News
News
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NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory Reveals Its First Dwarf Planet Candidate in Our Solar System
The candidate orbits our Sun beyond Pluto, and may be among the largest and brightest objects discovered in this region of the Solar System.
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Now Fully Online, Simons Observatory Begins Probe of Universe’s Birth
The observatory is making the clearest ever observations of the oldest light, which could offer a long-sought confirmation of how the universe as we know it came to be.
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Seagull Nebula Through the Eyes of NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory Commissioning Camera
Before Rubin Observatory’s First Look event, its engineering camera captured exquisite details of star formation taking place in the Seagull Nebula.
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The Milky Way’s Ancient Diet Revealed by Fossil Star Clusters
We believe our Galaxy gained a lot of its mass by eating smaller galaxies whole (a process called galactic cannibalism). As these galaxies are swallowed by the Milky Way, their star clusters also tag along with them. My research asks: how many of these massive star clusters were leftovers from the Milky Way’s ancient meals?
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Mountaintop microwave observatory will peer into the infant universe
As the Simons Observatory begins full science operations, KIPAC researchers are helping build, interpret and prepare to use the instruments probing the universe’s earliest light.
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What Happens When the Camera Shutter Closes?
Each time the shutter closes on the world’s largest astronomical camera, 25 gigabytes of raw pixels begin a year-long journey. At the Rubin Observatory, images reach California in seconds, are scrubbed of artifacts, and spark alerts worldwide within a minute. Months later, the archive is reprocessed to reveal objects too faint for any single exposure, then tested against more than 3,000 requirements. A scientist who builds the pipeline explains why trusting the data is as hard as collecting it.
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KIPAC's Aaron Roodman Featured in New York Times "100 Unanswered Questions" List
KIPAC's Aaron Roodman, who studies dark energy with the Vera C. Rubin Observatory and led the construction of its record-breaking LSST Camera, is featured at #97 in the Times' list of 100 unanswered questions in science.
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Daniel Akerib on a Faint Hint of Dark Matter
KIPAC senior member, Prof. Dan Akerib, joins Sean Carroll's Mindscape to discuss a single, tantalizing event in the LUX-ZEPLIN dark matter experiment, and what it takes to tell a real discovery from a fluke.
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Jesse Han Receives 2026 Trumpler Award
Jesse Han is the recipient of the 2026 Robert J. Trumpler Award from the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, the top thesis prize for astrophysics in North America.
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World’s biggest dark matter detector spots a single weird particle
It’s far too early to declare a discovery, physicists with the LZ detector say.
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Scientists spot a possible dark matter signal
A world-leading dark matter detector observed a rare particle interaction that may represent dark matter, the invisible substance comprising most of the universe’s mass.
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NASA's Roman Telescope Could Unravel the Mysteries of Dark Energy and Dark Matter
Learn more about the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope and how it could uncover some of the mysteries surrounding dark matter and dark energy.
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Cal-Bridge Scholars Cap a Summer of Research at KIPAC
This summer's Cal-Bridge cohort at KIPAC joined students from a CUNY summer program for professional development and community-building events throughout the internship.
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Scientists hunt for dark matter deep underground
A SLAC-led experiment more than a mile beneath a Canadian mine has begun collecting early scientific data ahead of a full-sensitivity search next year.
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How Do You "See" a Magnetic Field You Can't Touch?
DragonflyPol turns the Dragonfly Telephoto Array — 48 stacked Canon camera lenses — into a wide-field polarization camera.
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'We weren't really looking for' it: Astronomers accidentally discover 2 supernovas that exploded from a single star system in cosmic first
Astronomers have identified a supernova remnant beside the well-known Jellyfish Nebula (IC 443), and evidence suggests both are the wreckage of two stars that once orbited each other before exploding separately.
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All in the family: Fermi data links supernova siblings
A study led by KIPAC members and using Fermi/LAT data has uncovered compelling evidence that two neighboring supernova remnants (SNRs), the debris left behind after stars explode, are actually the remains of massive companion stars that once orbited each other before exploding tens to hundreds of thousands of years apart. The study has been published in Nature Communications.
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From biology to astrophysics, AI expands the boundaries of discovery
AI is helping scientists model human cells, decode the universe, and accelerate discovery across nearly every field. Here are some key innovations from across campus.
