Extreme supergiant stars known as hypergiants are very rare, with only a few known to exist in the Milky Way. Astronomers have created a detailed, three-dimensional image of one dying hypergiant, providing new insights into what happens at the end of these rare stars' lives.

UArizona scientists took part in an international planetary defense exercise that used asteroid Apophis – a large, potentially hazardous asteroid – to test the planetary defense response chain.

Snapping an image of a black hole is just the beginning, says researcher Chi-Kwan "CK" Chan. To really understand the image, it must be compared with black hole simulations. UArizona worked with partners to create the world's largest simulation library.

After years of anticipation, the international Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration presented the first image of the black hole located at the center of our own Milky Way galaxy, called Sagittarius A*. Scientists had previously suggested the presence of a black hole at this location, but there was no direct visual evidence until now. 

UArizona astrophysicists Feryal Özel and Dimitrios Psaltis identified Sagittarius A* as an ideal target black hole more than 20 years ago. They call it a "Goldilocks black hole," with an environment "just right" for capturing an image.

A new decadal survey from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine recommends NASA fully support NEO Surveyor, a space-based survey designed to discover and measure asteroids and comets that could pose an impact hazard to Earth. Amy Mainzer, a professor of planetary sciences, leads the effort. 

The extended UArizona-led mission, dubbed OSIRIS-APEX, will study the near-Earth asteroid Apophis, which is expected to have a close encounter with Earth in 2029.

A team of astronomers including researchers from the University of Arizona has discovered evidence of a giant planet in the process of forming. This provides the first-ever look at the earliest stages of the formation of a gas giant planet, when it's still embedded in the disk of gas and dust surrounding its young host star.

Most of the rocky bodies in our solar system were formed or shaped by massive collisions early in the solar system's history. A newly observed dust cloud from a similar crash offers clues about how often these events occur around other stars.

After months of alignment and fine-tuning, the James Webb Space Telescope has produced its first clear image of a star, thanks to the Near Infrared Camera developed and managed by UArizona. NASA is confident that the telescope's optics can achieve the mission's science goals.