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NASA selects UCLA alumna for 2017 astronaut candidate class
Jessica Watkins earned her Ph.D. in geology from UCLA in 2015.
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Life on Earth is used to gravity — so what happens to our cells and tissues in space?
UCLA Ph.D. student Andy Tay writes about a crucial a challenge to long-distance space travel — overcoming the long-term effects of microgravity on our bodies.
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Astronomers observe a dying red giant star’s final act
An international team of astronomers has observed a striking spiral pattern in the gas surrounding a red giant star called LL Pegasi and its companion star 3,400 light-years from Earth.
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Gigantic Jupiter-type planet reveals insights into how planets evolve
A “baby” solar system 300 light-years away has given astrophysicists from UCLA and the Carnegie Institution for Science a rare peek at the formation of a planet.
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Dwarf star 200 light-years away contains life’s building blocks
A UCLA-led team of scientists discovered a white dwarf star in the constellation Boötes whose atmosphere is rich in carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and hydrogen.
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Experiment resolves mystery about wind flows on Jupiter
UCLA’s Jonathan Aurnou and collaborators in Marseille, France, demonstrated that the planet’s jets likely extend thousands of miles below its visible atmosphere.
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The moon is older than scientists thought, UCLA-led research team reports
A UCLA-led research team reports that the moon is at least 4.51 billion years old and probably formed only about 60 million years after the birth of the solar system — 40 million to 140 million years earlier than had been thought.
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UCLA astronomers watch star clusters spewing out dust
The new observations confirm a long-standing theory that stars are copious producers of heavy elements.
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See the moon through a UCLA telescope Oct. 8
Scientists from the Institute for Planets and Exoplanets will offer free views of the moon from the roof of the Mathematical Sciences Building.
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Research resolves a debate over ‘killer electrons’ in space
New findings by a UCLA-led team of researchers answer a question about our space environment and will help scientists protect telecommunication and navigation satellites.
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Astronomers capture best view ever of disintegrating comet
The team, led by a UCLA researcher, used NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope to gather data on Comet 332P as it broke apart 67 million miles from Earth.
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UCLA astronomers make first accurate measurement of oxygen in distant galaxy
COSMOS-1908 is 12 billion light years away, which is “by far” the most distant galaxy scientists have accurately measured oxygen abundance in.
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A planet 1,200 light-years away is a good prospect for a habitable world
Kepler-62f could have atmospheric compositions that allow it to be warm enough to have surface liquid water, which would make it possible for the planet to support life.
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Astronomers confirm faintest early-universe galaxy ever seen
The researchers made the discovery using an effect called gravitational lensing to see the incredibly faint object, which was born just after the Big Bang.
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See Mercury from UCLA on May 9. Your next chance will be November 2019
Viewers will have the rare opportunity to watch Mercury glide slowly across the sun.
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Moon was produced by a head-on collision between Earth and a forming planet
The violent impact with a “planetary embryo” called Theia occurred approximately 100 million years after the Earth formed, UCLA geochemists and colleagues report.
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15 UCLA stories from 2015
UCLA Newsroom revisits some of our favorite news items from the year. Publishing resumes on Jan. 4.
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UCLA professor proposes simpler way to define what makes a planet
Jean-Luc Margot described a straightforward method that can be used to distinguish planets from other bodies like dwarf planets and minor planets.
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Jupiter-like planet discovered outside our solar system
A planet 100 light-years away that resembles a young Jupiter has been discovered by an international team of astronomers that includes six UCLA scientists.
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2 UCLA astronomers have key roles in development of world’s largest array of gamma-ray telescopes
Two UCLA astronomy professors are playing an important role in an international initiative to build the Cherenkov Telescope Array.
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Scientists’ discovery of zebra stripes in space resolves a half-century mystery
The finding is a major advance because the high-energy particles can be harmful for satellites and humans in space.
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UCLA-led NASA mission provides closest ever look at dwarf planet Ceres
NASA’s Dawn mission is observing the dwarf planet Ceres from 2,700 miles above its surface; the space agency has released new images and a video animation.
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Two large meteorites added to UCLA Meteorite Gallery
One of the new meteorites, found in Namibia and weighing in at 811 pounds, is now the largest meteorite in Los Angeles.
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Stop blaming the moon, says UCLA scientist
The moon does not influence the timing of human births or hospital admissions, a new UCLA study finds, confirming what scientists have known for decades.
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More than a million stars are forming in a mysterious dusty gas cloud in a nearby galaxy
Cloud of newly forming stars has one billion times the luminosity of our sun, but is invisible in ordinary light
- Saturday, June 24, 2017