Check out this paper, written by Steward Observatory Professor Ann Zabludoff! In this paper, she discusses the projects she assigned as part of the Galaxies course (ASTR540) using large language models (LLMs). Check out the full paper for more information: bit.ly/4o38wxN

Congratulations to Professor Yancy Shirley, who was recently inducted to the Franke Academy of Scholars for Teaching Excellence! Read more about Professor Shirley and the Franke Academy of Scholars for Teaching Excellence here: bit.ly/4vdkXtu

Congratulations to @erikahamden.bsky.social, named a 2026 Guggenheim Fellow! Erika is being recognized for her groundbreaking work building next-generation detectors — opening up entirely new frontiers in ultraviolet astronomy that were previously out of reach: bit.ly/3OWJB1R

Last week, scientists and engineers across the International GMT Consortium hosted a 1-hour livestream offering insight into the progress and future of one of the world’s most ambitious scientific projects: the Giant Magellan Telescope. Watch it here: bit.ly/41KWDSV

Part of my new book, Second Ascent, is set at the Giant Magellan Telescope, being constructed around the world and assembled in Chile. It's fun to imagine something amazing that doesn't exist but soon will! One of GMT's goals is to find other Earths! Yeah, baby. giantmagellan.org/2025/12/16/t...

"The biggest piece of wisdom I can share from my time as an astronomy student is to not be afraid to test a solution, no matter how unlikely it may seem." Hayden Marchinek graduates this spring -- read his reflections from his time at Steward: bit.ly/4c8QWTG

An unidentified reddish blob spotted by U of A astronomers has officially been confirmed as WISPIT 2c — a newborn giant planet about 10 times the mass of Jupiter and only 5 million years old. It's part of one of the youngest solar systems ever discovered! bit.ly/4ma4N0A

Earlier this month, Prize Fellow Aldana Grichener organized a packed multi-day nuclear physics workshop, designed to push the frontiers of this fast-moving field. Now, tutorials from the sessions are publicly available to explore! Access them here: bit.ly/3NZAtci

Here is watercolorist Thordis Maaske's impression of the Kappa Tucanae A star system, recently discovered by Steward postdoc Thomas Stuber. The discovery gives scientists their first natural "laboratory" for understanding hot exozodiacal dust. Learn more: bit.ly/4lUa24o

Steward Observatory grad student Himansh Rathore has led a new study revealing that the Small Magellanic Cloud was transformed by a direct collision with its neighbor — upending decades of assumptions about how we use it to study the universe. bit.ly/4sV2eSk

Big room, bigger questions! Thanks to Dr. Chris Impey for sparking rich conversation at last week’s SkillSpace workshop in science communication at @azastrobiology.bsky.social !

Steward teams are building instruments for Lazuli — a new space telescope launching by 2029 as part of the Eric & Wendy Schmidt Observatory System. Our adaptive optics will image giant exoplanets nearly a billion times dimmer than their host stars! bit.ly/4dkXYH1

The first University of Arizona Galaxy Slam brought together two of the university's biggest strengths – space science and basketball – in a weeklong celebration. Read Steward astronomers' reflections on the parallels between sports and astronomy: bit.ly/4shJyM5

Pandora is the first satellite of NASA’s Pioneers Program to ascend into space. For many team members, Pandora marks another first: it’s the first spacecraft launch of their careers. Read more in Nature Magazine: bit.ly/4cjGj2a

Supermassive black holes aren't just destroying stars in their own galaxies — they're suppressing star formation in galaxies millions of light-years away. Research led by postdoc Yongda Zhu reveals that quasars act as "cosmic predators:" bit.ly/4s96RYt

Renowned astronomer Chris Impey of @stewardobservatory.bsky.social has been named the 2026 recipient of Rockefeller’s prestigious science writing award, the Lewis Thomas Prize! Register for the ceremony on March 9 here:

Galaxy Slam Week continues! Join us Monday, Feb 16 at 7:30 PM for our public evening lecture, "Beardown, Look Up: AI on the Cosmic Court." Learn how AI helps us image black holes, transform education, and push the boundaries of discovery: bit.ly/3OETIrt.

