A First: Exoplanet smaller than Earth gets its size and mass measured
The planetary system harboring Kepler-138b, the first exoplanet smaller than Earth with both it mass and size measured. In this artist's conception, the sizes of the planets relative to the star have been exaggerated. Credit: Danielle Futselaar, SETI Institute
Mercedes Richards elected Councilor of American Astronomical Society
Mercedes Richards
MINERVA Telescope Array Dedicated in Ceremony on Mount Hopkins
A view of the MINERVA telescope array and MINERVA-Red on Mount Hopkins.
Astrobiology students explore alien environment on Earth
Penn State astrobiology students examine a sulfidic cave in Italy where white biofilm grows on the walls. Credit: Kyle Rybacki
Schreyer Scholar credited with co-discovery of new pulsar: Never-before-seen star found during NSF-funded educational outreach program
Artist’s impression of pulsar PSR J1930-1852 in orbit around a companion neutron star. Discovered by a team of high school students, including current Schreyer Scholar Cecilia McGough, this pulsar has the widest orbit ever observed around another neutron star. Image: B. Saxton (NRAO/AUI/NSF)
Peter Hohman to Represent Penn State's Eberly College of Science as Student Marshal at Spring Commencement 2015
Student Marshal
Giant gorging black holes may explain rapid growth of infant universe
Astronomers have studied 51 quasars with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and have found they may represent an unusual population of black holes that consume excessive amounts of matter. Credits: Illustration: CXC/M. Weiss, X-ray images: ASA/CXC/Penn State/B. Luo et al.
New NASA coalition to lead search for life on distant worlds includes two leaders at Penn State
Click on the image for a high-resolution image. The search for life beyond our solar system requires unprecedented cooperation across scientific disciplines. NASA's NExSS collaboration includes those who study Earth as a life-bearing planet (lower right), those researching the diversity of solar system planets (left), and those on the new frontier, discovering worlds orbiting other stars in the galaxy (upper right).Credits: NASA
Search for Advanced Civilizations Beyond Earth Finds Nothing Obvious in 100,000 Galaxies
A false-color image of the mid-infrared emission from the Great Galaxy in Andromeda, as seen by Nasa's WISE space telescope. The orange color represents emission from the heat of stars forming in the galaxy's spiral arms. The G-HAT team used images such as these to search 100,000 nearby galaxies for unusually large amounts of this mid-infrared emission that might arise from alien civilizations. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/WISE Team
Inside the most powerful explosions: Discoveries pave the way for next-generation neutrino telescopes
In the most common type of gamma-ray burst, illustrated here, a dying massive star forms a black hole (left), which drives a particle jet into space. Light across the spectrum arises from hot gas near the progenitor star, from collisions within the jet, and through the jet's interaction with its surroundings. Image Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
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