Astronomy

The possibility of extraterrestrial life and its impact on religion will be addressed in a free, upcoming talk at Vanderbilt Dyer Observatory. Read More

In the latest VUCast: A Vanderbilt astronomer looks at how different religions may handle alien life; why early Earth may not have been as “hellish” as first thought; and check out the national baseball championship bling! Watch now. Read More

Researchers have developed a model that estimates the effect that a star's diet has on its chemical composition. This model will add substantially to astronomers’ understanding of the process of planet formation as well as assist in the ongoing search for Earth-like exoplanets. Read More

Renowned theoretical physicist Marcelo Gleiser will discuss his latest book, "The Island of Knowledge: The Limits of Science and the Search for Meaning," at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 25, at Vanderbilt University’s Benton Chapel. Read More

In the latest VUCast: Learn more about the special role animals are playing for kids fighting cancer; find out how the sun could eat the Earth - and why it hasn't already; and see who you might know in our social media mashup. Watch now. Read More

Vanderbilt astronomers have developed a model that predicts the effect that ingesting earth-like planets has on the chemical composition of stars like the Sun -- a capability that can aid in efforts to find Earth-like exoplanets. Read More

Vanderbilt Dyer Observatory and Radnor Lake State Natural Area are hosting a free public viewing of the lunar eclipse at Dyer from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. April 14-15. Read More

Rear Adm. Timothy White, deputy director of tailored access operations at the National Security Agency, will give a free public lecture on the activities of the NSA Thursday, Feb. 27, at 3 p.m. in Stevenson Center Room 4327. Read More

In the latest VUCast: What people with autism see may not match what they hear; how “supersizing” could help you lose weight; and hear what earned a Vanderbilt astronomer a Grammy nomination. Watch now. Read More

Two Vanderbilt astronomers are among an international team that has discovered a surprising new class of “hypervelocity stars” – solitary stars moving fast enough to escape the gravitational grasp of the Milky Way galaxy. Read More

A NASA astrophysicist and Vanderbilt graduate student Lisa Upton have confirmed the existence of giant convection cells flowing slowly on the sun, lending further insight into the transport of heat from its core and the origin of cycles of sunspot activity that affect essential satellite-based communications such as cell phones and TV broadcasting. Read More

Science has progressed from wild speculation about Earth’s planetary neighbors—including how they formed and whether they are inhabited—to a better understanding of our celestial neighborhood, David Weintraub, professor of astronomy, writes in "Scientific American." Read More

Astronomers have found a clever new way to slice and dice the flickering light from a distant star in a way that reveals the strength of gravity on its surface. Read More

Fisk and Vanderbilt's Bridge Program mentors talented minority students pursuing advanced science degrees. Keivan Stassun, professor of astronomy and director of the Fisk-Vanderbilt Masters-to-Ph.D. Bridge Program, is quoted. Read More

Nashville-area middle-schoolers attending Dyer Observatory’s space camp will demonstrate functioning scale models of the Hubble Space Telescope on Friday, June 26, accompanied by a presentation by Hubble founding project scientist and Vanderbilt astronomer C. R. O'Dell. Read More

The reason dark matter, which makes up 85 percent of all the matter in the universe, is invisible could be because it possesses a rare, donut-shaped type of electromagnetism instead of the more exotic forces that have been proposed, according to an analysis of a pair of Vanderbilt theoretical physicists. Read More

A scientific team led by University of Louisville doctoral student Karen Collins has discovered a hot Saturn-like planet in another solar system 700 light years away. The discovery was made using inexpensive ground-based telescopes, including one specially designed to detect exoplanets and jointly operated by astronomers at Ohio State University and Vanderbilt University. Read More

A team of researchers, headed by Vanderbilt astronomer C. Robert O’Dell, has combined images from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope with images from ground-based telescopes to reconstruct the three-dimensional shape of the iconic nebula with unprecedented precision. In the process, they determined that it is considerably different than previously thought. Read More

A team of Vanderbilt astronomers will play a key role in the planet-seeking space telescope that NASA has just approved and scheduled for launch in 2017. Read More

This year the Fisk–Vanderbilt Master’s-to-Ph.D. Bridge program, directed by Keivan Stassun, professor of astronomy, will become the nation’s No. 1 producer of minority Ph.D. recipients in physics, astronomy and materials science. Read More