Honor Senior student Timothy McQuaid has been selected as a 2022-2023 UMass Amherst Rising Researcher. The award recognizes exceptional accomplishments of UMass Amherst undergraduate students who excel in research, scholarship, and creative activity. 

A team of astronomers, including assistant professor Kate Whitaker, recently published research in the journal Nature that many popular publications have said “breaks the universe.” While not literally true, the team, which used the newest trove of data retrieved from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), discovered that very old, very massive galaxies seem to exist on the fringes of the universe—which, according to current astronomical theory, shouldn’t be possible. Click the link to see more of the article.

Decades ago, Andy Morris-Friedman didn’t imagine that the odd collection of stones he stumbled upon during a bike ride would lead to involvement in a community for more than 25 years — and that he’d be one of the ones keeping it alive after the woman who built it died. Astronomy-lovers have been gathering since the mid-1990s each solstice and equinox — the days the seasons change — at the UMass Sunwheel, a group of stones that mark the angles of sunrises, moonrises and other celestial events. Click the link to the article to read more.

Congratulations to Dr. Katherine Whitaker. UMass Press Release: https://www.umass.edu/news/article/help-umass-amherst-nasas-james-webb-space-telescope-uncovers-new-details-pandoras WWLP Channel 22 News Article: NASA's James Webb Space Telescope unveils new details of Pandora's Cluster (wwlp.com) CBS Boston Article: https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/pandoras-cluster-james-webb-telescope-umass-amherst/ Yahoo Article: UMass astronomers help NASA capture pictures of "Pandora's Cluster" (yahoo.com) Boston Globe Article: New image from Webb Telescope, processed by UMass astronomers, reveals the deepest parts of space in Pandora’s Cluster - The Boston Globe