Astronomy | Penn Today

Audio astronomy unlocks a universe of sound

College of Arts and Sciences fourth-year Sarah Kane discusses her use of data analysis and machine learning to circumvent her blindness in studying astronomy.

Sarah Kane, Amy Krimm, and Carson Eckhard.

Two Penn fourth-years and an alumna named 2023 Marshall Scholars

Fourth-years Sarah Kane and Amy Krimm are in the College of Arts and Sciences, as was 2021 graduate Carson Eckhard.

UK joins international effort to uncover first moments of the universe

In a statement for the Simons Observatory, Mark Devlin of the School of Arts & Sciences says that new telescopes and researchers from the UK will make a significant addition to their efforts to examine the origins of the universe.

The planet Venus shown against a black background

New analysis shows how sulfur clouds can form in Venus’ atmosphere

An international research team, including atmospheric chemists from the School of Arts & Sciences, used computational chemistry methods to identify a novel pathway for how sulfur particles can arise high in the atmosphere of the second planet from the sun.

the exterior of the david rittenhouse laboratory

A ‘vibrant nexus’ for research and discovery in the physical sciences

With the construction of a new Physical Sciences Building and updates to the David Rittenhouse Laboratory, Penn will create a modernized physical sciences quadrant that integrates state-of-the-art research in physics, mathematics, chemistry, and engineering.

Graphic illustration depicting language.

In These Times: Fear and loathing and science

Season three of the School of Arts & Sciences podcast explores scientific ideas that get big reactions.

Ningfeng posing next to the large metal LATR inside of a research lab

Penn cosmology team ready to field the largest ever cosmic microwave background camera

A new study details the inner workings of the Large Aperture Telescope Receiver, the cryogenic camera that will be installed at the Simons Observatory at 17,000 feet in northern Chile.

The ‘megacomet’ Bernardinelli-Bernstein is the find of a decade. Here’s the discovery explained

Pedro Bernardinelli and Gary Bernstein of the School of Arts & Sciences comment on being an unlikely pair to have discovered the largest icy-bodied comet which is named in their honor.

Fact check: 62-mile-wide mega comet unlikely to hit Earth, will just pass by it in 2031

Pedro Bernardinelli and Gary Bernstein of the School of Arts & Sciences spoke about the giant comet they recently discovered. “There is no possibility of this thing getting any closer to Earth than Saturn gets,” said Bernstein.

the NEID spectrometer inside of a telescope dome

On the hunt for new exoplanets

A state-of-the-art instrument called NEID, from the Tohono O’odham word meaning “to see,” has officially started its scientific mission: discovering new planets outside of the solar system.

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