Tag: astrophysics

Celebrating IceCube’s first decade of discovery

It was the beginning of a grand experiment unlike anything the world had ever seen. Ten years ago today, the IceCube Neutrino Observatory fully opened its eyes for the first time. Over the course of the previous seven years, dozens of intrepid technicians, engineers, and scientists had traveled to the South Pole—one of the coldest, …

Ellen Zweibel elected to the National Academy of Sciences

Astronomy and physics Professor Ellen Zweibel has been honored with membership in the National Academy of Sciences. Zweibel is among 120 new members — and one of 59 women, the largest group ever — elected to the academy, one of the highest honors that can be conferred on an American scientist. Members are chosen “in …

Highest-energy Cosmic Rays Detected in Star Clusters

For decades, researchers assumed the cosmic rays that regularly bombard Earth from the far reaches of the galaxy are born when stars go supernova — when they grow too massive to support the fusion occurring at their cores and explode. Those gigantic explosions do indeed propel atomic particles at the speed of light great distances. …

Welcome, Professor Lu Lu!

New UW–Madison assistant professor of physics Lu Lu’s research program combines the past with the future. Her research looks for sources of ultrahigh energy particles, which is done by analyzing data that has already been collected. As she says, “Maybe data is already talking to us, we just haven’t looked.” But she is also working …

Dark Energy Survey makes public catalog of nearly 700 million astronomical objects

Note: this post is adapted from this article, originally published by Fermilab The Dark Energy Survey, a global collaboration including researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, has released DR2, the second data release in the survey’s seven-year history. DR2 was the topic of sessions at the 237th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society, which was held …