IPAC News

Dave Cook Named New NED Project Scientist

IPAC News • October 27th, 2026

IPAC is pleased to announce the appointment of David O. Cook as Project Scientist for the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED), effective September 4, 2026. Cook steps into an updated leadership role left by Joe Mazzarella, who retired in September after serving in various NED leadership...

Reflections from the Infrared Frontier: Joe Mazzarella Retires After 37 Years

IPAC News • October 26th, 2026

Joseph Mazzarella (aka, “Mazz”) has retired after 37 years of service at Caltech, with 35 years at IPAC and 20 of them in leadership roles for the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED), IPAC’s longest-running project and one of its most popular science data archives.

(More Than) One Thousand TESS Planets!

IPAC News • October 9th, 2026

This week's 70 new planets have unlocked a new exoplanet milestone: 1,000 planets have been discovered with data from NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS)! The new additions also bring the archive's total confirmed planet count to 6,445.

Suns set on hunt for giant planets in nearby binary system

IPAC News • October 3rd, 2026

But smaller worlds may yet hide in the two-star system’s habitable zones.

NEW PHOTOS: Roman Coronagraph Instrument commanded ‘on’ from the Science Support Center at IPAC

IPAC News • September 9th, 2026

Ready to Roman: Caltech Teams Celebrate Telescope Launch, Look Ahead to Future

IPAC News • August 30th, 2026

The next generation of exoplanet imaging technology, designed and built at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), which Caltech manages for the agency, has launched aboard NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. The flagship observatory lifted off from Kennedy Space Center at 4:26 a.m. Pacific...

IRSA Appoints New Leadership

IPAC News • August 19th, 2026

Anastasia Laity has been appointed the new Task Lead for the NASA/IPAC Infrared Science Archive (IRSA) effective August 3, 2026. She steps into the role previously held by Steve Groom, who is now serving as IPAC’s Data Center Lead.

People of IPAC: New Leaders, New Roles, New Staff

IPAC News • July 8th, 2026

There were many changes in the IPAC team in the first half of 2026. We filled 17 positions with people who either joined IPAC afresh or with existing staff who transitioned to new roles.

IPAC Celebrates Its 40th at AAS with Visual/IR Photos!

IPAC News • June 25th, 2026

At the AAS 248 conference in Pasadena, IPAC hosted a reception for conference attendees. Did you “step up, get scanned and ... see yourself in a new light?”

New JWST images of abnormally well-developed galaxy cluster open up the “cosmic noon” frontier

IPAC News • June 17th, 2026

New observations from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope add to the intrigue surrounding a young, but surprisingly mature galaxy cluster from the early universe that challenges prevailing theories of cosmic evolution.