Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences
- Bumper car-like interactions at the edges of our solar system—and not a mysterious ninth planet—may explain the the dynamics of strange bodies called “detached objects,” according to a new study.
- At 6:51 p.m. on April 18, a rocket carrying NASA’s latest space satellite, called the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), blasted off from Cape Canaveral. CU Boulder Assistant Professor Zach Berta-Thompson was there. He called the experience “terrifying but incredible.”
- Researchers at CU Boulder have completed an unprecedented “dissection” of twin galaxies in the final stages of merging.
- Researchers have caught a supermassive black hole in a distant galaxy snacking on gas and then "burping"—not once, but twice.
- The cross-campus Grand Challenge initiative this week announced the selection of three new additions to the Grand Challenge portfolio starting this fall.
- After a highly successful mission, the Cassini spacecraft will give up Saturn's last secrets to CU Boulder scientists before disintegrating in the planet's dense atmosphere Sept. 15.
- Tremendous amounts of soot following a massive asteroid strike 66 million years ago would have plunged Earth into darkness for nearly two years, according to a news release from NCAR.
- CU Boulder program helps underserved and underrepresented students in the STEM fields gain valuable research experience for graduate school.
- Three University of Colorado Boulder students are among 36 nationwide who have won 2017 Brooke Owens Fellowships for “exceptional undergraduate women” seeking careers in aviation and space exploration.
- Solar wind and radiation are responsible for stripping the Martian atmosphere, transforming Mars from a planet that could have supported life billions of years ago into a frigid desert world.