Department of Astronomy

Vera Rubin, an astronomer who proved the existence of dark matter, one of the fundamental principles in the study of the universe, died Dec. 25. She was 88. 

NASA plans to use Star Wars' colorful worlds as inspiration in its hunt for other planets. Victoria Meadows, an astronomer at the UW, is quoted

Earth is a vibrant, lush planet that’s bustling with life, but if you’re far, far away would you be able to tell if there’s was life on Earth at all?

NASA’s rebooted mission, K2, seeks out new worlds closely orbiting stars smaller than the Sun.

More information surrounding the existence of Proxima B, the Earth-sized exoplanet near our sun, has come to light. Rory Barnes, professor of astronomy at the UW, is quoted.

A total of 203 people have won the Nobel Prize in Physics, but only two were women.

Big Data is everywhere — even the skies. UW Astronomer Andrew Connolly shows how large amounts of data are being collected about our universe, and how it could lead to new discoveries.

The discovery of an Earth-size planet around the nearest star to Earth has generated a lot of buzz, and even speculation that a robotic probe may soon visit the world.

University of Washington astronomer Rory Barnes says Proxima Centauri b is the biggest discovery in 20 years for planet hunters like himself.

The University of Washington-based Virtual Planetary Laboratory is taking the discovery of the nearest planet found to our own solar system to the next phase.

KOMO Radio's Herb Weisbaum interviews Rory Barnes, professor of astronomy at the UW, about the potential for habitability of Proxima b.

The discovery of a roughly Earth-size planet around Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to Earth, has generated a lot of buzz.

In case you weren’t on Earth on Wednesday, here’s what you missed: Astronomers found a planet as close by as a planet could possibly be — in the nearest star system, Alpha Centauri.

An Earth-sized planet that could boast water, even an ocean, has been found circling the star nearest our sun.

On Wednesday astronomers made the kind of announcement that can only occur once in human history: the discovery of the nearest potentially habitable world beyond our solar system.