Project News

Public Data Release 4

ZTF • December 9th, 2020

The Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) and IPAC at the California Institute of Technology announce the fourth ZTF Public Data Release. ZTF is an optical time-domain survey covering...

Caltech-Led Lunar Trailblazer Mission Approved to Begin Final Design and Build

Lunar Trailblazer • December 2nd, 2020

After one year of preliminary design and several reviews, NASA has confirmed the Caltech-led Lunar Trailblazer mission to proceed to final design and build.

NASA’s Roman Space Telescope to Uncover Echoes of the Universe’s Creation

Roman • November 18th, 2020

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will detect vestiges of sound waves that once rippled through the primordial cosmic sea.

16-Year-Old Cosmic Mystery Solved, Revealing Stellar Missing Link

Spitzer • November 18th, 2020

The Blue Ring Nebula, which perplexed scientists for over a decade, appears to be the youngest known example of two stars merged into one.

ARIEL Moves from Blueprint to Reality

Atmospheric Remote-sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large-survey • November 12th, 2020

ESA's exoplanet mission ARIEL, scheduled for launch in 2029, has moved from study to implementation phase, following which an industrial contractor will be selected to build the...

ZTF receives NSF support for phase II

ZTF • October 26th, 2020

Thanks to continued funding from the National Science Foundation in the USA and partner institutions, the global ZTF partnership will continue to operate ZTF in the coming three...

Data reveals evidence of molecular absorption in the atmosphere of a hot Neptune

Spitzer • October 26th, 2020

An international team of scientists recently measured the spectrum of the atmosphere of a rare hot Neptune exoplanet, whose discovery by NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey...

Celebrating ZTF-I & Soft Launch of ZTF-II

ZTF • October 26th, 2020

On Friday Oct 23, 2020, a virtual meeting was held to celebrate the conclusion of Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) Phase I ("ZTF-1") which was fully commissioned by March 2018...

3 UCF Researchers Part of Nature Astronomy Articles Chronicling Spitzer Space Telescope Legacy

Spitzer • October 12th, 2020

The papers provide an inventory of some of the greatest discoveries of the past decade and suggest targets for the next generation telescope, scheduled to launch in 2021.

'Echo Mapping' in Faraway Galaxies Could Measure Vast Cosmic Distances

Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer • October 1st, 2020

Matter swirling around supermassive black holes creates bursts of light that "echo" in nearby dust clouds. These traveling signals could serve as a new cosmic yardstick.