Six Northern Arizona University students received awards from the Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP), a National Science Foundation program that funds graduate work in STEM disciplines at institutions throughout the country.
Four current graduate students received the five-year award, as did two students who will graduate this semester and start Ph.D. programs in the fall. The GRFP… Read more
A Northern Arizona University astronomer who studies the atmospheres of solar system worlds, exoplanets and brown dwarfs has been recognized for his academic leadership and the quality and innovation of his research. The Research Corporation for Science Advancement (RCSA) recently named Tyler Robinson, assistant professor in NAU’s Department of Astronomy and Planetary Science, a 2021… Read more
A team of astronomers, including associate professor Chad Trujillo of Northern Arizona University’s Department of Astronomy and Planetary Science, have confirmed a planetoid that is almost four times farther from the Sun than Pluto, making it the most distant object ever observed in our solar system. The planetoid, which has been nicknamed “Farfarout,” was first detected in 2018, and the team has now collected enough observations to pin down its orbit. The Minor Planet Center has now given… Read more
Scientists say Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, is the only body in our solar system besides Earth with liquid on its surface. However, chemical elements behave very differently there in the extremely cold and dense atmosphere, with a temperature of minus 300 degrees Fahrenheit. For example, water, or H2O, forms Titan’s bedrock while methane acts… Read more
NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, designed to study the early universe in infrared light, was the first telescope to see light from a planet outside our solar system. Launched in 2003, Spitzer contained infrared detectors of unprecedented sensitivity, providing astronomers a never-before-possible look at the universe.
Spitzer made important discoveries about comets, stars, exoplanets and distant galaxies. Decommissioned earlier this year—11 years beyond its prime mission—the… Read more
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft mission, launched on Sept. 8, 2016, is the first U.S. mission designed to retrieve a pristine sample of an asteroid and return it to Earth for further study. The mission’s target is Bennu, a carbon-rich near-Earth asteroid that is potentially hazardous, representing… Read more