News and Events

UMass Amherst Astronomy Opens Elite Telescope to U.S. Institutions

Tuesday, September 29, 2020

Astronomers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst are marking an especially meaningful event this National Astronomy Week, as a team led by Professor Peter Schloerb recently received a three-year, $5 million grant from the National Science Foundation to provide support for the Large Millimeter Telescope in Mexico and to offer – for the first time – access to it for astronomers from any U.S. institution. For more information: https://www.umass.edu/newsoffice/article/umass-amherst-astronomy-opens-elite

 

2020 Sunwheel Autumnal Equinox

Tuesday, September 22, 2020

Thank you Professor Stephen Schneider, Professor Daniela Calzetti, and Beth Berry for recording our virtual Sunrise gathering!

 

Autumnal Equinox At the Sunwheel: Sunrise and Sunset Gatherings

Tuesday, September 22, 2020
Join UMass Amherst Astronomers on Tuesday, September 22nd 6:30am or 6:15pm for a virtual gathering. To join the webinar broadcast, click here. Please give yourself a few minutes to install Zoom ahead of time.

Autumnal Equinox Sunwheel. Vertical stones stand in a circle in a large field bordered by trees in early fall. There is a road along the side.
 

 

Obituary of Retired Professor William A. (Bill) Dent

Monday, September 14, 2020

 

The Astronomy Department at the University of Massachusetts Amherst is saddened to report the passing of retired Full Professor William A. (Bill) Dent. Professor Dent was a key founder of the observational aspect of the Astronomy Program at UMass Amherst. As a graduate student at the University of Michigan Bill had made the amazing discovery that the brightness of what were called quasi-stellar radio sources (quasars) varied with time. This required that the physical sizes of these objects be vastly smaller than had been postulated; many years later we have learned that quasars contain supermassive black holes, often with masses of billions of times the mass of our Sun.

 

Bill Dent with students in 1969. Smiling man in business casual clothes standing in classroom in front of blackboard. He is pointing to a notebook on a desk. At the desk, two students look on with interest.
Bill Dent with students in 1969

Professor Pope selected as UMass ADVANCE Fellow

Wednesday, August 19, 2020
Professor Alexandra Pope is one of the 39 UMass Faculty selected for  an ADVANCE Fellowship for the academic year 2020-2021. The NSF-funded ADVANCE program is working on issues of equity and inclusion at the University of Massachusetts and on the impact of Covid-19 on these problems.
 
More Info:
Smiling woman with medium length blond hair wearing short sleeve shirt standingi n field
 

 

2021 Admissions: GRE Not Required

Thursday, August 20, 2020

The Department of Astronomy, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, will not require GRE scores (both general and physics) in the 2021 application cycle to their graduate program.  To apply for our program please visit https://www.umass.edu/graduate/programs/astronomy. Priority applications are due December 15th, 2020, with a final deadline of January 15, 2021.

 

Fall 2020 Virtual Colloquiua

Friday, August 14, 2020

Talks will be held at 4pm on Thursdays through Zoom. Titles,abstracts, and Zoom connection info will be emailed to our listserve.

  • Thursday August 27: Astro Jamboree Week 1
  • Thursday September 3: Astro Jamboree Week 2
  • Thursday September 10: Amanda Kepley (NRAO Charlottesville)
  • Thursday September 17: Brian Svoboda (NRAO)
  • Thursday September 24: Dara Norman (NSF NOIRLab)
  • Thursday October 1: Zhiyuan Ma (UMass Amherst)
  • Thursday October 8: Zheng Zheng (University of Utah)
  • Thursday October 15: Sandro Tacchella (CfA)
  • Thursday October 22: Daniel Anglés-Alcázar (CCA Flatiron/UConn)
  • Thursday October 29: Feng Long (CfA)
  • Thursday November 5: Irene Shivaei (U Arizona)
  • Thursday November 12:  2nd Year Graduate Project Presentation
  • Thursday November 19:  2nd Year Graduate Project Presentation

‘Self-Serve’ Summer Solstice at the Sunwheel

Friday, June 12, 2020

Due to social distancing, there will be no presentations at the Sunwheel this summer. However, the public is welcome to visit our site for sunrise and sunset to celebrate the longest days of the year. Visitors should wear masks, maintain social distancing, and be prepared for the possibility of wet footing and mosquitoses.

More info from Professor Steve Schneider: http://www.umass.edu/sunwheel/pages/gatherings

Illustration showing a quarter hour after sunrise at the Sunwheel during the 2018 summer solstice. The sun rises at an angle approximately equalling our latitude. (Photo: S. E. Schneider)Shortly after sunset at the Sunwheel during the 2019 summer solstice. Sunlight reflecting off the bottoms of the clouds produces a “sun pillar” similar to how light reflects off the ocean at sunset. (Photo: S. E. Schneider)

Left: About a quarter hour after sunrise at the Sunwheel during the 2018 summer solstice. The sun rises at an angle approximately equalling our latitude.
(Photo: S. E. Schneider)

Right: Shortly after sunset at the Sunwheel during the 2019 summer solstice. Sunlight reflecting off the bottoms of the clouds produces a “sun pillar” similar to how light reflects off the ocean at sunset.
(Photo: S. E. Schneider)

 

Olivia Cooper (Smith College) Wins Mary Dailey Irvine Prize

Monday, May 11, 2020
This year's Mary Dailey Irvine Prize for Excellence in Undergraduate Research goes to Olivia Cooper (Smith College). Congratulations!

Title: Tales from our Dusty, Warped Past: Lensing Environments of Planck-selected Submillimeter Galaxies Observed with Gemini

Supervisor: James Lowenthal (Smith College)

Great job!

 

Headshot of smiling woman with medium length blond hair, on blurred-out green background
 

Virtual Celebration Honors Spring 2020 Astronomy Graduates

Thursday, May 7, 2020

Congratulations Class of 2020!

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