News/Events

In the southern sky, situated about 4,300 light years from Earth, lies RCW 120, an enormous glowing cloud of gas and dust. This cloud, known as an emission nebula, is formed of ionized gases and emits light at various wavelengths. An international team led by West Virginia University researchers studied RCW 120 to analyze the effects of stellar feedback, the process by which stars inject energy back into their environment. Their observations showed that stellar winds cause the region to expand rapidly, which enabled them to constrain the age of the region. These findings indicate that RCW 120 must be less than 150,000 years old, which is very young for such a nebula.

Normally when you visit the WVU Planetarium and Observatory, you take your seat and wondrously peer up at the dome with anticipation; the lights dim, and the dome lights up.

Andrew Kaiser, a fifth-year graduate student in WVU Physics and Astronomy, alongside Dr. Sean McWilliams, published their research in Classical and Quantum Gravity.

Dr. Sarah Burke-Spolaor and team investigate a missing supermassive black hole in the center of galaxy cluster Abell 2261.

A West Virginia University astrophysicist has been named a 2020 Highly Cited Researcher by Web of Science, one of the world’s top research awards.  

In data gathered and analyzed over 13 years, the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav) Physics Frontiers Center (PFC) has found an intriguing low-frequency signal that may be attributable to gravitational waves.

The baby magnetar, named Swift J1818.0-1607 (or J1818 for short), lies in our galaxy and was discovered in March of 2020 by NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory. In the middle of the pandemic, when the whole world was under lockdown, the magnetar decided to make an appearance by suddenly lighting up in X-rays and soft gamma rays. The Swift detection caught astronomers’ attention because the source launched a series of intense, millisecond duration high-energy bursts in our direction, announcing the discovery of this new kid on the block. Scientists have identified only 31 magnetars, while there are over 3,000 known neutron stars.

Dr. Sarah Burke-Spolaor and team investigate a missing supermassive black hole in the center of galaxy cluster Abell 2261.