Still Life
University Park Airport Emergency Response Exercise
Commencement across Penn State: Spring 2012
Spring commencement 2012 under way
Penn State, Moroccan students problem-solve together
Finals Week Spring Semester 2012
Painting the Lines at Beaver Stadium
Did They Get It Right? - RedTails
Iconic Penn State elm taken down over spring break 2012
We ... are Penn State (December 19, 2011)
Disease stricken matching elm tree slated for removal
Penn State's creamery, from the cow to the cone
The nature of a peculiar cosmic explosion detected on Dec. 25, 2010, remains an intriguing question without a clear answer. The cause of the explosion, a gamma-ray burst that first was detected by NASA's Swift observatory, either was a novel type of supernova located billions of light-years from Earth or an unusual collision much closer to home inside our own galaxy, report astronomers in papers published in the Dec. 1 issue of Nature. "It is nice to find that the universe can still surprise us, after seven years and 600 bursts since Swift was launched," said Michael Siegel, a research associate in astronomy and astrophysics at Penn State and the lead scientist for Swift's Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope (UVOT). Siegel analyzed the UVOT data as it came down to Penn State's Mission Operations Center from the spacecraft, and he also coordinated Swift's follow-up observations. (more)
As an asteroid the size of an aircraft carrier streaked past Earth during the early-morning hours last week, a team of astronomers at Penn State University and other institutions using NASA's Swift satellite monitored the fast-moving space rock, as did other professional and amateur astronomers using other instruments around the globe. The Swift satellite was the only observatory that captured the asteroid's ultraviolet emissions. Scientists now can use these ultraviolet data to understand the asteroid's surface composition and to more precisely predict the path of its future fly-bys near Earth. (more)
Three planets -- each orbiting its own giant, dying star -- have been discovered by an international research team led by Alexander Wolszczan, Evan Pugh Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at Penn State and the discoverer of the first planets ever found outside our solar system. Using the Hobby-Eberly Telescope, astronomers observed the planets' parent stars, which are tens of light years away from our solar system. One of the massive, dying stars has an additional mystery object orbiting it. The new research is expected to shed light on the evolution of planetary systems around dying stars. It also will help astronomers to understand how metal content influences the behavior of dying stars.
The research will be published in December in the Astrophysical Journal. The first author of the paper is Sara Gettel, a graduate student from Penn State's Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, and the paper is co-authored by three graduate students from Poland. (more)
Interested in the latest discoveries of NASA's Swift satellite? The Swift team has released a free iPhone application that gives users the details of all the latest gamma-ray-burst discoveries that the Swift observatory is making throughout the universe. The app also allows users to track, in real time, the location of Swift as it orbits the Earth, to see where Swift is pointed right now, and to view an informative gallery of beautiful images obtained by the Swift satellite. (more)
Research Unplugged will feature Michael Paul, a space systems engineer at Penn State's Applied Research Laboratory (ARL) and team leader of Lunar Lion, presenting "Lunar Lion: Penn State Enters the Private Sector Race to the Moon" from noon to 1 p.m. on Nov. 2 at the Penn State Downtown Theatre. (more)
The photo of a nearby star and its orbiting companion -- with a temperature like a hot summer day in Arizona -- was revealed by Penn State Associate Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics Kevin Luhman during a presentation at the Signposts of Planets conference at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center on Oct. 20. A paper describing the discovery will be published in the Astrophysical Journal. "This planet-like companion is the coldest object ever directly photographed outside our solar system," said Luhman, who led the discovery team. "Its mass is about the same as many of the known extra-solar planets -- about six to nine times the mass of Jupiter -- but in other ways it is more like a star. Essentially, what we have found is a very small star with an atmospheric temperature about as cool as the Earth's." (more)
A Penn State Engineering team led by Jack W. Langelaan, assistant professor of aerospace engineering, took home first place and $1.35 million in prize money in the Comparative Aircraft Flight Efficiency (CAFE) Foundation Green Flight Challenge held on Oct. 4. This is the largest prize ever awarded in aviation history, according to the agency.
The contest, held in Santa Rosa, Calif., challenges teams to design and build an electric aircraft capable of flying at an average speed of at least 100 mph over a 200-mile course while achieving a fuel efficiency greater than 200 passenger miles per gallon equivalent. (more)
A new state-of-the-art instrument -- a precision spectrograph for finding planets in habitable zones around cool, nearby stars -- is being developed at Penn State with support from a new $3.3 million grant from the National Science Foundation. "This new Habitable Zone Planet Finder instrument will allow us to detect the existence of planets that are similar in mass to Earth and also are in orbits that allow liquid water to exist on their surfaces," said Suvrath Mahadevan, assistant professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Penn State and a co-principal investigator of the project. (more)
Michael V. Paul, space systems engineer in Penn State's Applied Research Laboratory, has received a $100,000 grant under the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts program and been named a Fellow of this recently reformed program in NASA's Office of the Chief Technologist. Paul, who leads the Penn State Lunar Lion team -- part of the Google Lunar X PRIZE competition -- receives his grant for "Non-Radioisotope Power Systems for Sunless Solar System Exploration Missions." Several targets of scientific interest in solar system exploration require nonsolar power sources because of permanent shading from craters or clouds, or extreme distances from the sun. (more)
X-rays produced by a distant black hole as it slowly devours a Sun-like star have been streaming toward Earth since late March. "Incredibly, this source is still producing X-rays and may remain bright enough for the Swift satellite to observe into next year. It behaves unlike anything we've seen before," said David Burrows, professor of astronomy at Penn State and the lead scientist for the Swift space observatory's X-Ray Telescope. (more)
