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Astronomy

Astronomy

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'Out of Whack' Planetary System Offers Clues to Disturbing Past
Astronomy

'Out of Whack' Planetary System Offers Clues to Disturbing Past

The discovery of a planetary system “out of whack,” where the orbits of two planets are at a steep angle to each other, was reported today (May 24) by a team of astronomers led by Barbara McArthur of the McDonald Observatory.

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Space Planets
Astronomy

Galaxy & Star Formation

In these two short videos, astronomer Volker Bromm describes simulations he created of galaxy and star formation in the early universe. These kinds of simulations require months of data crunching at the University of Texas at Austin’s Texas Advanced Computing Center, and they help NASA scientists as they prepare new telescopes – like the James Webb...
Texas Astronomers Aid Kepler Mission's Discovery of New Planets
Astronomy

Texas Astronomers Aid Kepler Mission's Discovery of New Planets

Kepler mission astronomers, including co-investigator Bill Cochran of The University of Texas at Austin, announced today the spaceborne telescope has found five new gas giant planets orbiting close to Sun-like stars.

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Space Planets
Astronomy

Astronomers Find Most Massive Black Hole

Researchers have discovered that the black hole at the heart of M87, one the largest nearby giant galaxies, is two to three times more massive than previously thought.

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Big Data
Astronomy

Q&A with astronomer Anita Cochran, assistant director of the McDonald Observatory

Anita Cochran, assistant director of the McDonald Observatory As part of your research into the nature of comets, you’ve looked at the question of whether comets are responsible for the water in the Earth’s oceans. Why have astronomers thought this? We know comets hit the Earth. They’re about 40 percent frozen water, so it made sense to suppose t...Anita Cochran, assistant director of the McDonald Observatory
Astronomy

When Stars Explode

An image, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, of Supernova 1987a, spectropolarimetric data from which was essential to overturning the consensus about the shape of supernovae explosions.When astronomer J. Craig Wheeler first began observing supernovae, there was so little observational data available that scientists were forced to assume a great d...An image, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, of Supernova 1987a, spectropolarimetric data from which was essential to overturning the consensus about the shape of supernovae explosions.
Astronomy

Galactic Luminaries to Converge on University of Texas Tuesday

AUSTIN, Texas — More than 130 astronomers from nearly a dozen countries and more than 30 institutions will meet in Austin next week to brainstorm about the evolution of galaxies — those vast cities of billions of stars that are the “bricks” making up the cosmos — and the mysterious “dark matter” that is their largest component. The conference, cal...
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International Space
Astronomy

Sarah Miller, Rhodes Scholar

Sarah Miller didn’t find out that she was going to be a Rhodes Scholar in the mail, or on the phone. She was standing shoulder to shoulder with the 20 or so other finalists in the Texas/Louisiana region, many of whom she’d gotten to know and like over the course of an intense weekend of interviews. “It was very reality-show style,” says Miller, an...sarah miller
Astronomy

Astrophysics Student Wins Coveted Rhodes Scholarship

AUSTIN, Texas—Sarah Miller, an astronomy and physics major who will graduate in May from The University of Texas at Austin, was recently selected as a Rhodes Scholar for 2008. She is one of 32 students in America to be honored with the scholarship. The Rhodes Scholarship was created in 1902 by British philanthropist Cecil Rhodes to bring outstandi...
Astronomy

Exploring Dark Energy

On a rare cloudy October night in the Davis Mountains of West Texas, University of Texas at Austin astronomers wrangled with what they believe to be the largest mystery of the universe: dark energy.

Astronomy

McDonald Observatory receives $5 million to study dark energy

AUSTIN, Texas — Light might soon be shed on one of the great enigmas of the universe — dark energy — thanks to a $5 million challenge grant from Dallas’ Harold C. Simmons to The University of Texas at Austin. Simmons’ grant will help fund the Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX) at UT’s McDonald Observatory by matching the next $5...
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Finance