Spotlight on Astronomy

Cornell astronomers gathered atop Mount Pleasant at sunset June 25 to honor one of their own. The 25-inch reflecting telescope at the university’s Hartung-Boothroyd Observatory was named in memory of the late James R. Houck.

Alexander Hayes ’03, M.Eng ‘03, assistant professor of astronomy, and Katherine Kinzler, associate professor of psychology and human development, are among 52 scientists under the age of 40 named Young Scientists 2017 by the World Economic Forum, which calls those selected “the most forward-thinking and advanced young scientific minds in the world.”

"We found a chain of low areas, or basins, that trace a belt across the moon's surface that we believe are the fossil remnants of an earlier, previous equator and poles," said Radwan Tajeddine, a Cassini imaging team associate at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, and lead author of the paper.

Rescheduled from March 10th.

Galactic hitchhikers take note: The restaurant at the end of the universe may be closer than we think.

Scientists announced this week that a consortium of U.S., German and Canadian academic institutions led by Cornell University will begin construction of Cerro Chajnantor Atacama Telescope-prime (CCAT-p), a unique and powerful telescope capable of mapping the sky at submillimeter and millimeter wavelengths.

“This place has come alive. It used to be a storage facility. It’s no longer a storage closet with telescopes on top, this museum has a heartbeat,” said Rushaniya Fazliyeva ’18, an astronomical society member.

"I don't exaggerate when I say there are more theories for what these could be than there are observed bursts," first author of the new study, Shami Chatterjee, told the BBC's Science in Action programme.