Witnessing the Birth of Planets

Posted on by U-M Space Institute
planets
University of Michigan researchers contributed to an international collaboration that’s providing an unparalleled view into how planets are born using the JWST—the most powerful space telescope ever launched. In particular, the team studied PDS 70, a young star with two growing planets in its orbit. Located 370 lightyears away, this system gives scientists a rare chance to see how planets form and evolve during their earliest stages of development.

Leinweber Lab Becomes Design Hub for Moon Garden Equipment

Posted on by U-M Space Institute
Leinweber Lab
If you walk by the new Leinweber Innovation Lab inside the Climate & Space Research Building on a Wednesday evening, you might notice the BLiSS student team hard at work in each of the lab’s studios. There, members of their subteams are working in parallel to design tools that could help solve challenges in NASA’s future Artemis missions to the moon.
The lab’s four open studio spaces were the perfect fit for the BLiSS student team to help future moon missions.

Getting the Most Out of Cosmic Maps

Posted on by U-M Space Institute
galaxy maps
Research led by the University of Michigan could help put cosmology on the inside track to reaching the full potential of telescopes and other instruments studying some of the universe’s largest looming questions. The project showcased how a new computational method gleans more information than its predecessors from maps showing how galaxies are clustered and threaded throughout the universe. Scientists are currently using tools like DESI, the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument, to generate these maps and dig deeper into the nature of dark energy, dark matter and other cosmic mysteries.

What Is ‘Kessler Syndrome’ — And Why Do Some Scientists Think the Space Disaster Scenario Has Already Started?

Posted on by U-M Space Institute

In an article for CNN Science, Dr. Nilton Renno, a professor at University of Michigan Climate and Space, explains Kessler’s Syndrome, a scenario in which the number of satellites and space debris in orbit is so high that collisions occur, generating more space junk and falling satellite debris. He was interviewed in the article “ Continue Reading »