News: Research

Congratulations to Rebecca Diesing for successfully defending her Ph.D. dissertation on “Unraveling Particle Acceleration and the Nonthermal Universe”.

Most people seek warmer destinations for travel to escape the tough Chicago winters. Brad Benson, on the other hand, sets his sights on the South Pole nearly every year. On his list of top reasons to visit: the intense cold creating extremely low levels of moisture in the air, dryer even than the highest mountain peaks in the world. 

Exoplanet GJ 1214b is too hot to be habitable, but likely contains water vapor.

Improvements include upgraded receiver, solar panels to power the observatory and data processing pipeline.

Prof. Wendy Freedman, a leading astronomer who has made fundamental measurements of our universe, will deliver the 2023 Nora and Edward Ryerson Lecture on May 15 at the Rubenstein Forum at the University of Chicago.

Diego Garza (Physics, Astrophysics, 2023) and Aster Taylor (Astrophysics, 2023) won the  NSF Graduate Research Fellowship.

In a new paper in Nature Astronomy, Taylor Hoyt –who received his Ph.D from UChicago in 2022 and is currently a researcher in Berkeley Lab’s Physics Division – presents a new approach to calibrating the measurement of the universe’s present day expansion rate.

“Capturing the Stars: Women’s Networks and the Advancement of Science at Yerkes Observatory, 1895–1940”, Richard G. Kron (Astronomy and Physics), Kristine Palmieri (Institute on the Formation of Knowledge), Andrea Twiss-Brooks (The University of Chicago Library), Emily Kern (History).

Analysis combines Dark Energy Survey, South Pole Telescope data to understand evolution of universe

Combining data from the Dark Energy Survey and the South Pole Telescope, scientists piece together a coherent story of the Universe from galaxy and CMB surveys. These are some of the most stringent tests of the standard cosmological model using cross-correlations of independent data sets.

Using data from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, scientists have identified an Earth-size world, called TOI 700 e, orbiting within the habitable zone of its star – the range of distances where liquid water could occur on a planet’s surface. The world is 95% Earth’s size and likely rocky.

Scientists have new evidence about how cosmic cataclysms forge gold, platinum and other heavy members of the periodic table

Madison is currently studying exoplanets, which are planets that aren’t in our solar system. Most of her work is observational, using telescopes and data analysis.

Study suggests answer to “radius valley” mystery in the field of exoplanet studies.

New measurements paint detailed portrait of an exoplanet’s atmosphere.