University of Washington DiRAC Institute

Thrilled to have our Institute and the future of data-intensive Astronomy featured on the University of Washington homepage this week! https://lnkd.in/eknrgeaD

You should come to the University of Washington astrobiology 25th anniversary lecture series. This is an amazing lineup of speakers, talking about the forefront of one of the most exciting topics in astronomy… the search for life!! See you there? https://lnkd.in/gUT9-ikf #seattle #science

Excited to be hosting a panel of amazing University of Washington DiRAC Institute astronomers at #ECCC next week. We’ll be talking about science with the Rubin Observatory, from asteroids to the edge of thr universe! #science #outreach #astronomy

I listen to NPR every day, and today I'm so proud/lucky to be featured in this piece talking about SETI, the search for life, and the amazing future of astronomy with the Rubin Observatory. I am grateful the University of Washington DiRAC Institute has given me a home to combine Astrobiology/SETI and "big data" studies of the stars, to help explore the biggest questions... keep looking up – and listening for "Martian NPR"! https://lnkd.in/gHgJRp5w

???? Since 2018, the?Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) has scanned the entire sky every two to three nights. Researchers — including astronomers at the University of Washington - College of Arts & Sciences — recently announced that they have identified more than 10,000 supernovae, flashes of light in the sky that are the telltale signs of stars dying in spectacular explosions. This is the largest number ever identified by an astronomical survey. The ZTF is an international astronomical collaboration based at the Palomar Observatory in California. Thanks to data from the Facility's Bright Transient Survey, astronomers are now better equipped to answer questions about how stars grow and die, as well as how dark energy drives the expansion of the universe. Researchers who contributed to the survey included UW research scientist Dr. Melissa Graham; Dr. Mario Juric, UW professor of astronomy and director of the DiRAC Institute; and Eric Bellm, UW research associate professor of astronomy and scientist with the UW’s?DiRAC Institute. “The Bright Transient Survey program serves as an exemplar for the kinds of science we hope to do with the?Vera C. Rubin Observatory?in the near future,” said Bellm. Under construction in Chile, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory is the future home of the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), a mission that will take deep images of the sky nightly and detect even more cosmic transients than ZTF. UW scientists with the DiRAC Institute have been heavily involved in planning the LSST's launch. Collaborations like the ZTF have been proving grounds for developing and testing methods for use in the LSST. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/g2-Vq4mz #UWArtSci

If you share our passion for astronomy, discovery, and training the next generation of creative thinkers, please consider joining us as a supporter. We're working hard to fundraise to support junior scientists (postdocs and grad students), who will be among the first to work with data from the Rubin Observatory in the coming years. ??But truly, this is a make-or-break year for us, and we need your help! Philanthropic support from our community allows us to hire amazing people without waiting 1-3 years (or more!) for federal research grants to get selected. It means we can take risks on exciting science TODAY. Incredible things are about to be discovered, and we want UW/DiRAC to be on that cutting edge. Thank you all https://lnkd.in/gvf5Vayn #science #fundraising #astronomy #giving

Come join our team!!!

This #GivingTuesday I am saying THANK YOU to the community of supporters and our Advisory Board that make the University of Washington DiRAC Institute possible. It is a joy to share this journey of astronomical discovery with you all! You can join us here: https://lnkd.in/gjK6uQXz

Hey Seattle folks, want to spend an evening hanging with some astronomers, hearing from Mario Juric about Rubin Observatory, and the exciting science coming to University of Washington DiRAC Institute soon?! Register here! https://lnkd.in/gRWdnwGa

This Friday! The latest Discovery Series event: Big Data in the Sky: How the Rubin Observatory will Change Astronomy, at CoMotion at University of Washington. James Davenport, Associate Director of the University of Washington DiRAC Institute, will dive into the astrophysics that the Vera C. Rubin Observatory (located in Chile) will advance, and the mysteries it will unlock. The Rubin Observatory will be the most ambitious survey telescope ever built, launching in mid-2025. Over a 10-year period, it will map the entire sky, cataloging 40 billion stars and galaxies and doubling the number of tracked asteroids within months. Registration on Eventbrite: https://lnkd.in/gKi7GgRU #DiscoverySeries #BigData #Astronomy #Innovation #ScienceAndTech