MIfA grad student Nico Adams looking through the Tate dome telescope.

Minnesota Institute for Astrophysics

MIfA News

Artist conception of supermassive black hole and its surrounding disc of gas

Black hole collision may have exploded with light

June 25, 2020
Possible light flare observed from small black holes within the disk of a massive black hole.
Gas being stripped from a giant star to form an accretion disc around a compact companion (such as a white dwarf star).

‘Underappreciated’ Stars Lay a Claim to Our Cosmic Ancestry

June 1, 2020
“The catastrophic ends of some stars are the origins of many life-sustaining elements, such as carbon, oxygen, and the iron in our blood,” said University of Minnesota researcher Chick Woodward.
Left: graph showing a recent spike in activity on Zooniverse. Right: Lucy Fortson

Zooniverse Experiences Quarantine Surge

May 26, 2020
School of Physics and Astronomy Professor Lucy Fortson says that all the increased activity on Zooniverse research problems means that they are getting completed more quickly than expected.
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Upcoming Events

The MIfA Public Lecture that was cancelled in April has been rescheduled for October 20th at 7:00 PM and will be presented virtually.

MIfA Public Lecture: “Aurora: Mysteries of the Northern Lights”

This Fall, we will be continuing our online outreach program, Universe @ Home. The program page will be updated with details in the coming weeks.

Universe @ Home

Dr. Lucy Fortson will be a featured presenter in Curiosity Drives Progress Lecture Series: Impacting Communities, a free webinar scheduled for Thursday, October 8th, at 6:30 PM.

Learn more and register on the Public Lecture webpage