News

NASA L'SPACE Academy logo
External

MIfA Undergraduate Student accepted into NASA L'Space Academy

Posted

MIfA Undergraduate Student Izzi Perron was accepted into the highly competitive mentoring program which is designed to develop the future workforce talents in space missions and technologies.

View of Fermilab’s Muon  g−2  ring
External

Measurements of the Muon Magnetic Moment strengthen a previously reported tension with theoretical predictions

Posted

School of Physics and Astronomy Professor Priscilla Cushman's article was published in the Physics magazine.

Illustration of James Webb Space Telescope
Awards

MIfA faculty awarded General Observer (GO) time on NASA's James Webb Space Telescope

Posted

Several MIfA faculty members were awarded GO time on JWST for one or more of their research projects.

Comet Catalina
Research

Comet Catalina suggests comets delivered carbon to rocky planets

Posted

School of Physics and Astronomy Professor Chick Woodward lead a study that gives new insight on the source of carbon on planets like Earth and Mars during the early formation of the solar system.

 Multi-color HST/WFPC2 image of VY CMa,  Astronomical Journal, 121, 1111, 2001
External

The Red Hypergiant VY CMa --- Betelgeuse on Steroids

Posted

Professor Emerita Roberta Humphreys of the School of Physics and Astronomy led a study with the Hubble Space Telescope to explain the origin of numerous high mass-loss ejections from a very massive star.

Messier 92
External

NASA’s Webb Telescope Will Show Us More Stars at Higher Resolution

Posted

School of Physics and Astronomy Professor and MIfA director Evan Skillman is playing a role in NASA's upcoming James Webb Space Telescope's Early Release Program.

Zooniverse Fat Checker
Research

Zooniverse launches Fat Checker project to investigate lipid droplets within cells

Posted

Lucy Fortson, Zooniverse co-founder, Professor and Associate Head of the of the School of Physics and Astronomy says the project will help scientists make headway in big data problems in biology.

The XMM-Newton space telescope, shown in an artistic rendering, that detected the X-ray emission from nearby neutron stars.
Research

Excess x-rays from neutron stars could lead to discovery of new particle

Posted

A team of scientists has found that mysterious x-rays detected from nearby neutron stars may be the first evidence of axions, hypothetical particles that many physicists believe make up dark matter.

Cecil J. Waddington
Research

Remembering Cecil “Jake” Waddington, 1929-2020

Posted

Emeritus Professor Jake Waddington of the School of Physics and Astronomy passed away on October 1, 2020. He was 91 years old.

Bob Pepin (man with gray hair and mustache standing in front of trees)
Awards

AGU Honors Pepin’s Distinguished Career in Planetary Science

Posted

Professor Emeritus Robert Pepin of the School of Physics and Astronomy will receive the 2020 Fred Whipple Award from the American Geophysical Union (AGU).