Project News

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...

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...

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...

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...

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.

Data Sonification: Sounds from Around the Milky Way

Spitzer • September 24th, 2020

Telescopes give us a chance to see what the Galactic Center looks like in different types of light. By translating the inherently digital data (in the form of ones and zeroes)...

NASA Missions Spy First Possible Planet Hugging a Stellar Cinder

Spitzer • September 16th, 2020

The violent events leading up to the death of a star would likely drive away any planets. The newly discovered Jupiter-size object may have arrived long after the star died.

Astronomers gather clues about unseen cataclysmic collisions

ZTF • September 14th, 2020

Two large international collaborations of astronomers joined forces to look for light from some of the most cataclysmic events – the collisions of a neutron star and black...