News: Astronomy

Read the latest news from the College of Natural Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin

McDonald Observatory

A Sea of Light: HETDEX Astronomers Reveal Hidden Structures in the Young Universe

Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment researchers have made a record-setting 3D map of the early universe.

A computer-simulation shows pixels labeled with stars and an inset. The overall map is labeled 100 million light years. The inset showing swirling gases is labeled 10 M light eyars.

UT News

UT Astronomer Appointed President of Organization Building World’s Most Powerful Telescope

The Giant Magellan Telescope consortium now includes two UT astronomers in key leadership positions.

A man in a suit with a pin that looks like a multi-mirror telescope stands in front of a large model of the same telescope.

Research

Unique Shape of Star’s Explosion Revealed Just a Day After Detection

Using the polarization of light, researchers revealed information about the geometry of the explosion that other types of observation cannot provide.

An exploding star is seen as a white ball of hot material in the center, surrounded by a ring of redder material

Accolades

Taft Armandroff Elected to Chair Giant Magellan Telescope Board of Directors

With vice chair Brian Schmidt, the McDonald Observatory director will lead the next phase of construction.

Three men in suits smile in a room lined with book-filled bookshelves, while one of the men holds a cube with a representation of a unique telescope.

McDonald Observatory

Tiny Galaxy, Big Find: Black Hole Discovered in Nearby Segue 1

Students discovered a surprise in the heart of a nearby dwarf galaxy.

White dots sprinkled around a black background represent stars and galaxies, including the unusual dwarf galaxy Segue 1.

Oden Institute

Born Together: A New Look at Binary Stars

A new study involving astronomer Stella Offner manages to pierce the universe’s dark, hazy cosmos for a glimpse at infant stars in relationship.

A pair of pinkish molecular clouds dotted with bursts of light in space represent star-forming activity.

UT News

Space Research at UT: Microbes, Satellites and Deep Space Discoveries

UT Austin has long been a leader in space research, including since the launch of the Webb Space Telescope.

A space monitoring vessel, NASA’s Europa Clipper, hovers above a planet.

McDonald Observatory

A Cosmic Puzzle: Phosphine Found in One Brown Dwarf, Missing in Others

The explosive compound forms naturally in the atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn, but on Earth it is also a byproduct of anaerobic life.

Illustration of the Wolf 1130ABC triple system, composed of the red dwarf star Wolf 1130A, its close and compact white dwarf companion Wolf 1130B, and the distant brown dwarf tertiary Wolf 1130C. The three components of this system are shown scaled to their relative sizes. Image credit: Adam Burgasser, UCSD.

McDonald Observatory

Local Properties Keep Stars Bright with Night Sky-Friendly Lighting

Village Fresh Greenhouse Grown, the Brewster County Courthouse and Terlingua Ranch Lodge are the latest to adopt lighting that benefits astronomers and skywatchers.

A photo of the dark night sky above greenhouses in West Texas.

McDonald Observatory

UT Austin Welcomes MIT to Giant Magellan Telescope International Consortium

The private research university becomes the 16th member of the international consortium advancing the GMT.

On the right side, a telescope enclosure sitting on a mountaintop is open to the night sky. Text over the sky reads "Giant Magellan Telescope + Massachusetts Institute of Technology"