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Physics and astronomy

Concept art depicting two white dwarf stars of equal mass but differing temperatures. The hotter white dwarf on the left appears slightly larger and puffier, surrounded by a glowing blue halo, while the cooler white dwarf on the right looks more compact and has a slightly less pronounced halo. The background consists of a dark starry sky with faint nebular patterns.
Astrophysics
Study confirms key details of extreme stellar behavior
Published Dec 18, 2024
Telescope observations of more than 26,000 dying stars match theories of hotter, puffier white dwarfs
Photo of Danielle Speller
Faculty Honors
Danielle Speller honored by American Institute of Physics
Published Nov 14, 2024
Co-sponsored by the National Society of Black Physicists, the award celebrates promising early-career physicists
Collin Broholm is the Gerhard H. Dieke Professor in the William H. Miller III Department of Physics and Astronomy
Giving
New materials, familiar space
Published Fall 2024
Flexible funding from an alum is helping researchers act rapidly for scientific progress / Johns Hopkins Magazine
A nebula made up of cloudy gas and dust in the form of soft and wispy clouds and, in the centre, thin and highly detailed layers pressed close together. Large, bright stars surrounded by six long points of light are dotted over the image, as well as some small, point-like stars embedded in the clouds. The clouds are lit up in blue close to the stars; orange colours show clouds that glow in infrared light.
Astrophysics
Possible clues to how stars are born
Published Aug 27, 2024
Survey of young star-forming cluster offers evidence that the same cosmic processes that give birth to stars may also play a role in making objects only slightly bigger than Jupiter
Concept art of exoplanet HD 189733b, a blue gas giant with yellow hue bands, up close with its parent star, a K-type that emits warm orange light.
Exoplanets
Nearby exoplanet reeks of rotten eggs
Published July 8, 2024
Johns Hopkins astronomers sniffed out the stinky atmosphere with Webb Telescope
Artist’s conception of the view towards the young star Beta Pictoris from the outer edge of its disk.
Astrophysics
Webb telescope reveals asteroid collision in neighboring star system
Published June 10, 2024
The observations spotlight the volatile processes that shape star systems like our own, offering a unique glimpse into the primordial stages of planetary formation
An artist’s concept of WASP-107 b shows turbulent atmospheric mixing within the planet’s gas envelope, with a hot core emitting light and heat through a brownish interior outwards and a top layer with many shades of blue curling clouds.
Exoplanets
First glimpse of an exoplanet interior
Published May 20, 2024
Methane found in WASP-107 b reveals core mass, turbulent skies, and other key insights in the search for habitable worlds beyond our solar system
Jenann Ismael and Marc Kamionkowski
Faculty honors
Two awarded Guggenheim Fellowships
Published April 11, 2024
Jenann Ismael, Marc Kamionkowski among 188 scholars honored for prior career achievement, exceptional promise
A dark sky with a bright orange image of a solar eclipse
Astronomy
Hopkins experts discuss the total solar eclipse
Published April 5, 2024
Panelists encouraged viewers to witness the rare event on April 8 firsthand if possible, and shared the science behind what makes a total solar eclipse so special
An illustration of how a supermassive blackhole would make stars in the first 50 million years of the universe. The foreground shows stars in the making, gas clouds getting crushed by the black hole’s powerful magnetism. The background shows fully formed stars. A spiral of dust and gas revolving like a storm around the black hole also is shown. Also, the black hole shoots out plasma and energy upwards from the center of this storm.
Astrophysics
Which came first: black holes or galaxies?
Published Feb 6, 2024
Black holes not only existed at the dawn of time, they birthed new stars and supercharged galaxy formation, a new analysis of James Webb Space Telescope data suggests