Seattle Science Slam

April 28, 2022 | DiRAC NEWS

After a 2 year hiatus, we’re back, and will be resuming our monthly events through fall. Next event is on May 11th at 8pm. Seattle Science Slam is a free event featuring three engaging and accessible presentations from scientists. The audience’s applause decides who wins. This month we have an astrophysics talk on the fate […]

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Astronomy on Tap Tonight

April 27, 2022 |

Astronomy on Tap returns to Bad Jimmy’s tonight at 8pm! Come out and support Astronomy department members Azalee Bostroem and Megan Gialluca as they tell us about supernovas and aliens! The event is outdoors and the patio is covered and heated, but if you can’t make it in person you can also participate from the comfort of […]

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New Summer Research Prize for UW Students

April 26, 2022 | DiRAC NEWS

We are pleased to officially announce our new Summer Research Prize for UW undergrads! This program will award $3500 to UW undergrads working on summer projects w/ researchers in the DiRAC Institute (note: we especially welcome projects w/ collaborative mentors across the department!).  Thanks to the generous support from the community during Husky Giving Day, we […]

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Heavens need environmental protection just like Earth, experts say

April 22, 2022 | UW NEWS

Space urgently needs special legal protection similar to that given to land, sea and atmosphere to protect its fragile environment, argues a team of scientists. The scientific, economic and cultural benefits of space should be considered against the damaging environmental impacts posed by an influx of space debris — roughly 60 miles above Earth’s surface […]

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Space Grant Summer Research – Apply now!

March 17, 2022 | DiRAC NEWS

Washington state’s NASA Space Grant program at the UW invites you, as a faculty member conducting research in a STEM area, to participate our 2022 Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP).  The application period for students closes on Friday, April 8, 2022. SURP is an excellent way to extend your summer funding through WA Space Grant’s contribution […]

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NASA releases first image from an in-focus Webb telescope

March 16, 2022 | Ars Technica | John Timmer

Distant galaxies come into focus as Webb is on track to meet or exceed expectations. Today, NASA announced that it has successfully completed two further steps to align the mirrors of the Webb telescope. The resulting performance indicates that Webb will meet or exceed its design goals.

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Hubble telescope spots a ‘Space Triangle’ galaxy crash with ‘tsunami of starbirth’

February 24, 2022 | space.com, Elizabeth Howell

“Part of the reason for that shape is that these galaxies are still so close to each other, and NGC 2444 is still holding on to the other galaxy gravitationally,” participating astronomer Julianne Dalcanton, of the Flatiron Institute’s Center for Computational Astrophysics in New York and the University of Washington in Seattle, said in the […]

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New IAU center to focus on solutions to satellite interference in astronomical observations

February 17, 2022 | UW NEWS

“We’re witnessing a new era as skies fill with thousands of bright satellites,” said Meredith Rawls, a research scientist with the Vera C. Rubin Observatory and the DiRAC Institute at the UW. “In just the last two years, astronomers have realized this will impact our ability to achieve science goals from ground-based facilities like Rubin Observatory.”

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Largest comet ever observed bumps Hale-Bopp from pedestal

February 14, 2022 | LIVEScience, Stephanie Pappas

The Bernardinelli-Bernstein comet is named after its discoverers, University of Washington postdoctoral scholar Pedro Bernardinelli, and University of Pennsylvania cosmologist Gary Bernstein, who first spotted the comet in the Dark Energy Survey dataset.

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