2026-02-26
- Scientists have been able to detect the presence of gravitational waves since 2015, when the first instruments capable of doing so were set up. However, these instruments capture many other signals as well. Sometimes these signals’ sources are easy to identify—perhaps there was a small earthquake, or an airplane passed overhead—but some of the collected data have remained mysterious.Recent work...
2026-02-26 - An international team of astronomers led by Dr. Thato Manamela at the University of Pretoria has identified the most distant hydroxyl (OH) megamaser ever detected — a powerful radio signal emitted by a merging galaxy more than 8 billion light-years from Earth....
2026-02-20 - Sude Baltaci has been named a Chambliss Astronomy Achievement Student Award winner by the American Astronomical Society, recognizing the excellence of their poster presentation at the 247th AAS Meeting held this winter in Phoenix, Arizona. Baltaci is a fourth-year student...
2026-02-18 - The College of LAS has selected 19 professors, graduate students, lecturers, and advisors as the recipients of this year’s teaching and advising awards. “It is a privilege to celebrate these remarkable educators and advisors who fulfill our educational mission within the College of LAS,” said Venetria K. Patton, the Harry E. Preble Dean of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences. “From...
2026-02-17 - As one might expect on a bitterly cold Thursday evening, the bar fills up early. Conversations overlap, beer is served, glasses clink. Then things get interesting. Someone sets up a projector. As the crowd jockeys for a good view, in walks Charles Gammie, an Illinois astronomy and physics professor who was part of the...
2026-02-10 - Astronomy professor Leslie Looney recently appeared on The UIUC Talkshow for a wide-ranging conversation about what astronomy really is—and what it means to explore a universe that’s often difficult to even imagine. In the episode, he reflects on how astronomers turn faint signals...
2026-01-20 - The universe is vast, but astronomers don’t have to look too far to find something genuinely new. Researchers at the Center for AstroPhysical Surveys (CAPS) used the South Pole Telescope to probe one of the most complex regions of the sky, the crowded inner Milky Way, and uncovered powerful, short-lived bursts of millimeter-wavelength light from two...
2025-12-16 - Colliding galaxies, rogue black holes, wandering meteors — the most dangerous phenomena in the universe make up the lessons in one of the most popular 100-level courses at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.Starting in the 2026-2027 academic year, “ASTR 150: Killer Skies: Astro Disasters” will be one of four U. of I. courses also taught in the classrooms of select Illinois high schools...
2025-12-15 - When a nova erupts, it’s often described as a single dramatic blast—but new observations suggest the real story is far more complex. In a recent Nature Astronomy paper, an international team used the CHARA Array’s cutting-edge infrared interferometer to capture the most detailed early images of two nova explosions to date....
2025-11-25 - The National Center for Supercomputing Applications awarded Fiddler Innovation Fellowships to 38 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and NCSA graduate students in a ceremony on October 31 honoring their outstanding achievements and...
2025-11-04 - Patrick Aleo (PhD, astronomy ’24) still remembers the first time he looked through a telescope. He was in elementary school when his parents bought one for his brother, and one night, he took a turn at the eyepiece.“I looked at the full moon and I was transfixed,” he recalled. “Before that, things in space never felt real or tangible. From then...
2025-10-29 - Please join us in congratulating Jianyang (Frank) Fu on the successful defense of his Ph.D. thesis last week!Frank will be continuing his research journey as a postdoctoral researcher at Princeton University. We wish him all the best as he takes this exciting next step in his career!
2025-08-26 - When Jiayin Dong walks across the University of Illinois campus this fall, it will feel familiar and entirely new.Dong, an incoming assistant professor in the Department of Astronomy, is returning to Illinois as a faculty member, where she earned her undergraduate degrees in Engineering Physics and Astronomy. Previously a...-
2025-08-11 - The Simons Foundation has awarded $8 million to launch the Simons Collaboration on Black Holes and Strong Gravity, bringing together 12 leading scientists from across the globe, including Illinois Physics professor and Astronomy affiliate professor Nicolás Yunes, who will direct the effort. This multidisciplinary network...
2025-07-29 - When Decker French learned she had been named a Lincoln Excellence for Assistant Professors Scholar, it was a complete surprise.“I didn’t know that I was nominated,” she said. “So it was a very pleasant surprise! It is incredibly rewarding to have this kind of recognition for work that’s been evolving since I first joined the...