Speck of Light an Exoplanet?
(2004-09-24)
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Announcing GE course Astro 7:
Astronomy and the Media
(2004-08-05)
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Notice of Fall-Quarter GE course in Astronomy!
Astro 7: Astronomy and the Media
More info
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2004 Keck Science Meeting
Announcement
(2004-07-08)
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Announcing the 2004 Keck Science Meeting to be held at UCLA on September
17 & 18. Please see the web site at http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~ksm2004 for
information on how and when to register.
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Andrea Ghez Elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences
(2004-04-30)
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Andrea Ghez Elected to National Academy of Sciences
(2004-04-20)
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Ian McLean Selected for UCLA Gold Key International Honor Society
(2004-04-12)
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Andrea Ghez Selected as Co-Winner of the Sackler Prize
(2004-03-23)
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Mark Morris Selected for UCLA Distinguished Teaching Award
(2004-03-18)
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Brad Hansen Selected as Alfred P. Sloan Fellow
(2004-02-18)
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Violent Massive Star Formation in the Orion Nebula
(2004-01-07)
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GALEX Looks at M31, Early Data Release
(2003-12-22)
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Stargazing with UCLA's Visualization Portal
(2003-11-03)
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Variable IR Emission from Galactic Center Black Hole
(2003-09-04)
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"Molecular Fingerprints" Obtained for Brown Dwarfs
(2003-09-03)
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Special Mars Planetarium and Telescope Show
(2003-09-03)
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SIRTF Launches!
(2003-08-25)
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Findings on Farthest and Oldest Known Planet
(2003-07-10)
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Dr. Mike Jura becomes our Division's new Vice-Chair
(2003-07-01)
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Gravity-Bound Cluster
(2003-06-04)
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GALEX First Light
(2003-05-27)
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Young Stars in Andromeda Halo
(2003-05-07)
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GALEX Launches!
(2003-04-28)
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NASA Missions Selected:
WISE and EUSO
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Passings: Lawrence Aller
(2003-03-16)
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| Case for Massive Black Hole at Center of Milky Way Strengthened (2003-02-18) |
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| WMAP Data Released! (2003-02-11) |
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Planet seeds fried by superhot stars (2003-01-08)
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Astronomers detect a faint debris trail in the Andromeda galaxy (2003-01-06)
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Milky Way Monster Stars in Cosmic Reality Show (2003-01-06)
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UCLA Astronomers Find Evidence of Planet Formation (2003-01-06)
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