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Illustration of asteroid approaching Earth.

UA researchers get the spotlight in new NASA documentary

Apr 18, 2025 The film follows asteroid hunters at telescopes in Arizona and around the world.
This artist’s concept shows what exoplanet K2-18 b could look like based on science data. K2-18 b, an exoplanet 8.6 times as massive as Earth, orbits the cool dwarf star K2-18 in the habitable zone and lies 120 light-years from Earth.

Are there signs of life on alien planet K2-18b, or is it just a lot of hot air?

Apr 17, 2025 The James Webb Space Telescope may have detected life-associated gas in the atmosphere of a far-off planet. The news is being greeted with both enthusiasm and skepticism.
Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) is a constellation of communications satellites operated by the United States Space Force. Image: artist rendering of an AEHF.

New satellite constellation program expected to worsen outer space congestion

Apr 12, 2025 Amazon's Project Kuiper plans to place thousands of new communications satellites into low Earth orbit.
The Flandrau Science Center and Planetarium on the campus of the University of Arizona.

Tucson's Flandrau Planetarium receives national recognition

Mar 26, 2025 Flandrau Science Center and Planetarium, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this fall, is ranked among the top in the US.
Radio telescopes based in New Mexico scan for communication from alien civilizations.

UA Science lecture series returns for its 20th year

Mar 4, 2025 The presenters will focus on topics combinng science and communication.

Rogue Theatre's "Marjorie Prime" creates a conversation about what it means to be human in the age of AI.

Feb 19, 2025 Also on Arizona Spotlight: Understanding canyons on the moon; and more voices from The Class of 2024.
NASA's SPHEREx observatory undergoes testing in August 2024. The mission will make the first all-sky spectroscopic survey in the near-infrared, helping to answer some of the biggest questions in astrophysics.

Searching the entire sky for the secrets to our universe

Feb 10, 2025 A new telescope could launch as early as late February. SPHEREx will look into deep space and also search for organic molecules.
Two grand canyons on the moon radiating from the Schrödinger impact basin, from a view that looks obliquely across the lunar surface, like an astronaut in an approaching spacecraft.

The moon's grand canyons were carved in the blink of an eye

Feb 10, 2025 The Earth's Grand Canyon took millions of years to carve, but the moon's grand canyons took about ten minutes.
A view of the outside of the OSIRIS-REx sample collector. Sample material from asteroid Bennu can be seen on the middle right. Scientists have found evidence of both carbon and water in initial analysis of this material. The bulk of the sample is located inside.

First big results from OSIRIS-REx revealed

Jan 29, 2025 The ingredients for life were found on the asteroid.
A team of astronomers sifted through James Webb Space Telescope data to compile one of the largest samples of "little red dots." The team started with the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) survey before widening their scope to other extragalactic legacy fields, including the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES) and the Next Generation Deep Extragalactic Exploratory Public (NGDEEP) survey.

James Webb Space Telescope's 'little red dots' come into focus

Jan 14, 2025 When the cosmic oddballs first showed up in some of JWST's early observations, in December of 2022, it was a surprise.
Artist rendering of Blue Ghost and Tenacious rover on the lunar surface.

Latest private moon landing venture begins this week

Jan 13, 2025 Blue Ghost designed to carry a dozen scientific experiments to the lunar surface
Spacewatch asteroid trackers use the 90 inch Bok telescope atop Kitt Peak to look for wayward space rocks.

Arizona asteroid hunters detected space rock that fell over Russia

Dec 4, 2024 The team used a University of Arizona telescope to track the object to its fiery fate.
Illustration of the Parker Solar Probe flyby of the Sun.

Parker Solar Probe making history six years after launch

Nov 22, 2024 Robotic explorer is the first to sail through the sun's atmosphere.
This graphic shows the difference in the appearance of the Moon’s size in its furthest and closest distances to Earth.

Stargazers can see the final supermoon of the year this weekend

Nov 14, 2024 If you miss this supermoon, you won't be able to see the next one until October 2025.
James Webb Space Telescope's MIRI imager shows dust cloud around Vega.

Webb telescope delivers new ideas about Milky Way star Vega

Nov 12, 2024 UA-built camera shows vast, smooth dust disk surrounding the star.
Photo of Europa from NASA's Galileo spacecraft, 1998.

New NASA spacecraft ready to launch toward Jupiter moon Europa

Oct 9, 2024 Europa Clipper will observe surface features that could conceal a vast ocean.

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