2007 News

Joseph Miller, a longtime professor of astronomy with extensive experience in leadership and administrative positions, has been selected to guide and expand UC Santa Cruz's research and educational programs in Silicon Valley.

The University of California and the California Institute of Technology have received a $200 million commitment over nine years from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation toward the further development and construction of the Thirty-Meter Telescope (TMT).

UCSC astrophysicist Stan Woosley provided an explanation for a supernova so bright--about 100 times as luminous as a typical supernova--that it challenged the theoretical understanding of what causes supernovae.

Two UCSC scientists--Sandra Faber, University Professor and chair of astronomy and astrophysics, and Jin Zhang, professor of chemistry and biochemistry--have been honored as 2007 fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

A tiny galaxy nearly halfway across the universe, the smallest in size and mass known to exist at that distance, has been identified and studied by an international team of over a dozen scientists, including four at UCSC.

A massive project to map a distant region of the Universe in multiple wavelengths--from x-rays through ultraviolet, visible, infrared, and radio waves--is releasing its data this week to both fellow scientists and the general public.

Astronomers have used powerful adaptive optics technology at the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii to reveal the precise locations and environments of a pair of supermassive black holes at the center of an ongoing collision between two galaxies 300 million

UC's Lick Observatory offers its 27th season of evening programs for music lovers and astronomy buffs this summer, featuring concerts, lectures, and opportunities to view the night sky through the observatory's history-making telescopes atop Mt. Hamilton.

Faced with the bewildering array of galaxies in the universe, from orderly spirals to chaotic mergers, it is hard to imagine a unifying principle that describes them all with mathematical precision. But that is just what astronomers have now discovered.

In a new analysis of research publications from top U.S. universities, the University of California, Santa Cruz, ranked first for the impact of its faculty in the field of physics and fifth in the field of space sciences.