News
May 21, 2025
Coveted awards fuel astronomy, astrophysics research
April 18, 2025
Third-year undergraduate Isabelle “Izzy” Connor and two Ph.D. candidates at other universities have recently won awards to further their research in astronomy and astrophysics at UC Santa Cruz.
Science Division staff honored with new award for outstanding service and dedication
April 14, 2025
The Science Division is honoring staff members Jeannette Peters, Patti Schell, and Deana Tanguay for demonstrating outstanding service, leadership, teamwork, innovation, or dedication to the division’s mission within the past five years.
UC Santa Cruz researchers honored in Hollywood style at Breakthrough Prize ceremony
April 7, 2025
The Breakthrough Prize Foundation, established by Silicon Valley luminaries including the tech icons behind Google and Facebook, named UC Santa Cruz astrophysicist Rebecca Jensen-Clem and former postdoctoral researcher Maaike van Kooten as co-recipients of the early-career New Horizons in Physics Prize.
Astronomy Ph.D. candidate researching mysteries of sub-Neptune planets wins fellowship
March 27, 2025
UC Santa Cruz astronomy Ph.D. candidate Sagnick Mukherjee has received one of the most sought-after postdoctoral awards in the field: the prestigious 51 Pegasi b Fellowship. In its March 27 announcement, the awarding Heising-Simons Foundation named Mukherjee one of eight new fellows, recognizing them as exceptional postdoctoral scientists who deserve support to continue their research in planetary astronomy.
Long-accepted theory explaining the nature of our universe may need updating, new analysis indicates
March 19, 2025
The standard model of how the universe works involves the widely accepted theory that dark energy is a fundamental constant of nature that drives the accelerating expansion of the universe. But a new analysis announced today by the international Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) collaboration raises the possibility that this theory may need to be updated.
Research Corporation for Science Advancement honors Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz
March 12, 2025
Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz has been named a recipient of the Research Corporation for Science Advancement’s (RCSA) Robert Holland Jr. Award, which honors outstanding contributions to research, leadership, and mentorship in the sciences.
UC Santa Cruz astrophysicist explores the interconnectedness of art and science in 'Painting the Cosmos'
February 24, 2025
A new book by UC Santa Cruz astrophysicist and visual artist Nia Imara debuts tomorrow that explains the universe and traces how art has blended with science throughout human history.
Cosmic radiation from supernova altered virus evolution in Africa, study proposes
February 18, 2025
A new study led by recent undergraduate student Caitlyn Nojiri and co-authored by astronomy and astrophysics professor Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz and postdoctoral fellow Noémie Globus examined iron isotopes to identify a 2.5 million-year-old supernova. The researchers connected this stellar explosion to a surge of radiation that pummeled Earth around the same time, and they assert that the blast was powerful enough to break the DNA of living creatures.
Hubble Telescope images combined into giant mosaic of neighboring Andromeda Galaxy
January 17, 2025
Astronomers are celebrating the completion of a 2.5-billion-pixel panoramic picture of the entire Andromeda Galaxy. The team includes several UC Santa Cruz researchers who made significant contributions to the enormous photomosaic that combines some 600 snapshots taken by the Hubble Space Telescope over more than a decade and 1,000 orbits.
American Astronomical Society honors four UC Santa Cruz affiliates at national meeting
January 17, 2025
At this week's AAS national meeting, the society named UC Observatories Director Bruce Macintosh and two alumni, Laura Lopez and Mark Phillips, among the 24 new fellows chosen for 2025.
Researchers link mysterious cosmic signals to collapsed stars
January 10, 2025
An international team of scientists has provided the clearest evidence yet that some fast radio bursts (FRBs)—enigmatic, millisecond-long flashes of radio waves from space—originate from neutron stars, the ultra-dense remnants of massive stars that have exploded in a supernova.
Professor J. Xavier Prochaska to deliver December 4 Kraw Lecture
November 25, 2024
The Kraw Lecture Series aims to help audiences better understand the big picture behind scientific research at UC Santa Cruz and the broader trends at play. This tradition continues with the December 4 talk on how artificial intelligence (AI) is accelerating the scientific pursuit.
24 in 2024: list of most highly cited researchers includes UC Santa Cruz scientists and engineers
November 25, 2024
In a notable recognition of scholarly achievement, 24 scientists and engineers from UC Santa Cruz have earned a spot on the 2024 Highly Cited Researchers list, recently unveiled by Clarivate.
Team discovers ultra-massive galaxies in early Universe that challenge standard cosmology
November 13, 2024
An international team of astronomers has identified three ultra-massive galaxies—each nearly as massive as the Milky Way—already in place within the first billion years after the Big Bang. The discovery is surprising because it indicates that the formation of stars in the early Universe was far more efficient than previously thought, challenging current models of galaxy formation.
