Announcements

Unusual Stellar Nurseries Near Our Galaxy’s Center Puzzle Scientists

IPAC News • June 9th, 2025

New research led by Dr. James De Buizer at the SETI Institute and Dr. Wanggi Lim at IPAC at Caltech revealed surprising results about the rate at which high-mass stars form in the Galactic Center of the Milky Way.

Exoplanet discovery database, ExoFOP, reaches 1 million files and counting

Project News • June 7th, 2025

Discovering an exoplanet doesn’t mean having one, definitive eureka moment. Instead, it requires multiple observations, sometimes from multiple observatories, and the scientific community coming together in agreement to finally confirm its existence.

Discovery of giant planet orbiting tiny star challenges theories on planet formation

Community News • June 4th, 2025

The University of Warwick and UCL astronomers, as part of a global collaboration including partners in Chile, USA and Europe, have discovered the smallest known star to host a transiting giant planet, which should not exist under leading planet formation theories.

IPAC Announces New Executive Director, Tom Greene

IPAC News • May 27th, 2025

Thomas (Tom) Greene, astrophysicist and former Director of the NASA Ames Center for Exoplanet Studies and Chief of the NASA Ames Astrophysics Branch, will join IPAC as its new Executive Director on May 27.

New Leadership for the NEO Surveyor Project at IPAC

IPAC News • May 22nd, 2025

Dr. Sean Carey has been appointed Task Lead and Dr. Joe Masiero has been appointed Science Lead of the Near-Earth Object Surveyor (NEOS) project at IPAC. Their new appointments were announced on April 22, and April 28, 2025, respectively. Both appointments are effective May 1, 2025.

New NASA 3D Visualization Explores the Carina Nebula Complex

Project News • May 7th, 2025

The Carina Nebula Complex is a vast region of star formation featured in numerous spectacular images including the giant Carina Nebula mosaic from the Hubble Space Telescope (2007) and the ethereal landscape of the Cosmic Cliffs from the James Webb Space Telescope (2022).

The Joy of Doing Nothing: IPAC Pioneer Roc Cutri Retires

IPAC News • May 5th, 2025

NASA Focuses Lunar Trailblazer Recontact Efforts Through Mid-June

Project News • April 30th, 2025

As NASA continues work to reestablish command of its Lunar Trailblazer spacecraft, the mission team’s modeling indicates that the lighting conditions from May through mid-June are favorable to provide enough sunlight on the spacecraft’s solar panels to recharge the batteries to an operational...

Exploring Space with AI

Project News • April 11th, 2025

Through his research at Caltech, a local high school student revealed 1.5 million previously unknown objects in space, broadened the potential of a NASA mission, and published a single-author, peer-reviewed paper.

Mari Castillo Keeps Moving Even After Retirement

IPAC News • April 8th, 2025

A long-time member of the IPAC Finance Team, and an admin member in several projects at JPL before that, Mari Castillo is retiring. We asked Mari about her favorite memories during her career and to offer some advice to all of us at IPAC.