KIPAC Blog
By Mandeep S.S. Gill
Professor Bruce Macintosh (pictured above) of KIPAC is the primary protagonist of “In Search of Ancient Jupiters,” an excellent and compelling piece by Lee Billings in the Aug 2015 edition of the popular science magazine Scientific American (SciAm), and in the article he gives a very human perspective on the race to find and see... Read More
By Kate B. Follette
For the first time astronomers have managed to take a baby picture of a planet still in the process of forming (a so-called “protoplanet”). Our team was able to do this using observations on the Magellan telescope in Chile, making the most of its superior technological abilities by taking advantage of its adaptive optics (AO), which... Read More
By Rebecca Canning and Norbert Werner
The atmosphere that enshrouds the Earth and provides us with wonderful things -- like air to breathe, and beautiful sunrises and sunsets, and rainbows -- unfortunately also absorbs light at many wavelengths and limits us from having a transparently clear view of the Universe. To be certain, the visible wavelength... Read More
By Lori Ann White
Above: Albert sporting a shirt that contains all the particles of the current Standard Model of particle physics (which is now known to be incomplete because it misses dark matter, for one.)
On Friday, Dec. 4, while the vast majority of Stanford undergraduates were prepping for finals and planning for their holiday breaks, Albert Wandui was... Read More
Dear KIPACers,
We have many wonderful news items to share with you before this winter break. E.g. that the annual report is out, a number of recognitions of KIPAC members, some nice science results and some good news for our projects. We hope you will have a restful break and are looking forward to seeing you back for an exciting 2016.
Happy Holidays!
Best,
Tom... Read More
By Val Monticue
Getting to the South Pole spans six days, five flights, four countries, three continents, two militaries, and a partridge in a pear tree. I went via the New Zealand Route, because I was going to the South Pole. Only people going to Palmer Station on the coast, or on one of the research vessels, take the South America route. The New Zealand route... Read More
By Lori Ann White
In the series, "Where are they now?" we check in with KIPAC alumni: where they are now, how they've fared since their days exploring particle astrophysics and cosmology at the Institute, and how their KIPAC experiences have shaped their journeys.
Next up is Jodi Cooley, who was a postdoctoral researcher at KIPAC from 2004–2009. Cooley, who is... Read More
By Amy Furniss
Gamma-ray blazars (also known as “BL Lac objects”) are among the most extreme galaxies, whipping up and then flinging out into intergalactic space particles at energies far beyond those attainable by the most powerful particle accelerators on Earth. The study of the variable gamma-ray emission from these energetic galaxies is possible through... Read More
By Lori Ann White
Above: Val Monticue [Credit: Sarah Reece].
Meet Val Monticue, a systems engineer turned physics teacher. Val has spent the last two summers at Stanford University through Industry Initiatives for Science and Math Education (IISME), a nonprofit, industry-education partnership that gives teachers the opportunity to gain real-world experience in... Read More
By Luigi Tibaldo
The biggest “lab”
The Universe is a giant laboratory that we can use to test the laws of physics in extreme conditions not accessible on Earth, to investigate events that happened in remote eras long ago, and to probe the many unknowns of the cosmos. However - it is sometimes difficult to disentangle the possible signatures of exotic or... Read More