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A new era of astronomy and astrophysics began Monday when the first images captured by the NSFDOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory were released, demonstrating the extraordinary capabilities of the new telescope and the worlds largest digital camera.

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory is expected to find millions of unknown objects in our solar system, and perhaps even a mysterious Planet Nine. Mario Juri, professor of astronomy at the UW, is quoted.

After more than 20 years of planning and construction, astronomers celebrated the release of the first images from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory today and also registered hundreds of the first discoveries from the worlds newest eye on the sky. Mario Juri, professor of astronomy at the UW, is quoted.

Once an eight-mile network of caves with an entrance in the lower part of Paradise Glacier, the Paradise ice caves were the most-visited tourist spot for decades before glacial melting caused large chunks of ice to begin to fall from the ceiling, endangering visitors and pushing officials to close access. Now, the caves are gone. Janneke Hille Ris Lambers, affiliate professor of biology at the UW, is quoted.

Perched high on a ridge in the South American Andes, a new observatory aims to revolutionize our understanding of the cosmos and unravel some of the mysteries it holds. Featuring the worlds largest digital camera, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory will spend the next 10 years constantly surveying and recording time-lapse movies of the stars, galaxies, asteroids and other objects moving across the southern hemisphere. Mario Juri, professor of astronomy at the UW, is interviewed.

Carl Hagenbeck believed that animals should be housed in habitats that mimicked their natural environment. Earlier, hed followed the same guiding philosophy when exhibiting Indigenous people in human zoos. Karen S. Emmerman, affiliate instructor of philosophy at the UW, is quoted.

In the spring of 1970, a group of Native American students brainstormed ways to prioritize Native studies at the UW. By fall, the American Indian Studies Center was formed, with faculty from across campus teaching anthropology, art, and history from a Native perspective. Five faculty from the department share their thoughts on 55 years of Native knowledge at the UW.

When astronomers first dreamt up the Vera Rubin Observatory in the 1990s, the sky above the Chilean Cerro Pachn, where the star-observing machine was to be located, looked different than it does today. Meredith Rawls, a research scientist of astronomy at the UW, is quoted.

Lindsay Schwarz, '03, received the highest honor handed out by the U.S. government to scientists and engineers in independent research. Schwarz graduated from the UW with a bachelor’s degree in cell and molecular biology.

This year marks the 55th anniversary of the Distinguished Teaching Award, the UW’s highest teaching honor. And now, drumroll please, here are this year’s stars.