03/15/2023 - Images of deep space have intrigued many a sky-gazer over the course of modern history. The first images from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope marked a remarkable moment in space exploration and, more recently, the newly captured snapshots of deep space from the James Webb Space Telescope became a...
News
02/02/2023 - Our own Prof. Decker French will give an astronomy lecture at the Women in Science series. It will be in both in-person and via Zoom. Read more about it here.
01/10/2023 - Prof. Telemachos Mouschovias discusses his theoretical work on star formation, focusing on the importance of magnetic fields. Read about it here
01/09/2023 - Congratulations to the Astronomy Illinois List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent By Their Students. Faculty: Bryan Dunne, Brian Fields, and Leslie Looney and Grad Students: Erica Albrigo, Xinyang Lu, Grant Merz, and Maggie Verrico.
11/30/2022 - It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of our friend and colleague James B. Kaler, Emeritus Professor of Astronomy. Jim joined the Illinois faculty in 1964, right after finishing his PhD at UCLA with the thesis: "Recombination Spectra of Hydrogen and Helium in Gaseous Nebulae". ...
11/07/2022 - Congratulations to Dr. Rachel Harrison! She defended her thesis "Mass Assembly in Protoplanetary Disks: Polarimetry as a Probe of Dust Growth and Accretion" Friday, November 4 with advisor Prof. Leslie Looney.
09/27/2022 - The Department of Astronomy is excited to be part of the new Data Science majors on campus. Astronomy + Data Science majors will take advantage of astronomy's close ties with data science and the large surveys observing now and over the next few years. Read about it...
09/14/2022 - We are excited to announce that the Observatory was awarded a $500,000 grant from the National Park Service. These funds will be used to repair brick and other exterior components that will complement the university's funding to repair the roof. Thanks to Department members Prof. Bryan Dunne and...
08/29/2022 - Join Physics and Astronomy Professor Nico Yunes at the William M. Staerkel...
08/02/2022 - Congratulations to Professor Joaquin Vieira for his promotion to full professor! Read more here
07/11/2022 - Congratulations to Dr. Sreevani Jarugula! She defended her PhD thesis "Molecules in the Early Universe" on July 8, 2022 with advisor Prof. Joaquin Vieira.
07/07/2022 - Congratulations to Dr. Jesse Miller and Dr. Ada Ertel! They defended their PhD theses: "Consequences of Near-Earth Supernovae on the Heliosphere" and "Paleo-astronomy: Investigating Near-Earth Supernovae using the Geologic Record", respectively, with Prof. Brian Fields this week...
06/30/2022 - The AAS has released the astronomical obituary of Illinois Emeritus Professor Ed Olson, who passed in 2020. Ed was an expert on eclipsing and mass-transferring binary stellar systems. Read more here.
06/29/2022 - A team led by Prof. Tony Wong, and including Prof. Leslie Looney, showed that the star formation at the center of our Milky Way galaxy is still driven by gravity even with all the nearby massive stars providing intense feedback. Read about it...
06/10/2022 - Prof. Xin Liu explains “what would happen if two supermassive black holes merged” in this month’s Astronomy Magazine.
