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”...
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...
2025-11-25 - The National Center for Supercomputing Applications awarded Fiddler Innovation Fellowships to 38 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and NCSA...
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...
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...
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...
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...
2025-07-01 - From flunking physics to commanding sailors and scanning the stars, Illinois alumnus Grant Miller’s journey is anything but ordinary. What started as a childhood fascination with the cosmos and a rocky freshman year at the U of I eventually led to a thriving dual career as an astronomy professor...
2025-06-24 - It began with a problem of scale. Modern telescopes like the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, set to begin operations in October 2025, are poised to revolutionize astronomy by capturing unprecedented volumes of data—millions of time-variable astrophysical events across the sky each night. But with...
2025-06-24 - The Department of Astronomy sadly announces the passing of our friend and colleague, Icko Iben, Jr., distinguished professor emeritus of astronomy and physics. Professor Iben's research made an indelible mark on astrophysics and on this campus. He pioneered the theory of how stars work and how...
2025-05-02 - The astronomy department is proud to announce its Spring 2025 Academic Awards. The winners were recognized in an online ceremony on May 2nd, 2025. The ceremony was led by Department Chair Tony Wong and Director of Undergraduate...
2025-04-29 - The University of Illinois Department of Astronomy welcomed students, faculty, and alumni to its annual Astrofest event on April 25. Hosted at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, the day-long celebration of research and discovery featured a mix of poster sessions, lightning talks,...
2025-04-22 - NASA has awarded $1 million to DeepDISC-Euclid, a groundbreaking interdisciplinary research project spearheaded by the Department of Astronomy at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. This innovative project was significantly driven by graduate student Grant Merz, whose leadership and key...
2025-04-04 - Beneath its weathered dome, the Campus Observatory has housed groundbreaking discoveries and served as a gathering place where generations of students have explored the cosmos and built lasting bonds. But...