Tag: UM Astronomy

U-M Joins MOSAIC Build Team to Power Next Generation of Astronomers

Posted on by U-M Space Institute
MOSAIC
A new partnership between the University of Michigan and an intergovernmental research organization will expand the scope of possibilities for astronomers studying the universe’s first stars and galaxies and how dark matter and dark energy have evolved to the present day. Using the world’s largest telescope and its most complex instrument, U-M scientists will be able to study how the Milky Way gained its mass and shape, how other galaxies were formed, how matter is distributed in the universe and how all of these things have changed over time.

“Astronomers Discover Dozens of Stellar Streams in the Milky Way”

Posted on by U-M Space Institute

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 »

Small, Faint and ‘Unexpected in a Lot of Different Ways’: U-M Astronomers Make Galactic Discovery

Posted on by U-M Space Institute
galaxy
A discovery made by a team led by researchers at the University of Michigan tugs at the seams of some key cosmic lessons we thought we had learned from our own galaxy. This dwarf galaxy, named Andromeda XXXV and located roughly 3 million light-years away, is forcing astronomers to rethink how galaxies evolve in different cosmic environments and survive different epochs of the universe.

“U-M Department of Astronomy’s First Satellite Launch Could Pave the Way for Exoplanet Discoveries”

Posted on by U-M Space Institute

In an article for The Michigan Daily, Dr. John Monnier, a professor at the University of Michigan Department of Astronomy, talks about the STARI Mission and how interferometers in space could allow scientists to study exoplanets in greater detail than they are currently able with existing technology. He was interviewed in the article “U-M Continue Reading »

U-M Astronomy Will Lead Its First Satellite Mission With NASA Grant

Posted on by U-M Space Institute
STARI
The first space mission led by the University of Michigan Department of Astronomy is scheduled to launch in 2029 with the support of a NASA grant worth $10 million. The mission is called STARI—STarlight Acquisition and Reflection toward Interferometry—and will showcase the viability of a new technique for studying exoplanets, or planets outside of our solar system.

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.