Galaxy Slam! Meet Marcia Rieke, Regents Professor of Astronomy at the University of Arizona’s Steward Observatory. As principal investigator for NIRCam on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, she helps reveal the universe’s earliest galaxies using infrared light. www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhxf...

We appreciate the staff at Steward Observatory @stewardobservatory.bsky.social keeping the telescopes accessible! Clearing out snow from a recent storm so we can get back to finding hazardous asteroids!

Congrats to our U of A astronomy students for their @aas.org Chambliss Student Poster Competition wins! Rafael Bertolotto, Olivia Culbert & Kate Gold shined among 480+ entries nationwide. Read more about their stories and their posters: bit.ly/4kcJPx2

RCSA, @heisingsimonsfdn.bsky.social, the Leinweber Foundation, and Kevin Wells are funding the research of 7 collaborative teams in the 2nd year of #Scialog: Early Science with the #LSST, a 3-year initiative to ignite discovery with the @vrubinobs.bsky.social's Legacy Survey of Space and Time.

Congrats to Dr. Kate Alexander & Dr. Carl Fields on winning 2025 Scialog Awards, for their groundbreaking research with the Vera C. Rubin Observatory to study black holes, stellar explosions & the universe's first massive objects: bit.ly/3ZkGvGJ

Congrats to Rosie Johnson on receiving the CoSSAC Star Award! As Project Manager at Steward Observatory, she supports 140+ faculty, postdocs & students across multiple programs. Her exceptional organizational skills keep UA astronomy thriving. bit.ly/4jtPBtG

Just spent the day doing a thing: www.science.org/content/arti... Roger Angel and I are Co-PIing the LFAST telescope, which is being built at @stewardobservatory.bsky.social and provides the ground based spectroscopic component of this venture. @schmidtsciences.bsky.social #AAS247 #Arizona #LFAST

Eric and Wendy Schmidt spearhead 4 next-gen telescopes with U of A astronomers leading the development of the LFAST (Large Format Array for Time-domain Studies) facility and contributing key technology like advanced coronagraphs. Read more bit.ly/3NdBdtA

Calling all Precision Optics Professionals —the Richard F. Caris Mirror Lab is hiring! · Senior Engineer, Optical Fabrication: tinyurl.com/mr3ucfdv · Chief Engineer, RFCML Metrology: tinyurl.com/35kwkk3v

We are pleased to celebrate the great news that MIT has joined GMTO as the newest member of our international consortium. Read about this major milestone in the progression of GMTO to completion: bit.ly/3IOpyzv

What if we told you black holes flip the switch on their magnetic fields? Recent images from the EHT show exactly that in M87*. This reshapes what we know about how black holes feed and power their colossal jets. Explore Steward’s role in the discovery: bit.ly/4prwzGV

Last month, U of A’s CatSat mission—built by students—snapped a breathtaking image of Hurricane Erin, the largest Atlantic hurricane since Sandy. What started as an ionospheric mission became a once-in-a-decade weather event captured from space: bit.ly/45W1weT

Looking for life beyond Earth? Steward Observatory's @danielapai.bsky.social is helping redefine what “life” means—a key step in exploring exoplanets & our own solar system. Read more:https://bit.ly/47VYUPh

Using Steward Observatory's MagAO-X, astronomers have captured—for the first time—a baby planet growing inside a disk of dust and gas. The sharp U of A-developed adaptive optics revealed how young worlds plow dark paths through their star’s protoplanetary disks as they form: bit.ly/3Vn0CSo

The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) has selected CatSat as a finalist for the Rookie Satellite of the Year award! Voting closes on Tuesday, August 12 at 11:59 pm - cast your vote now: bit.ly/4ltscb7

In a new paper this month from Carlos Vargas and the Aspera team, readers get updates and context for the Steward Observatory-based mission. Learn more about this bold mission that aims to study galaxy evolution through UV light: bit.ly/3INfG93

