News: Astronomy

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

Features

Meet Six Incredible Women from UT Austin Science History

From the first woman mathematician inducted into the National Academy of Science to an astronomer who helped us understand how galaxies evolve, the women of...

Illustration of the six women in the article by Jenna Luecke.

Features

Visualizing Science 2016: Beautiful Images From Researchers in CNS

As part of an ongoing tradition, this past spring we invited faculty, staff and students in the College of Natural Sciences community to send us...

A simulation of subsurface waves crashing.

Podcast

The Last First Planetary Mission

University of Texas at Austin alumnus Alan Stern describes the challenges, and the joys, of the last first mission to a planet.

Artist's illustration of a spacecraft flying past a planet

Features

The Unexpected Journey of a Veteran Student and Astronomer

The educational journey of one exceptional student has taken her from translating Arabic in the Air Force to learning the secrets of the stars.

Rebecca Larson

Accolades

Three Members of Natural Sciences Recognized for Teaching Excellence

The honor rewards excellence in teaching by recognizing tenured faculty members who have continuously provided significant contributions to education throughout their career, especially at the...

Volker Bromm, Philip Uri Treisman and Lorenzo Alvisi

Features

Testing General Relativity

Scientists from UT Austin once traveled to the Sahara Desert to observe a rare eclipse and used computers to model ripples in space and time...

A man stands on a ladder outside a white hut in the desert

Podcast

The Race for Dark Energy

Karl Gebhardt explains the two leading ideas for what dark energy might be.

Illustration of galaxies bending space time

Features

Can General Relativity, at 100, Withstand Some Holes?

Answering some of the biggest questions in astrophysics—for example, about black holes and the origin of the universe—might require overhauling general relativity.

Illustration of a black hole

Features

Prof_iles: Steve Finkelstein

Astronomer Steve Finkelstein studies galaxy evolution

A man speaking in front of a bookshelf

Features

Visualizing Science 2015: Beautiful Images From College Research

As part of a continuing tradition, we invited faculty, staff and students in the College of Natural Sciences community to send us images this past...

A map of DNA fragments sequenced from the Gulf of Mexico dead zone. The dead zone is an area of low oxygen in the Gulf. Each square is a different DNA fragment from the water. The colored groupings—based on similar DNA sequence composition—represent genomes of newly discovered species that are important to the ecosystem.