Department of Physics and Astronomy News
Physics and astronomy are two of the most basic and fundamental sciences. Physics is the study of matter, energy, motion, and force. Its concepts help us understand how the universe behaves. Astronomy studies the universe beyond the earth’s atmosphere, including celestial objects and the formation and development of the universe.
Current Physics and Astronomy News
Physicist Ashkan Salamat one of just 46 university professors nationwide – and the first from UNLV – selected for competitive award, which is now in its 10th year.
Physics professor Michael Pravica's work on useful hard X-ray photochemistry could reveal novel materials — and possibly an explanation for the origin of life on Earth.
Two dense, city-sized stars collided in a galaxy far, far away; the resulting X-rays give UNLV’s Bing Zhang and international team of astronomers a new way to spot when it happens and a rare glimpse into how neutron stars form.
From UNLV Magazine spring 2019 issue.
As the Flat Earth Theory gains resurgence with a new Netflix documentary, a UNLV astronomer explains how it fizzles.
UNLV physicist developed a calculator to compute the significance of using renewables in a warming world.
Physics and Astronomy In The News
We might need to rethink our understanding of water, both on Earth and other planets. New experiments with water ice at high pressures has revealed unexpected behaviour, which could upend our assumptions about the makeup of icy exoplanets.
We might need to rethink our understanding of water, both on Earth and other planets. New experiments with water ice at high pressures has revealed unexpected behaviour, which could upend our assumptions about the makeup of icy exoplanets.
Jason Steffen, an associate professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, has more than 7,000 Twitch followers and uses the platform to practice future lectures.
The star around which astronomers got their first-ever sighting of a fledgling planet has been shown to have another world and possibly even a giant moon-forming disc.
Astronomers have spent decades, if not centuries, hoping to see embryonic planets. As of a year ago, the closest they had come was the discovery of gaps, thought to be caused by budding planets, in the spinning disks of gas and dust that surround young stars. But they weren’t sure how to interpret these indirect clues.
A global helium shortage is impacting businesses large and small. Local businesses that rely on the non-renewable gas are making due without any idea of when or if helium will be readily available again.
