LPL Spotlight Stories

Artist's impression of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft kicking up rocks during sample collection on asteroid Bennu's surface. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/CI Lab/Jonathan North

OSIRIS-REx Scientists: Taking Asteroid Sample Was Like Punching a Ball Pit

Before-and-after images and measurements revealed a treasure trove of data from the few seconds that it took for the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft to collect an asteroid sample, which is currently en route to Earth.

 In this picture of the Spirograph Nebula, a dying star about 2,000 light-years from Earth, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope revealed some remarkable textures weaving through the star's envelope of dust and gas. UArizona researchers have now found evidence that complex carbon nanotubes could be forged in such environments.NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Dying stars could seed interstellar medium with carbon nanotubes

Evidence suggests that carbon nanotubes, tiny tubes consisting of pure carbon, could be forged in the envelopes of dust and gas surrounding dying stars. The findings propose a simple, yet elegant mechanism for the formation and survival of complex carbon molecules in space.

How to Spot Asteroids

“Stay up all night,” says Gregory Leonard, a research scientist at the University of Arizona’s Catalina Sky Survey, who uses a network of powerful telescopes to find and track what NASA calls near-Earth objects, including asteroids that come within 120 million miles of the sun. Go looking in a place without light pollution on a cloudless night with a steady atmosphere. Avoid a full moon.

Dr. Sarah Moran Named UArizona Sursum Fellow

Dr. Moran was selected for her proposal on Haze Evolution in sub-Neptune Exoplanets through UV Laboratory Experiments.

Dr. Sukrit Ranjan Joins LPL Faculty Starting Fall 2022

Sukrit's work is focused on the origin of life on Earth, the search for life on other worlds, and the atmospheres of rocky exoplanets. He applies photochemistry to questions related to the origin of life on Earth and the search for life on other worlds.

Dr. Kathryn Volk, Vera Rubin Early Career Prize Winner

LPL Research Scientist Dr. Kathryn Volk has been named the recipient of the Vera Rubin Early Career Prize, which recognizes an early career dynamicist who demonstrates excellence in scientific research in dynamical astronomy. Dr. Volk received her Ph.D. from LPL in 2013.
This is an artists illustration of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft firing thrusters near the surface of the asteroid Apophis.

NASA Gives Green Light for OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft to Visit Another Asteroid

The extended mission, dubbed OSIRIS-APEX, will study the near-Earth asteroid Apophis, which will have a close encounter with Earth in 2029.

 An astrobiologist, an engineer and an ecologist have teamed up to mitigate the worst effects of climate change.

Small but Mighty: How UArizona Professors are Harnessing the Power of Algae to Capture Carbon

An astrobiologist, an engineer and an ecologist have teamed up to mitigate the worst effects of climate change.

Dr. Tyler Robinson Joins LPL Faculty Starting Fall 2022

Ty conducts theoretical studies of the atmospheres of extrasolar planets and brown dwarfs and has made major contributions to the planning for the next NASA great observatories. He has had great success in building diverse research groups.

 Aurora are the product of plasma interacting with the Earth's magnetic field. Plasma is also found in stars, nebula and throughout the solar wind, which HelioSwarm will study in depth.

UArizona to Help NASA Understand Solar Wind and Plasma With HelioSwarm Mission

Most visible matter in the universe exists as plasma, and NASA has funded a new mission to study this state of matter that's rarely found on Earth.