LPL Spotlight Stories

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.

 The UArizona Space Domain Awareness team - including Grace Halferty, Vishnu Reddy, Adam Battle and Tanner Campbell - stand in front of the RAPTORS-1 telescope on top of Kuiper Space Sciences Building. The team confirmed that the rocket booster slated to impact the Moon on March 4 is from the Chinese Chang'e 5-T1 mission and not from a SpaceX Falcon 9. Vishnu Reddy

UArizona Students Confirm Errant Rocket's Chinese Origin, Track Lunar Collision Course

Students studying the object's composition confirmed that it is most likely a Chinese booster and not a SpaceX booster, as previously reported.
Roberto Furfaro of the Department of Systems and Industrial Engineering and Vishnu Reddy of the Department of Planetary Sciences at the Biosphere 2 Space Domain Awareness Observatory. The pair received a $7.5 million in funding from the Air Force Research Lab.

$7.5M Effort Seeks to Prevent Lunar Traffic Jams

University of Arizona researchers are developing ways to detect, characterize and track objects in cislunar space, or the space between Earth and the moon.

 This artist concept illustrates two celestial bodies crashing into each other, creating a disc of mostly melted, partially vaporized rock that eventually became the moon. NASA/JPL-Caltech

It Takes a Special Kind of Planet to Make a Moon

Generally thought to be the products of celestial bodies crashing into each other, moons around terrestrial planets may play important roles in shaping the conditions for life to emerge. For sizable moons to form successfully, the circumstances must be just right, according to a study published in Nature Communications.
Artist’s conception of NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft collecting a sample from the asteroid Bennu. NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona

OSIRIS-REx Mission Team Wins 2022 Swigert Award for Space Exploration

The award recognizes the team behind the mission's successful collection of a pristine sample from an asteroid for laying "the groundwork for forging the next generation of scientists, astronomers, geologists and more."

 Sunrise over the ocean, as seen from the International Space Station. The experience of viewing our world from above - called the overview effect - is a central element of the collaboration between Space Trust and the University of Arizona. NASA/Reid Wiseman

Student-Led Initiative Will Launch Satellites as 'Ambassadors for World Peace'

A partnership that builds on the University of Arizona's extensive track record in space exploration is dedicated to promoting collaborative and sustainable space exploration and helping educate a workforce fluent in space-faring technology.

Associate Professor Ilaria Pascucci Named 2022 AAS Fellow

Dr. Ilaria Pascucci has been named a Fellow of the American Astronomical Society for her scientific contributions to the understanding

 Researchers will use all four instruments aboard the James Webb Space Telescope to study the three most distant quasars yet discovered. They will obtain new measurements of the masses of their central supermassive black holes, detail the stars and composition of their host galaxies, and observe nearby galaxies to learn more about their “neighborhoods” in the early universe. NASA, ESA, CSA, Joseph Olmsted (STScI)

Scouting Ancient Supermassive Black Holes

A team of researchers led by University of Arizona astronomers will use NASA's James Webb Space Telescope to examine three active supermassive black holes, their host galaxies and their neighborhoods to better detail these distant objects and the conditions of the early universe.
The James Webb Space Telescope successfully launched the morning of Dec. 25 from the ELA-3 Launch Zone of Europe's Spaceport at the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana. NASA

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope Successfully Begins its Journey to Space

UArizona led the design and development of the Near-Infrared Camera onboard the James Webb Space Telescope. Once Webb has successfully unfolded and parked in its outpost past the moon, the UArizona instrument will align the telescope's 18 mirror segments and serve as the Webb's primary imager for at least the next 5 1/2 years.

 Marcia and George Rieke. Chris Richards/University of Arizona

Meet the Husband-and-Wife Team that Helped Get Infrared Astronomy off the Ground

Astronomers Marcia and George Rieke helped the field of infrared astronomy flourish into a powerful discipline. They are key players in NASA's James Webb Space Telescope.