University of Florida News

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A mammoth sky survey led by University of Florida astronomers has uncovered seven planet-forming disks in clusters of young stars, doubling the number of such disks discovered and expanding the territory that might yield new planets.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Astronomers probing the most distant and ancient regions of the universe and the origins of galaxies, stars and planets will soon have two powerful new tools.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A surprising discovery that a fundamental feature normally surrounding a black hole is missing may revolutionize scientific understanding of active galaxies, say University of Florida researchers.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Using an ultra-high-resolution telescope, astronomers have observed a star spinning so fast its mid-section is stretched out, a phenomenon that had been suspected but never before measured.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — An international research team led by University of Florida astronomers announced today (6/7) it has found dusty disks surrounding numerous faint objects believed to be “brown dwarfs” in the Orion Nebula.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Thanks in part to its track record in building instruments for advanced telescopes, the University of Florida will become a partner in what will be the world’s largest telescope, a $93 million behemoth under construction in Spain’s Canary Islands.

GAINESVILLE — If Guinness had a Book of Cosmic Records, a newly discovered quasar in the constellation Cetus would certainly deserve prominent mention. Scientific readings show “RD J030117+002025″ easily skates past the previous record holder as one of the earliest known structures ever to form in the universe.

GAINESVILLE — A team of astronomers from the University of Florida is proposing that it may be possible to find evidence of “hidden” planets by observing the huge disks of dust created when stars are born.

GAINESVILLE — In a discovery they say could shed new light on the genesis of our solar system, astronomers with the University of Florida and Harvard University have found a star surrounded by a disk of dust that may be forming planets.

GAINESVILLE — Leave it to astronomers to take something as simple as school spirit and build it up to global proportions.