Ultra-small spectrometer yields the power of a 1,000 times bigger device
October 23, 2024
UC Santa Cruz researchers are designing new ways to make spectrometers that are ultra-small but still very powerful, to be used for anything from detecting disease to observing stars in distant galaxies
UC Santa Cruz receives NSF grant to transform diversity and inclusion in STEM graduate programs
October 23, 2024
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded nearly $1 million to researchers at UC Santa Cruz to advance equity and inclusion by fostering a more inclusive, culturally rich environment in STEM graduate programs.
Science Division debuts ‘degree-defining experiences’ drawing on UC Santa Cruz’s unique strengths
October 15, 2024
The Science Division has received a $1 million donation to begin a major new program on “degree-defining experiences.” The program will pilot 17 projects across campus that aim to profoundly inspire undergraduate students and fill them with the kind of optimism that forever changes how they see their time at UC Santa Cruz and their future careers.
Astronomy postdoc to develop technologies that mold starlight to better detect exoplanets
October 15, 2024
The Astronomy & Astrophysics Department welcomes postdoctoral scientist Emiel Por, who invents technologies that mold the starlight captured by ground- and space-based telescopes to improve imaging of planetary companions. His work will be supported by the Heising-Simons Foundation's 51 Pegasi b Fellowship program.
UC Santa Cruz astronomer delivers keynote speech for Mexico's National Council of Humanities, Sciences and Technologies
September 18, 2024
The council chose Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz as the final speaker in the series, which leads up to the inauguration of Mexico's new president on October 1, in honor of his distinguished career and accomplishments that followed his public education and training in Mexico.
Santa Cruz Symphony opens new concert with music from professor
September 18, 2024
Despite his background in astrophysics former professor Martin Gaskell has always had a passion for music. This weekend the Santa Cruz Symphony will be opening their first concert of the season with one of Gaskell’s pieces.
2023 astronomy Ph.D. graduate honored for dissertation work, mentoring and leadership
September 17, 2024
The Astronomical Society of the Pacific has honored recent UC Santa Cruz Ph.D. graduate Maggie Thompson for research "considered unusually important to astronomy."
A wobble from Mars could be sign of dark matter, new study finds
September 17, 2024
New simulations suggest that there are enough primordial black holes—potential dark matter candidates—in the universe for one to pass through the inner solar system every decade. The work builds upon an astrophysical theory that has growing popularity.
UC Santa Cruz research will harness advanced AI to better measure, predict climate-change impacts
September 3, 2024
Two UC Santa Cruz research projects designed to leverage advanced forms of artificial intelligence to improve how scientists measure and predict the effects of climate change have won funding from a $20 million investment by the National Science Foundation.
Scientists to study nearby galaxies for galactic-formation history, dark matter
August 29, 2024
At approximately 100,000 light years in diameter, the Milky Way's vastness and the broader, ever-changing dynamics of the cosmos defy any attempt to fully understand our home galaxy and its history. UC Santa Cruz astronomer Puragra "Raja" GuhaThakurta sums up this dilemma in more familiar and figurative terms: "We simply don’t have a selfie stick long enough to take those kinds of photos."
Annual event at Lick Observatory links modern astronomy to native perspectives
August 9, 2024
In collaboration with the UC Santa Cruz American Indian Resource Center, the University of California Observatories (UCO) recently hosted the second annual Native Star Stories Night at Lick Observatory. Held this year on May 9, the special event is intended to show that this traditional way of engaging with the cosmos remains as relevant and valuable today to indigenous communities as it was thousands of years ago.
UC Santa Cruz astrophysicists honored for advancing research on the mysterious FRB
July 9, 2024
Fast radio bursts are sudden flashes of radio waves coming from random parts of the sky. Each one is on only for a few milliseconds, but they are extraordinarily bright: In those few milliseconds, they put out more energy than our sun does in an entire year. We also know that they come from objects in distant galaxies, sometimes billions of light years away.
Ph.D. student leads effort to open Kosovo's first observatory
June 13, 2024
Earth’s newest observatory will open to the public on June 20, 2024, coinciding with the summer solstice, thanks in large part to a UC Santa Cruz student from Kosovo who discovered her love of astronomy as a child amidst the chaos of the country’s brutal war for independence over 20 years ago.
Earliest, most distant galaxy discovered with James Webb Space Telescope
May 30, 2024
An international team of astronomers today announced the discovery using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) of the two earliest and most distant galaxies yet confirmed, dating back to only 300 million years after the Big Bang.
New exoplanets catalog showcases diverse, exotic worlds
May 23, 2024
Our understanding of exoplanets, those strange worlds that orbit stars beyond our solar system, is now broader and deeper thanks to separate studies published this week featuring the work of researchers at UC Santa Cruz.
Black Lives Matter: A statement from our department
June 24, 2020
