News

U of A scientists will participate in many aspects of NASA's Europa Clipper mission, which will orbit Jupiter and make 49 flybys of its moon Europa to study the moon's icy shell and help researchers better understand what lies beneath.

For the first time, one of the Giant Magellan Telescope's primary mirror segments, produced at the U of A Richard F. Caris Mirror Lab, has been integrated into a support structure that will maintain the mirror's shape once mounted on the telescope.

Every second, more than 3,000 stars are born in the visible universe. Many are surrounded by protoplanetary disks – swirling "pancakes" of hot gas and dust, from which planets form. U of A researchers have obtain detailed insights into the forces that shape protoplanetary disks.

U of A Regents Professor Dante Lauretta says he is "amazed by the discoveries we've made" since the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft delivered an asteroid sample to Earth last year.

A group of researchers, including U of A astronomers, observed the atmosphere of a hot and uniquely inflated exoplanet using NASA's James Webb Space Telescope.

Sept. 22 marks the official first day of fall this year, but that's not always the case. The start of fall and spring is determined by an astronomical phenomenon called an equinox, when the sun is positioned exactly above Earth's equator. Jose Daniel Castro-Cisneros, a physics graduate student, explains how equinoxes work.

OSIRIS-REx sample scientists took a deep dive into the rocks and dust returned from asteroid Bennu. They found that the sample is rich in carbon, nitrogen and organic compounds – essential components for life as we know it.

In the Best Global Universities rankings, UArizona earned its best scores in space sciences, ranking No. 8 overall, No. 6 in the U.S. and No. 2 among public universities.

Using data from the James Webb Space Telescope, researchers have discovered about 80 new supernovas. Their findings provide a new window into the early universe.

The Snow4Flow mission, led by professor Jack Holt, will measure glaciers' ice and snow thickness and help scientists better predict how glacial melting contributes to sea level change.