News
Astrophysical Sciences and Technology Ph.D.

Futurism cites research by Richard O’Shaughnessy, assistant professor in the School of Mathematical Sciences.

A team of RIT researchers is helping launch an experiment above the atmosphere to better understand extragalactic background light, which traces the history of galaxies back to the formation of the first stars in the universe.

Scientists have reported detecting gravitational waves from 10 black hole mergers to date, but they are still trying to explain the origins of those mergers. The largest merger detected so far seems to have defied previous models because it has a higher spin and mass than the range thought possible. A group of researchers, including RIT Assistant Professor Richard O’Shaughnessy, has created simulations that could explain how the merger happened.

The planet Mercury will pass directly across the sun next week for the last time until 2032, and RIT faculty and students will help the community view the rare event. Members of the RIT Observatory will set up telescopes for public use from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 11, in the Infinity Quad on the RIT campus.

The Christian Science Monitor talks to Manuela Campanelli, professor and director of the Center for Computational Relativity and Gravitation.

WROC-TV talks to student Justin Gallagher and Professor Don Figer, director of the Center for Detectors, about a sensor technology that may contribute to finding other planets.

NASA is awarding a team of researchers from RIT and Dartmouth College a grant to develop a detector capable of sensing and counting single photons that could be crucial to future NASA astrophysics missions. The extremely sensitive detector would allow scientists to see the faintest observable objects in space, such as Earth-like planets around other stars.

The fellowship program provides opportunities to outstanding scientists and engineers to learn first-hand about policymaking and contribute their knowledge and analytical skills in the policy realm. Brennan Ireland ’18 Ph.D. (astrophysical sciences and technology) will use his analytical skills to quantitatively evaluate countries to get a better picture of what their futures look like.

Sky & Telescope reports that a recent study by RIT suggests the dwarf galaxy Antlia 2 had a long-ago run-in with our galaxy, rippling and warping its disk. But not everyone agrees with that scenario.

Sci-News features new research, led by RIT, that shows the collision of the recently-discovered dwarf galaxy Antlia 2 with the Milky Way Galaxy hundreds of millions of years ago is responsible for ripples in the Milky Way’s outer gas disk.

While many people flock to warm destinations for spring break, two RIT experimental cosmologists spent theirs 6,800 feet high on snow-covered Kitt Peak at the Arizona Radio Observatory. They were deploying an instrument to a 12-meter telescope for a project called the Tomographic Ionized-carbon Mapping Experiment (TIME), which aims to study the universe’s first stars and galaxies.

The American Physical Society is recognizing RIT Professor Carlos Lousto for significant contributions to physics research and the advancement of underrepresented minority scientists.