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Astronomers Pin Down Origins of “Mile Markers” for Expansion of Universe

By Guest PostNovember 24, 2012Scienceastronomer, ben shappee, brightness, chemical element, dead stars, kris stanek, lbt, mile markers, mods system, mods1, ohio state university, optical telescope, origin, pattern, pinwheel galaxy, rick pogge, supernova 2011fe, supernovae, type ia, white dwarfs, zombies

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A study using a unique new instrument on the world’s largest optical telescope has revealed the likely origins of especially bright supernovae that astronomers use as easy-to-spot “mile markers” to measure the expansion and acceleration of the universe.

In a paper to appear in the Astrophysical Journal, researchers describe observations of recent supernova 2011fe that they captured with the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) using a tool created at Ohio State University: the Multi-Object Double Spectrograph (MODS). (more…)

For UA Astronomy Students, the Sky is Not the Limit

By Guest PostApril 17, 2012Education, Science61 inch telescope, allison mcgraw, allison towner, astrobiologist, astronomer, astronomy camp, astronomy class, atlantic ocean, brianna smart, carter thaxton smith, don mccarthy, earth bound telescope, element, exoplanet, jake turner, john bieging, jupiters, kevin hardegree ullman, kuiper telescope, kuiper telescope dome, life, lindsay small, liquid water, magnetic field, mandy walker lafollette, marco rocchetto, mount lemmon, optical telescope, planet, university of arizona

UA astronomy students Kevin Hardegree-Ullman and Jake Turner designed, proposed, conducted and presented research on two recently discovered planets outside of our solar system while they were still undergraduates.

Deep in the cosmos, alien planets are circling distant stars, waiting to be pierced by the far-reaching gaze of Earth-bound telescopes. Some are Earth-like and have the potential to harbor liquid water and maybe even life. Others are enormous, gassy giants. All of them are different than any planet we know.

They are the exoplanets, planets outside of our solar system, which astronomers are only just beginning to discover and analyze.

Kevin Hardegree-Ullman and Jake Turner, then University of Arizona undergraduate astronomy students, decided to get to know two of them a little better. (more…)

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Astronomers Pin Down Origins of “Mile Markers” for Expansion of Universe

For UA Astronomy Students, the Sky is Not the Limit