Although astronomers have ruled out a smash-up between Earth and an asteroid known as 2024 YR4 in the year 2032, the building-sized space rock still has a chance of hitting the moon.
News Category: Media
Why a new telescope may help the search for alien life in space
DiRAC’s James Davenport describes new efforts to use the upcoming Rubin Observatory to help SETI.
Telescope with world’s largest digital camera will be a ‘game-changer’ for astronomy
On a mountaintop in northern Chile, the world’s largest digital camera is preparing to power up.
Its mission is simple yet ambitious — to photograph the entire night sky in extreme detail and unlock some of the universe’s deepest secrets.
‘We have a telescope!’ Rubin Observatory construction team installs its huge mirror
The Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s 8.4-meter Simonyi Survey Telescope in Chile has now been equipped with all three of its mirrors, plus a camera for good measure.
Tech leader Charles Simonyi provides a wide-angle view of the telescope that bears his family name
With the ramping up of the Simonyi Survey Telescope at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile, Microsoft software architect Charles Simonyi joins a select group of scientists and technologists, policymakers and philanthropists who have had world-class telescopes and observatories named after them.
The biggest galaxies live in our universe’s supercluster ‘cities’
“Over the last decade, many astronomers, like me, have conducted painstaking studies to develop trust in machine learning.” Aritra Ghosh, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Washington, is one of those astronomers.
Decoding the universe
UW astronomy undergrads use cutting-edge coding skills to help scientists make the most of discoveries from a revolutionary new telescope.
Stargazers advised to seek dark skies for optimal meteor shower viewing
The Perseid meteor shower will peak on the night of Sunday, Aug. 11. DiRAC’s James Davenport is featured.
Vera C. Rubin Observatory Project Includes Bremerton Resident
Erin Howard (DiRAC researcher, and member of the Rubin Observatory Data Management Team) is featured in this profile by the Kitsap Sun, by Audrey Nelson.
Huge Survey vs. Tiny Space Junk
As construction continues on the Vera Rubin Observatory, the skies above its mountaintop home grow more and more crowded following every rocket launch. Astronomers, conscious of the plans for mega-constellations of new satellites in the next few years, are rightfully worried: will these satellites and the tiny bits of debris that come with every deployment and collision affect the new telescope’s long-awaited, gigantic survey?
Read more about this research featuring DiRAC Fellow Meredith Rawls at AAS Nova!