By Daniel Stolte, University Communications Today University doctoral students used two radio telescopes, including the Arizona Radio Observatory 12-meter radio telescope on Kitt Peak, to make the discovery. Tom Folkers/Steward Observatory Astronomers at the University of Arizona have discovered excephosphorus, a critical ingredient for life as we know it, in an unexpected location: the outskirts…

By Daniel Stolte, University Communications Today University doctoral students used two radio telescopes, including the Arizona Radio Observatory 12-meter radio telescope on Kitt Peak, to make the discovery. Tom Folkers/Steward Observatory Astronomers at the University of Arizona have discovered excephosphorus, a critical ingredient for life as we know it, in an unexpected location: the outskirts…

One of the primary tasks of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is to scan the atmospheres of exoplanets for signs of habitability. And, as far as we know, water is necessary for life. So naturally, detecting the presence of water in and around alien worlds is a high priority for planetary scientists. There is,…

As our newest, most perceptive eye on the ongoing unfolding of the cosmos, the James Webb Space Telescope is revealing many things that were previously unseeable. One of the space telescope’s science goals is to expand our understanding of how stars form. The JWST has the power to see into the cocoons of gas and…

CORVALLIS, Ore. – The discovery related to gravitational waves which made international headlines earlier this year and was predicted by Albert Einstein more than a century ago will be the topic of Oregon State University’s Science Pub on Dec. 6. Jeff Hazboun, an astrophysicist at Oregon State and one of the scientists who led the…

NASA’s Messenger shot this view over Mercury’s horizon shortly before making its closest approach to the innermost planet of the solar system.NASA / JPL-Caltech Data on Mercury collected by NASA’s Messenger orbiter continue to yield new results long after the end of the mission in 2015. In the latest and perhaps most surprising result, scientists…

Blue-green Uranus may not look like much through a telescope, but you can see its small disk at magnifications of 100x and more. Even this close-up look from the Voyager 2 spacecraft fails to reveal much detail. Credit: NASA/JPL. Uranus, the seventh planet from the Sun, orbits in the outer solar system, about two billion miles…