Astronomy

Filling the universe with knots shortly after it popped into existence 13.8 billion years ago provides a neat explanation for why we inhabit a three-dimensional world. That is the basic idea advanced by an out-of-the-box theory developed by an international team of physicists. Read More

Creating a model pipeline that will assist adults on the autism spectrum find innovative jobs is the purpose of Vanderbilt University’s new Center for Autism & Innovation. Read More

A high-altitude weather balloon rose yesterday from a Vanderbilt garage rooftop to the edge of space to live-stream the eclipse from above Nashville and record the temporary atmospheric changes it caused. Read More

In prelude to the total solar eclipse on Aug. 21, Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos interviews astronomy expert Keivan Stassun on "The Zeppos Report." Read More

A team of Vanderbilt astronomers, working with the Center for Teaching, have developed an online course on celestial navigation that the NROTC is using to reintroduce training in celestial navigation. Read More

Astronomers at Vanderbilt and Ohio State have discovered a planet like Jupiter zipping around its host star every day, boiling at temperatures hotter than most stars with a giant cometary tail. Read More

Astronomers from Vanderbilt, Lehigh and Ohio State universities have discovered a “puffy planet" with the density of Styrofoam that is an excellent test-bed for probing exoplanets for signs of life. Read More

The first total solar eclipse to sweep across the United States in 99 years will occur on Aug. 21, with Nashville in its direct path. The Office of the Vice Provost for Learning and Residential Affairs, in partnership with a variety of internal and external partners, including Vanderbilt Dyer Observatory, is coordinating a series of student competitions, curricular and co-curricular programs, and special events to celebrate. Read More

During this talk, Dr. Keivan Stassun summarizes the promise of the TESS mission for detecting other worlds like our own and identifying other places in the universe where life just might be possible. This talk took place at Vanderbilt Dyer Observatory on March 3rd, 2017. Read More

Astronomers participating in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey have announced the results of the first study that shows how the abundance of the "elements of life" varies across the Milky Way galaxy. Read More

Artificial kidneys, gay-straight alliances and junkyard batteries captured readers' attention in 2016. Read More

An ambitious postdoctoral training initiative designed to prepare recently graduated doctorates for competitive academic careers will launch later this year, Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos announced Oct. 24. Read More

Two Vanderbilt physicists, Keivan Stassun and Kalman Varga, have been elected fellows of the American Physical Society. Read More

Vanderbilt Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy Kelly Holley-Bockelmann explains the meaning of the first discovery of gravitational waves at TEDx Nashville. Read More

The Fisk-Vanderbilt Master's-to-Ph.D. Bridge Program, which supports minority STEM graduate students, is the subject of a feature story in the Chronicle of Higher Education. Read More

Jedidah Isler, a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow in Vanderbilt’s Department of Physics and Astronomy, has emerged as an increasingly high-profile advocate for diversity among science, technology, engineering and mathematics researchers. Read More

The results of a new study make it far less likely that KIC 8462852, popularly known as Tabby’s star, is the home of industrious aliens who are gradually enclosing it in a vast shell called a Dyson sphere, a theory that went viral over the past year. Read More

Visitors will have the unusual opportunity to safely view the planet Mercury as it transits directly across the face of the sun using Dyer Observatory’s solar telescopes. Read More

An astrophysicist and an aerospace engineer who are members of the team developing NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope – the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, scheduled for launch in 2018 – will give a free public lecture March 31. Read More

Caleb Scharf, director of astrobiology at Columbia University, will address age-old questions such as "Are we alone?" and "Where do we come from?" in a free public lecture titled "Astrobiology: The Science of Life in the Universe" March 3. Read More