Spotlight
Steward Observatory Prize Fellowship in Theoretical and Computational Astrophysics
NOTE THAT THE DEADLINE PASSED IN MID-DECEMBER 2020
The Steward Observatory at the University of Arizona invites applications for the Steward Observatory Prize Postdoctoral Fellowship in Theoretical and Computational Astrophysics. The successful candidate will lead a high caliber independent research program as well as collaborate with theoretical and observational colleagues in the department. Candidates are expected to support an equitable and diverse scholarly environment in research, mentoring, and service. Steward Observatory provides a stimulating research environment, with an active program of seminars, conferences, and visitors. The department is home to a wide range of theoretical research programs, in topics such as general relativity and gravitation, cosmology, compact objects, astrophysical fluid dynamics, galaxy formation, star formation, and planet formation. Interested candidates are welcome to inquire with individual faculty about informal virtual visits. Candidates must have completed all requirements for the Ph.D. in astrophysics, astronomy, or a related field before the commencement of the fellowship in Fall 2021. The deadline for submission of all materials is December 14th, 2020. To apply click here.
NSF Funds AO Test Bed for Giant Magellan
The Giant Magellan Telescope Corporation has received $17.5million in National Science Foundation funds to test and prototype technology for GMT. Scientists at Steward and at Optical Sciences will use some of the funds to build an Adaptive Optics (AO) test bed system, allowing the telescope's AO system to be built and tested before the telescope comes on line. Work will be done at Steward's Center for Astronomical Adaptive Optics (CAAO) and at Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Drs. Laird Close and Jared Males of Steward's CAAO are quoted in the UA press release.
Two Comet NEOWISE Videos
This first video is by astrophotographer Adam Block and tells people living in Tucson how to find the Comet. It was made the week of July 13. The second is a time lapse by graduate student Harry Krantz, taken in Colorado on July 19, covering 1.5 hours of real time. You can see Starlink satellites in the image from 7 sec to 12 sec of compressed time. Here is a link to a Mt Lemmon SkyCenter page: it also contains a link to the above Adam Block instructional video. The cover photo here is a screenshot from the video by Harry Krantz.
1960s Steward Astronomer Donald Taylor Has Passed Away
Retired Nebraska-Lincoln professor Donald Taylor has passed away at age 87. Both pictures HERE and HERE are courtesy of the University of Nebraska. In the late 1960s, three young astronomers at Steward, Don Taylor, John Cocke, and Mike Disney, discovered optical pulsations from the Crab Nebula. The 50th anniversary of that event recently passed (see the last paragraph).
Dr Taylor's obituary can be seen HERE. We pass on our best wishes to his family and colleagues.
We would like to quote a paragraph from his obituary showing his dedication for viewing the night sky: "Don’s passion for the skies was undeniable, and for decades, he was a neighborhood fixture, searching the night sky with homemade telescopes and inviting anyone interested to join him. To have darker skies in the city, he invented a tool, essentially a light bulb on a pole, to trick the street lights to shut off. It brought Don great pride and joy to share a view of the majestic rings of Saturn or a pristine image of the craters of the moon through one of his telescopes."
Links to two stories about the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the optical counterpart of the Crab can be found HERE and HERE. A link to the 50th anniversary Steward public lecture can be found HERE.
(2020 June 8)
35 Steward Employees Receive UArizona Service Awards
The annual UArizona service awards were announced this past week. Thirty-five Steward employees were honored. George Rieke and Rodger Thompson (PI of the NICMOS Camera on HST) were rewarded for 50 years at UArizona, with Regents' Professor Marcia Rieke acknowledged for 45 years of service, including a current position as Principal Investigator of the Near Infrared Camera for the James Webb Space Telescope. UA @ Work profiled George Rieke. We quote the article: "Among the 50-year service award honorees is George Rieke, Regents Professor of astronomy and planetary sciences, who says he was hired in 1970 through a "rather strange accident" involving the late Frank Low, Regents Professor emeritus. "I went down to talk to Frank one day, and he was having a furious argument with somebody over the telephone," Rieke recalled. He quickly realized Low was speaking to someone Rieke was planning to work for as a postdoc at Goddard Space Flight Center. "After the argument died down, I said, 'It's a funny coincidence that I'm probably going to be working for that guy in six months.' Then Frank said, 'Oh. You want a job?'"
Rieke says he has valued watching the University take a leading position in astronomy throughout his career. He has been no small part of that growth. Rieke currently serves as NASA's science team lead for the James Webb Space Telescope's Mid-Infrared Instrument. The University, he says, provides a culture that will allow the next generation of scientists to build on that momentum. "We've had good leadership and an atmosphere where everyone is encouraged to be an entrepreneur," Rieke said. "You can basically create your own opportunities if you are skillful enough, aggressive enough, determined enough and lucky enough." His wife, Marcia Rieke, Regents Professor of astronomy, has also made the University a long-term home. She marks 45 years of service this year."
Image Courtesy of George Rieke
(June 11 2020)
Revealing Fomalhaut b's True Nature
Assistant Astronomer Andras Gaspar and Professor George Rieke propose a solution to the decade old mystery of the first directly imaged exoplanet, Fomalhaut b, in an article recently published in the Publications of the National Academy of Sciences. First discovered in 2008 in images taken with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) in 2004 and 2006, Fomalhaut b has always been an enigmatic object within the group of roughly two dozen directly imaged exoplanets. Despite being observed multiple times in the optical, it remains undetected at infrared wavelengths, contrary to expectations for a massive planet. In addition, its eccentric orbit crosses the debris ring around the star, yet the ring does not show the perturbations expected from interaction with a massive planet.
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