The X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM), and the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM), were sucessfully launched onboard the H-IIA Launch Vehicle No. 47 (H-IIA F47) at 8:42:11 am on September 7, 2023 (Japan Standard Time, JST)/ 7:42:11 pm on September 6, 2023 (EDT) from the Tanegashima Space Center.
Join us to watch the Perseids meteor shower at UWaterloo!
Every August, the Earth's orbit passes through the tail of Comet Swift-Tuttle. Fragments of the comet burn up in our atmosphere, leading to the Perseids meteor shower, one of the most prolific shooting star shows of the year.
WCA's Will Percival and Mike Hudson were at the launch of Euclid and sent us images through the evening before and the day of launch.
Mission will explore the evolution of the dark Universe
The European Space Agency has successfully launched its Euclid satellite at 11:12 EDT today from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Eucllid launched without a hitch atop a SpaceX Falcon 9.
The first batch of data from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument is now available for researchers to mine. Taken during the experiment’s “survey validation” phase, the data include distant galaxies and quasars as well as stars in our own Milky Way
Recent Chandra observations of Messier 84 (M84) in the Virgo Cluster by Bambic et al are the deepest and most detailed to date and have revealed a remarkable “H”-shaped structure in the 107 – 108 K gas around the galaxy.
The National Research Council of Canada (NRC) has announced that Canada will proceed to full membership of the Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO).
This builds upon a 2-year cooperation agreement with the SKAO signed by the NRC in November 2021, which allows Canada's scientific and engineering communities to continue participation in the project.
Full membership is expected to provide Canadian astronomers a 6 per cent use-share of the observatory, access to a next-generation radio astronomy facility, and support the establishment of a domestic regional centre. This centre will provide direct connections to data collected with the telescope as well as science support to enable ground-breaking discoveries.
We are pleased to welcome our new Outreach Coordinator, Roan Haggar. Roan is looking forward to working with the wider Kitchener-Waterloo community, and helping to make astronomy accessible to as many people as possible.
After months of anticipation, we are proud to announce that the Waterloo Centre for Astrophysics has a new location. The newly renovated space is equipped with nine offices, a common area and a boardroom.
We are very excited to welcome our postdoctoral fellows, staff and visitors to our new space, which is still located on the second floor of the Physics building.
Three years ago, history was made when the first image of a black hole inspired wonder and awe around the world as we glimpsed the shadow of light escaping from the supermassive black hole M87*. Today, history is being made again as the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration releases the image of a second black hole — Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) — the one at the centre of our own Milky Way galaxy.