Astronomy

The School of Medicine Basic Sciences brought together a biologist, a Christian theologist, a philosopher and an astrophysicist June 17 for a lab-to-table conversation exploring their views and academic perspectives on the origins of life. Read More

Led by Vanderbilt astrophysicists, researchers work with data from thousands of galaxies to investigate the origins and physics of black hole binaries in nearby galaxies. Est. reading time: 2 mins. Read More

NSF funding will support the development of new techniques to search for signatures of exotic interstellar phenomena. Read More

Vanderbilt astronomers lead group that created the roadmap for studying supermassive black holes after detecting the low-frequency gravitational waves they create. Est. reading time: 2 mins. Read More

Join Vanderbilt Dyer Observatory on Saturday, April 17, at 8 p.m. CT for a free, educational star party and discussion. Read More

Billy Teets, director and resident astronomer for Vanderbilt Dyer Observatory, will lead a discussion of the history of the Voyager spacecraft—including their engineering, major discoveries and what they are up to today. The virtual event will be at 7 p.m. CT on Thursday, March 25. Read More

Vanderbilt astronomers have painted their best picture yet of an RV Tauri variable—a rare type of stellar binary—by mining a 130-year-old dataset that spans the widest range of light yet collected for one of these systems, from radio waves to X-rays. Read More

Thanks to her passion for astronomy, as well as mentoring from faculty, undergraduate Samantha Bianco is both a named co-author on a graduate-level scientific research paper and the first Vanderbilt student officially to have completed an Immersion Vanderbilt project. Read More

Through a partnership with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, Vanderbilt astronomers use big data to see the cosmos as a stop-motion movie instead of a snapshot. Read More

Learn how federal policy shapes space exploration, observe a once-in-a-lifetime planetary conjunction and more this month with Vanderbilt Dyer Observatory. Read More

Take a guided tour of the autumn skies during a star party led by Billy Teets, acting director and outreach astronomer for Vanderbilt Dyer Observatory. Stargaze on Saturday, Nov. 14, and learn how to buy a home telescope from a Vanderbilt astronomer on Thursday, Nov. 19. Read More

The intermediate-mass black hole first observed in May 2019 presents an entirely new category of black hole. Read More

Following the NASA Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite mission, Vanderbilt astronomer Keivan Stassun leads the next phase of discovery to find atmospheres like our own. Read More

New research led by Vanderbilt astrophysicist Karan Jani presents a compelling roadmap for capturing intermediate-mass black hole activity. Read More

by Skylar Cuevas On June 17, the School of Medicine Basic Sciences brought together a biologist, a Christian theologist, a philosopher and an astrophysicist in a Lab-to-Table conversation to explore their views and academic perspectives on the origins of life. Ian Macara, Ellen Armour,… Read More

Vanderbilt University astrophysicist Keivan Stassun, Stevenson Professor of Physics and Astronomy, was named Tuesday to the National Academies’ Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics (Astro2020) Steering Committee. Read More

Before we go further and send humans to Mars, we need to know if doing so could trigger the extinction of existing life on the planet, writes Professor of Astronomy David Weintraub. Read More

Alexandra Doten’s passion for blending science, education and outreach was born from a failure. Doten took an astronomy class her first semester freshman year and failed the first test. But with encouragement from a professor, she turned the experience into a lesson in perseverance. Read More

We can go to Mars—soon. But should we? Astronomy Professor David Weintraub asks the ethical questions in his new book, "Life on Mars: What to Know Before We Go." Read More

Vanderbilt’s Keivan Stassun serves as a deputy principal investigator on the mission and is tasked with identifying the most promising stars to target in its search for habitable nearby planets. Read More