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Universe Update

News, blog posts, and more from Morrison Planetarium and beyond.

Latest News

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Andromeda galaxy in far-infrared and radio light

The Andromeda galaxy, or M31, is shown here in far-infrared and radio wavelengths of light. Credit: ESA, NASA, NASA-JPL, Caltech, Christopher Clark (STScI), R. Braun (SKA Observatory), C. Nieten (MPI Radioastronomie), Matt Smith (Cardiff University)

Dusty Environments Near and Far
Dust! It’s not just collecting on your shelf, it is the topic for the last press conference at the 240th AAS.
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Detector

Felipe Pedreros, IceCube/NSF

Tip of the IceCube
From todays AAS meeting: “IceCube was built as a discovery instrument… Now we know what we’re looking for.”
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Artist impression of the debris disk surrounding star HD53143.

Artist impression of the debris disk surrounding star HD53143. Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO); M. Weiss (NRAO/AUI/NSF)

Disks and Planet Formation
The connection between disks and planet formation continues to expand as astronomers view them in new detail.

Latest News

Thoughts from a Planetarian: Astral Poetics

The visual culture of astronomy, from illuminated manuscripts and frescoes to engravings and satellite imagery.

Thoughts from a Planetarian: Visualizing Numbers

On a two-ful Tuesday, our planetarian discusses how visualizations can make numbers more understandable.

Living in a Bubble

It turns out that the Sun lives in a bubble—1,000 light years across!

Mapping the Cosmos

How are astronomers planning to map our universe with the help of robots?

Our Last Observation

We end our series with news from the Vera Rubin Observatory, ALMA, and the VLT.

Can't Miss

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Gemini South and GMT
Observations: New Telescopes in Chile

The next generation of telescopes in Chile will vastly increase our understanding of the cosmos.

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Shami Chatterjee on Building a Galaxy-Size Detector

What's the size of San Francisco, but has 1.5 times the mass of our sun? Dr. Shami Chatterjee has the answer!

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Solving NASA-Sized Problems

Dr. Kimberly Ennico Smith has a unique job at NASA. She either destroys things or works to reveal the unseen.

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Priya Natarajan on Mapping the Unseen

Dr. Priya Natarajan shares how she maps the things we cannot see: dark matter, black holes, and more.

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Nick Cowan on Exoplanets

Astronomer Nick Cowan takes us through the galaxy discovering extra solar planets or exoplanets.

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NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and S. Wiessinger.

An artist’s rendering of a rupture in the crust of a highly magnetized neutron star known as a magnetar. (Courtesy of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and S. Wiessinger.)

Magnetars and Pulsars and Neutron Stars, Oh My!

How did a temperamental neutron star punch above its weight class and surprise astronomers?

Browse By Topic

Still from Incoming
Astro-Viz
NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), A. Nota (ESA/STScI), and the Westerlund 2 Science Team
Astronomy News
NPS photo by Brad Sutton
Looking Up

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