For 40 years, Michelle Cournoyer has supported students and faculty, solved problems, and shown up with heart. As she prepares to retire this August, we celebrate the impact of a true Steward Observatory legend: bit.ly/3GWkAQv

The @vrubinobs.bsky.social has captured its first images with the largest digital camera ever built—and many of its tiny, powerful sensors were made here at our Imaging Technology Lab! Now begins a decade-long survey of the night sky, powered by @uarizona.bsky.social tech. Read more: bit.ly/4kJ404m

The University of Arizona ranked #4 in space sciences globally according to the latest report from US News and World report! This ranking includes both LPL and @stewardobservatory.bsky.social. Read more about this honor here: www.usnews.com/education/be...

from every perspective Rubin is remarkable. From a telescope optics point of view, the primary/tertiary on a single substrate is absolutely incredible. Buddy Martin of @stewardobservatory.bsky.social is an optics wizard. #RubinFirstLook

@vrubinobs.bsky.social has released its first imagery: glowing nebulas, pulsating stars, swarms of asteroids and millions of galaxies. For Steward Observatory, this moment represents the culmination of decades of vision and hard work, from colossal mirrors to tiny sensors. Read more: bit.ly/4lorn3O

The GMT has received official approval from the National Science Foundation (NSF), confirming that the observatory will advance into its Major Facilities Final Design Phase, one of the final steps before becoming eligible for federal construction funding: bit.ly/3SO8Di0

An international team of astronomers that includes Associate Astronomer Chi-kwan Chan of Steward Observatory has trained a neural network with millions of synthetic black hole data sets--highlighting the potential for AI to advance astronomy discoveries: bit.ly/3FOlZrx

Congratulations to Roswell Roberts IV, Astronomy major and winner of the Outstanding Senior Award in the Dept. of Hydrology & Atmospheric Science! Read Roswell's reflections on his time at U of A: bit.ly/4kU4YeF

When is an alien world habitable? Steward Observatory's @danielapai.bsky.social explores this question in his latest article in The Conversation: bit.ly/43vZKQw

Congratulations to Nikhil Garuda, recipient of the College of Science Outstanding Senior Award. “The astronomical community thrives when knowledge flows freely between generations of researchers,” he says. Read his reflections on his time at Steward: bit.ly/43ffdTm

NASA has selected Rocket Lab USA Inc. of Long Beach, California, to launch the Aspera mission, led by Steward Observatory's assistant astronomer Carlos Vargas. Aspera will study galaxy formation through the observation of ultraviolet light. Read more: bit.ly/3FkEnrZ

WEIRD UNIVERSE: this month, Professor Erika Hamden's book comes out! Her expertise shines through as she leads readers on an exploration of the strangest and most awe-inspiring phenomena in space. Secure a copy for yourself: bit.ly/4lU1idY @erikahamden.bsky.social

With all the buzz about the latest potential sign of life on a distant planet, Steward Observatory's astronomy professor @danielapai.bsky.social puts the discovery in context. Read his take: bit.ly/3S1fYKB

Using the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument, or DESI, at Kitt Peak Observatory, scientists have assembled the largest three-dimensional map of the universe to date. Read the @nytimes.com article: bit.ly/3RD2UuL

In August, Dr. Brittany Miles will join the Department of Astronomy and Steward Observatory faculty, advancing UofA’s legacy in infrared instrumentation and innovation. Dr. Miles studies the atmospheres of exoplanets and isolated, rogue worlds. Read more: bit.ly/3R0m0uF

NASA's SPHEREx mission, which launched earlier this month, will use software from the Arizona Cosmology Lab to answer questions about the first moments after the Big Bang. Read more: bit.ly/4iJ4GXj

Some exciting news: @erikahamden.bsky.social will serve as an inaugural member of the Arizona Space Commission, where she will advise Gov. Katie Hobbs in advancing Arizona's role in aerospace and space sciences. 🔭 🚀 🌌 Read more: bit.ly/4hSYtaL