Department of Astronomy

Astronomers say they've likely witnessed the collision of two planets orbiting a distant star. The star in question is Gaia20ehk, which is located 11,000 lightyears from Earth. Anastasios Tzanidakis, a doctoral student, and James Davenport, research assistant professor, both of astronomy at the UW, are quoted.

Astronomers say they've likely witnessed the collision of two planets orbiting a distant star, Gaia20ehk, located 11,000 lightyears from Earth. Doctoral student Anastasios Tzanidakis and research assistant professor James Davenport, both in the UW Department of Astronomy, are quoted.

Astronomers think they've glimpsed one of the rarest sights in space: two planets smashing into each other around a distant star. Anastasios Tzanidakis, a doctoral student, and James Davenport, research assistant professor, both of astronomy at the UW, are quoted.

Astronomers expect most stars like our sun to act in a calm, predictable way. Their brightness rises and falls a little over time, but the changes are small and steady. That is why one quiet-looking star in our galaxy caught scientists off guard. Its light suddenly started behaving in ways no one expected. Anastasios Tzanidakis, a doctoral student, and James Davenport, research assistant professor, both of astronomy at the UW, are quoted.

Two planets crashed into one another in a violent, chaotic collision that astronomers recently witnessed 11,000 light-years away from Earth. The rare cosmic event is not one scientists get to see every day. But thanks to a bit of serendipity, a researcher at the UW looking through old telescope data happened upon the bread crumbs that would lead him to the stunning discovery. Anastasios Tzanidakis, a doctoral student, is quoted, and James Davenport, research assistant professor both of astronomy at the UW, is mentioned. Multiple outlets ran this story.

An oddly-behaving star led two UW astronomers to capture rare evidence of a collision between two planets in a distant solar system. The discovery could aid scientists in their search for worlds similar to our own.

Dozens of people across Western Washington and British Columbia reported a bright streak across the sky a little after 9 p.m. Most called it a fireball.Chris Laws, teaching professor of astronomy at the UW, is quoted.

An astronomical alert system developed at the UW started off with a bang this week, sending out 800,000 notifications about moving asteroids, exploding stars and other celestial changes detected by the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile. Eric Bellm, research associate professor of astronomy at the UW, is quoted.

On Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026, when the Vera C. Rubin Observatory a wide-field telescope in Chile fitted with the worlds largest digital camera detected 800,000 cosmic changes in a single night. Eric Bellm, research associate professor of astronomy at the UW, is quoted.

The night sky promises Seattle an array of celestial wonders this year, one of which is a six-planet parade Saturday.Chris Law, a principal research scientist of biology at the UW and an affiliate curator at the UW Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, is quoted.

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory has issued its first real-time alerts of changes in the night sky. The ultrafast alerting system, developed at the UW, will eventually detect up to seven million changes in the cosmos every night and notify scientists around the world.

The University of Washington was awarded $2.5 million from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to fund 16 postdoctoral fellows in a number of fields across the College of Arts & Sciences, the College of Engineering and the College of the Environment.

New research supported by Yingjie Cheng, a University of Washington postdoctoral researcher in astronomy, uncovered a contender for one of the earliest observed spiral galaxies containing a stellar bar a notable visual feature that can play an important role in the evolution of a galaxy.

Astronomers at the UW recently reported a record-breaking asteroid using early images from the new Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile. There's no chance of it hitting Earth, astronomers say; the huge asteroid is about 200 million miles away. Sarah Greenstreet, affiliate assistant professor of astronomy, is interviewed.

Astronomers recently announced a new solar system record: the fastest spinning large asteroid ever discovered. Sarah Greenstreet, affiliate assistant professor of astronomy at the UW, is interviewed.