March 2024    
         
         
 
     
  Eclipsing the rest in space observation  
     
  Astronomers and space enthusiasts alike, from Newfoundland to Mexico, can catch a total solar eclipse on Monday, April 8, when the moon blocks out the sun. While this eclipse will be visible to anyone near its path of totality, UChicago scientists are collecting data on more obscure and distant astronomical phenomena. This issue of µChicago explores how these researchers are integrating improved observational data—gleaned from giant telescopes and megapixel cameras—with new understandings of the universe.  
     
  A “treasure map for cosmologists”  
     
 
The South Pole Telescope
 
 
     
  Recent data from the South Pole Telescope’s camera, which was upgraded in 2017, reinforces current knowledge on the formation of matter. (Photography by Brad Benson)  
     
 
     
 
New data analysis from the South Pole Telescope in Antarctica offers a detailed “treasure map” of light that gives cosmologists crucial insight into the formation of the universe. After a UChicago-led camera upgrade in 2017, researchers recorded gravitational distortions as this light—called cosmic microwave background—traveled across space. The newest data spans only a few months in 2018, but it took years to analyze. While the data reaffirms current theories of matter formation, the unprecedented view made possible by the new camera (known as SPT-3G) also uncovers new questions.
 
     
 
 
  Atmospheric anomalies and strange supernovae  
     
 
     
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Elemental discovery: A giant, hot planet in a distant solar system contains large amounts of elements like carbon and oxygen in its atmosphere, a discovery that suggests greater variation in atmospheric conditions around giant exoplanets than previously thought.
 
     
     
     
 
     
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Star-chaeology: Astrophysicists traced an unusual star to its origin at the explosive death of an older, much more massive star—one that should have turned into a black hole instead.
 
     
     
     
 
     
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Too hot to handle: Using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, researchers measured the heat emitted by a “sub-Neptune,” one of the most common planet types. They found signs of water vapor in its atmosphere, possibly indicating water on the planet itself.
 
     
     
     
 
     
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Astronomical ancestry: The recent discovery of an ancient star—one of the second generation of stars to ever exist—could reveal the chemical composition of the early universe.
 
     
     
 
         
         
    Spotlight    
         
         
 
     
  Light on a dark matter  
     
 
The Dark Energy Camera in front of the night sky
 
 
     
  A new analysis of supernovae found by the Dark Energy Survey largely aligns with our current best theory of the universe, but there may be hints of complexities. (Photography by Andrew Nadolski/Dark Energy Survey)  
     
 
     
  Results from the Dark Energy Survey confirm the standard model of an accelerated, expanding universe, but they don’t rule out more complex theories about dark energy. With a Fermilab-built camera mounted on a four-meter telescope, a consortium of scientists spent six years mapping supernovae, or explosions of stars, to measure dark energy density over time. These “pioneering” data collection techniques “will be directly beneficial for the next generation of supernova surveys,” says Rich Kron, director of the survey and a Fermilab and UChicago scientist.  
     
 
 
  Want to learn more? The ongoing Arthur H. Compton Lecture Series zooms in on the different types of telescopes used by astrophysicists to observe and interpret cosmic data.  
     
  In case you missed it  
     
 
 
Y. Shirley Meng with batteries
 
Current events in battery science: UChicago engineers lead the way in battery breakthroughs.
 
Quicksand
 
The Oobleck effect: Read the latest on non-Newtonian fluids, drug synthesis techniques, and mammals’ brain development.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
     
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