LPL Spotlight Stories
![Microscope image of a dark Bennu particle](/sites/default/files/styles/az_card_image/public/spotlight/story/bennu_original_ingredients_06262024.jpg?itok=Nmidpnfa)
Bennu Holds the Solar System's 'Original Ingredients,' Might have Been Part of a Wet World
OSIRIS-REx sample scientists took a deep dive into the rocks and dust returned from asteroid Bennu. They found that the sample is rich in carbon, nitrogen and organic compounds - essential components for life as we know it.![UArizona Richard F. Caris Mirror Laboratory](/sites/default/files/styles/az_card_image/public/spotlight/story/Mirror_lab_06262024.jpg?itok=UxkMnUAD)
Space Sciences, Water Resources, Geosciences Excel in Latest US News Global Ranking
The University of Arizona earned its best scores in the space science category, placing No. 8 overall, No. 6 in the U.S. and No. 2 among public universities.![Airplane on snow runway](/sites/default/files/styles/az_card_image/public/spotlight/story/Airplane_Holt_06102024.jpg?itok=TVBDxbAQ)
Studying Arctic Glaciers with Airborne Radar: UArizona Project Attracts $30M from NASA
The Snow4Flow mission will measure glaciers' ice and snow thickness and help scientists better predict how glacial melting contributes to sea level change.![Artist’s impression of a young star surrounded by a rotating disk of gas and dust.](/sites/default/files/styles/az_card_image/public/spotlight/story/JWST_young_star_06062024.jpg?itok=mvph-mbH)
Webb Telescope Finds Plethora of Carbon Molecules Around Young Star
An international team of astronomers, including University of Arizona scientists, has used NASA's James Webb Space Telescope to study the disk of gas and dust around a young, very low-mass star.![Giordano Bruno crater on the far side of the moon](/sites/default/files/styles/az_card_image/public/spotlight/story/giordano-bruno-crater_04252024.jpg?itok=-KeFtz3b)
Near-Earth Asteroid Was Blasted From a Crater on the Moon, Study Finds
For the first time, scientists have traced an asteroid to its exact place of origin – a particular crater on the moon.![Regents Professor Dante Lauretta and Professor Dániel Apai named AAAS Fellows](/sites/default/files/styles/az_card_image/public/spotlight/story/AAAS_Fellows_04192024_0.jpg?itok=gQqC0mt4)
Two UArizona Astrobiology Researchers Named AAAS Fellows
Lunar and Planetary Laboratory Regents Professor Dante Lauretta and Professor Dániel Apai named AAAS Fellows.![Artemis astronaut deploying an instrument on the lunar surface](/sites/default/files/styles/az_card_image/public/spotlight/story/Astronaut_on_moon_04122024.jpg?itok=1j3af-eI)
Humans Will Again Set Foot on the Moon; This Time, They'll Have UArizona Science in Tow
UArizona scientists mapped the moon for the Apollo missions. Now, as NASA astronauts prepare to return to the moon, two of the three instruments they'll bring have UArizona ties.![Artistic representation of the huge, slow impact on Pluto](/sites/default/files/styles/az_card_image/public/spotlight/story/PlutoHeartCreation_04152024.jpg?itok=u7xLjHc6)
How Pluto Got Its 'Heart'
The mystery of how Pluto got a giant heart-shaped feature on its surface has finally been solved by an international team of astrophysicists.![Astronaut walking on the moon.](/sites/default/files/styles/az_card_image/public/spotlight/story/moon_inside_out_04082024_0.jpg?itok=KgSvYFRZ)
How the Moon Turned Itself Inside Out
More than 50 years ago, Apollo astronauts brought basaltic lava rocks back from the moon with surprisingly high concentrations of titanium. Later, satellite observations found that these titanium-rich volcanic rocks are primarily located on the moon's nearside - but how and why they got there has remained a mystery – until now.![Sample return capsule](/sites/default/files/styles/az_card_image/public/spotlight/story/OREx_aviation_award_03262024.jpg?itok=7KLP9Cos)