In an article for earth.com, Yingtian Chen, a graduate student at the University of Michigan Department of Astronomy, discusses his study on stellar streams and how they help astronomers reconstruct the Milky Way’s past and understand the galaxy’s gravitational structure. He was interviewed in the article “Astronomers discover dozens of stellar streams in the Continue Reading »
Tag: stars
Witnessing the Birth of 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.
“Crimson Trail Lights the Way at This U.P. Dark Sky Park”
Dr. Mojtaba Akhavan-Tafti, an associate research scientist at U-M Climate and Space, was featured in the article, “Crimson Trail Lights the Way at This U.P. Dark Sky Park” for MLive. The article highlights innovations in sustainable lighting for stargazing. | November 6, 2024
In Six New Rogue Worlds, Webb Telescope Finds More Star Birth Clues
An international collaboration that included the University of Michigan has spotted six likely rogue worlds—objects with planetlike masses but untethered from any star’s gravity—using the James Webb Space Telescope, or JWST.
The discovery includes the lightest rogue planet candidate ever identified with a dusty disk around it. The elusive objects offer new evidence that the same cosmic processes that give birth to stars may also play a common role in making objects only slightly bigger than Jupiter.
U-M Part of Consortium to Design, Construct Powerful New Instrument to Unlock Universe’s Secrets
The University of Michigan Department of Astronomy is part of an international consortium of institutions that will take part in the design and construction of ANDES, a powerful instrument set to be used on the largest visible-infrared telescope in the world.
The instrument will reveal the nature of atmospheres of planets around nearby stars, rare elements forged in the interiors of stars, the formation of galaxies and even the evolution of the universe itself, according to University of Michigan astronomer Michael Meyer.
Dwarf Galaxies Use 10-Million-Year Quiet Period to Churn Out Stars
University of Michigan researchers have discovered that galaxies enjoy a 10-million-year delay in blowing out the gas cluttering up their environments.