Astronomical detectors as a research area focuses on the development, characterization, and optimization of sensor technologies used to register electromagnetic or particle signals from astronomical sources with high sensitivity, dynamic range, and temporal and spatial resolution. It encompasses work on charge-coupled devices (CCDs), complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) imagers, infrared arrays, superconducting devices such as transition-edge sensors and kinetic inductance detectors, as well as photon-counting and polarimetric detectors. Research addresses quantum efficiency, noise sources, readout architectures, calibration strategies, radiation hardness, and cryogenic operation, enabling precise photometry, spectroscopy, astrometry, and time-domain observations across multiple wavelength regimes.
Debris from moonbound spacecraft has left craters on the lunar surface since the U.S. Apollo missions. But the moon is not used to being surrounded by debris. With an expected resurgence in lunar missions in the coming years, ...
Space Exploration
Mar 26, 2026
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With the first images from the spacecraft now in hand, the team behind NASA's Star-Planet Activity Research CubeSat, or SPARCS, is ready to begin charting the energetic lives of the galaxy's most common stars to help answer ...
Astronomy
Mar 12, 2026
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When the densest objects in the universe collide and merge, the violence sets off ripples, in the form of gravitational waves, that reverberate across space and time, over hundreds of millions and even billions of years. ...
Astronomy
Mar 5, 2026
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For decades, scientists have searched the skies for signs of extraterrestrial technology. A study from EPFL asks a sharp question: if alien signals have already reached Earth without us noticing, what should we realistically ...
Astronomy
Feb 16, 2026
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Lately we've been reporting about a series of studies on the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO), NASA's flagship telescope mission for the 2040s. These studies have looked at the type of data they need to collect, and what ...
Planetary Sciences
Jan 27, 2026
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So far, humanity has yet to find its first "exomoon"—a moon orbiting a planet outside of the solar system. But that hasn't been for lack of trying. According to a new paper by Thomas Winterhalder of the European Southern ...
Astronomy
Jan 5, 2026
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A scientific experiment aimed at detecting dark matter in space launched from Antarctica on December 15, with significant contributions from University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.
Astronomy
Dec 19, 2025
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The international LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Collaboration has completed the fourth observation campaign (called O4) of the international network of gravitational wave detectors. Launched in May 2023, the campaign ends after a period ...
Astronomy
Nov 18, 2025
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Interference from human activity has always been a sticking point in astronomical observations. Radio astronomy is notoriously sensitive to unintentional interference—hence why there are "radio silent" zones near telescopes ...
Astronomy
Sep 25, 2025
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About 80% of the universe's mass is thought to consist of dark matter. Yet, little is known about the composition and structure of the particles that make up dark matter, presenting physicists with some fundamental questions. ...
Astronomy
Sep 9, 2025
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