DiRAC Event: Planetarium Experience & Lab Tour

On November 16th, 2023 we would like to invite you to the DiRAC Planetarium Event “A New Era of Discovery: Mapping the Universe with the Rubin Observatory”. The event will take place at the UW Planetarium.

Join us for an evening of discussion and learning with UW astronomers building the largest sky survey in human history. Please reserve your spot here, there are limited number of seats available.

We’re at the brink of a new age of survey-driven discovery in astronomy. Where before we could only study a handful of objects at a time, new detectors, algorithms, and telescopes will soon allow us – and the entire world – to monitor billions.

The flagship of this era will be the Rubin Observatory, set to open in Chile in 2025. Rubin will continuously gather data for over 20Bn stars, 20Bn galaxies, with billions of asteroid observations. In importance, it is a ground-based peer of the Webb space telescope.

In about a year, DiRAC researchers, students, and citizen scientists will use Rubin to scan the Solar System for hazardous asteroids, discover interstellar comets, and search for new planets in our Solar System. Our codes will map the Milky Way, detect the most energetic explosions in the universe, and help understand Dark Energy. Our students will learn about astronomy by participating in once-in-a-generation wave of discovery. We’re looking forward to sharing this with the community of enthusiasts, friends, and supporters who make DiRAC possible. 

Join us at this special event to meet our team, and learn what is to come from the most powerful sky survey telescope ever built!

DiRAC Presents at the UW Foundation Board

Last week we were delighted to be able to present in front of the UW Foundation Board at their first meeting of the academic year. Our fearless Director Mario Juric, the newest member of our leadership team Sarah Greenstreet, and myself shared a tiny slice of the incredible work the DiRAC team has produced over the last six years, the excitement we feel with the beginning of Rubin/LSST right around the corner, and a few of the science highlights from our renowned Solar System research group.

This event also allowed us to thank our community of supporters, including and especially Charles and Lisa Simonyi whose gift launched DiRAC and our DiRAC Fellowship program, the many Husky Giving Day donors who have enabled our Summer Research Prize, especially our board members David Brooks and Jeff Glickman, and our colleagues and leadership across the UW and College of Arts and Sciences. The careers launched, discoveries made, and friendships built are all enabled by this support.

After the UW Foundation Board presentation, we were honored to host a deep-dive event for the Directors at the eScience Institute, showcasing the breadth of science happening in the Department of Astronomy. It was a banner day for UW Astronomy and DiRAC, and I’m so grateful to our team for making it happen. A very special thanks to our outreach director, Nikolina Horvat, for making these events happen!

I look forward to welcoming everyone at future events we’re planning, and can’t wait to see what new surprises about the Universe we’ll find this year…

James Davenport
Associate Director, DiRAC