January 22, 2026 | UW News
A team led by University of Washington astronomers has discovered the fastest-ever spinning asteroid with a diameter over half a kilometer. The asteroid — found while analyzing data from the NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory and dubbed 2025 MN45 — is 0.4 miles in diameter and completes a full rotation every 1.88 minutes.
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January 21, 2026 | WIRED
From surveys of the pre-Sputnik skies to analysis of interstellar visitors, scientists are rethinking how and where to look for physical traces of alien technology. Read more at WIRED
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January 14, 2026 | Rebecca Bodenheimer | The Magazine of Harvey Mudd College
Astronomer Meredith Rawls is working to explore and protect the universe.
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January 7, 2026 | DiRAC News
First peer-reviewed paper using LSST Camera data identifies an asteroid, nearly the size of eight football fields, rotating every two minutes. The study was led by Sarah Greenstreet, NSF NOIRLab assistant astronomer and lead of Rubin Observatory’s Solar System Science Collaboration’s Near-Earth Objects and Interstellar Objects working group. The team presents their results in a paper appearing […]
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October 10, 2025 | DiRAC
We invite applications for the 2026 DiRAC Fellowship in the Department of Astronomy at the University of Washington. These up to 3-year full time postdoctoral positions are available to promising early-career scientists.
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October 10, 2025 | Bloomberg
Meredith Rawls spoke to Bloomberg about how Astronomy research would be impacted by plans to reflect sunlight to power solar panels at night.
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October 1, 2025 | Roberto Molar Candanosa | John Hopkins University
John Hopkins University featured research co-authored by eScience director, and the founding director of DiRAC Institute, Andrew Connolly. Johns Hopkins scientists develop method to render Earth-based images as clear as those taken from space.
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September 24, 2025 | ArtsUW
What will Rubin Observatory discover that no one’s expecting? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comedian Chuck Nice learn and answer cosmic queries about the Vera Rubin Observatory, the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), and our next big tool to uncover more about the universe with Zeljko Ivezic, Director of Rubin Observatory Construction.
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June 27, 2025 | GEEKWIRE | by Alan Boyle
It’s been more than two decades since the University of Washington helped kick off the effort to get the Vera C. Rubin Observatory built in Chile — and now that it’s finished, UW astronomers are gearing up to get in on the first decade of discoveries. The university’s role in the past, present and future of the […]
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June 24, 2025 | UW News | by Jackson Holtz
A new era of astronomy and astrophysics began Monday when the first images captured by the NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory were released, demonstrating the extraordinary capabilities of the new telescope and the world’s largest digital camera. Officials in Washington, D.C., unveiled large, ultra-high-definition images and videos, as well as discoveries of thousands of new asteroids. Astronomers and […]
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