News/Events

Magnetar outbursts are one of the most energetic phenomena in the Universe. Steady outflow of ejected particles from magnetars, known as magnetar wind nebulae, are rare and how these outbursts impact their environment is still an open question. Researchers at WVU have found the first evidence of the effects of magnetar outbursts on a compact nebula surrounding a young radio pulsar.

Over a period of time, between 2018 and 2019, researchers made the discovery of 535 new fast radio bursts, adding great excitement to field of cosmology and astrophysics. The discovery was made using the CHIME (Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment) radio telescope in Canada.  The scope of this discovery is immense given that only 150 fast radio bursts (FRBs) had been previously discovered, in all. 

The large stationary radio telescope CHIME, the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment, has detected 535 fast radio bursts between 2018 and 2019, during its first year of operation. West Virginia University engineer Kevin Bandura explained FRBs are a key to understanding the universe a little bit more.

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.

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.