Rubin Observatory will be a leading resource for cutting-edge astronomy and astrophysics when it comes online in 2025. Using an 8.4-meter telescope equipped with the largest digital camera in the world, it will scan the entire southern hemisphere sky every few nights for ten years, providing the most comprehensive view of the Universe we’ve ever seen.
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A very rare, strange burst of extraordinarily bright light in the universe just got even stranger – thanks to the eagle-eye of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope.
AURA and the National Solar Observatory (NSO) are closely monitoring the harrowing, devastating wildfires which have severely impacted our local community in Maui, and stands in solidarity with those impacted by this tragedy—our hearts go out to everyone affected by it.
Today, the North American Regional Office of Astronomy for Development (NA-ROAD) announced the selection of ten astronomy for development projects to receive funding as part of the Women and Girls in Astronomy Program (WGAP). WGAP aims to inspire and support women, girls, and underrepresented genders in the field of astronomy.
On June 26, 2023, AURA sent the following letter to Dr. Sethruaman Panchanathan, Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF), reminding him of NSF’s important role in implementing the recommendations of the most recent decadal survey in astronomy and astrophysics, Astro2020.
The One Sky Project, led by the ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center and sponsored by the Thirty Meter Telescope, has produced a series of seven short fulldome films and a compiled full-length feature film focusing on cultural and Indigenous astronomy.
Gemini North, part of the International Gemini Observatory operated by NSF’s NOIRLab, is back observing the night sky following the repair and refurbishment of its primary mirror. The telescope’s debut observation captured the supernova dubbed SN 2023ixf, which was discovered on 19 May by Japanese astronomer Koichi Itagaki. This dazzling point of light, the closest supernova seen in the past five years, is located along one of the spiral arms of the Pinwheel Galaxy (Messier 101).
The Association of Universities for Astronomy (AURA) is pleased to welcome two new member institutions, the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and the University of Utah. Both institutions’ applications to join AURA were approved by AURA’s Member Representatives at its April annual meeting in Tucson, Arizona.
The National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope released eight new images of the Sun, previewing the exciting science underway at the world’s most powerful ground-based solar telescope. The images feature a variety of sunspots and quiet regions of the Sun obtained by the Visible-Broadband Imager (VBI), one of the telescope’s first-generation instruments.
Each year AURA holds an Annual Meeting of representatives from its member institutions. The 2023 meeting, held April 17-19 in Tucson, Arizona, was a hybrid gathering, with in-person attendance for the first time in four years in addition to virtual participation.
NASA has awarded an Exceptional Public Service Medal to Dr. Heidi Hammel, AURA Vice President for Science, Interdisciplinary Scientist for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), and Vice President of the Board of Directors of the Planetary Society.
Chief of Staff Lee Curtis transitioned to Chief of Staff after 11 years as Senior Executive Assistant to the AURA President and STScI Director. As Senior Executive Assistant he provided guidance and oversight for all planning and policy development activities. In addition, he organized and coordinated executive outreach and external relations efforts, and oversaw special […]
Astronomers using an array of ground- and space-based telescopes, including Gemini North on Hawai‘i, have uncovered a closely bound duo of energetic quasars — the hallmark of a pair of merging galaxies — seen when the Universe was only three billion years old. This discovery sheds light on the evolution of galaxies at “cosmic noon,” a period in the history of the Universe when galaxies underwent bursts of furious star formation. This merger also represents a system on the verge of becoming a giant elliptical galaxy.
The Gemini North telescope, one half of the International Gemini Observatory, operated by NSF’s NOIRLab, captured this dazzling image of UGC 12914 and UGC 12915, which are nicknamed the Taffy Galaxies. Their twisted shape is the result of a head-on collision that occurred about 25 million years prior to their appearance in this image. A bridge of highly turbulent gas devoid of significant star formation spans the gap between the two galaxies.
An international team of researchers has used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to measure the temperature of the rocky exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 b. The measurement is based on the planet’s thermal emission: heat energy given off in the form of infrared light detected by Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI).
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