Star formation not primarily quenched by black hole activity in nearby
elliptical galaxies

Two new papers place a lower limit on the number of nearby elliptical galaxies with central supermassive black holes, and suggest that the large-scale environment matters more to their star formation rate than does low-level black hole activity. Read more about observations of elliptical galaxies...

An Unusual Planetary Disk

Professor Emeritus Charles Cowley led an international team of astronomers who discovered a very unusual disk around another star. Read more about the unusual disk...

MOJAVE Recognized by NRAO Program

The MOJAVE project, which UMRAO participates in, was recently designated a Key Science Project by the NRAO. Read more about this prestigious designation...

Most Massive Black Holes Discovered So Far

The discovery of two 10-billion-solar-mass black holes in nearby galaxies helps resolve a lingering question about what powered luminous quasars in the early universe. Read More about 10GMsun black holes...

New Concentration and Minor Announced

The department is pleased to announce the addition of a new concentration and minor, Interdisciplinary Astronomy, for students with an interest in Astronomy but who do not plan to become astrophysicists. Check out the flyer too!

The jobless rate for students with science degrees is very low (0% for the traditional astronomy and astrophysics major!) so it's well worth considering this new concentration as an adjunct to another program.

New Dwarf Galaxies Discovered

Graduate Student Colin Slater and Professor Eric Bell discovered two new dwarf galaxies, satellites of the great Andromeda Galaxy, M31. Read More about new dwarf galaxies...

Oceans of Water in a Planet Forming Disk

An international team that includes graduate student Ilsedore Cleeves, Prof. Ted Bergin, and recent graduate Jeffrey Fogel detected a significant amount of water in a planet-forming disk around a nearby star. Read More about water in a planet forming disk...