AI is helping scientists model human cells, decode the universe, and accelerate discovery across nearly every field. Here are some key innovations from across campus. An ambitious project to scan the universe has ties to the Bay Area. Rubin…
Imagine a universe devoid of all elements apart from hydrogen, helium, and lithium. That was the state of the Universe until the formation of the first stars, around a hundred million years after the Big Bang. These stars began to forge the…
Join our Rubin lecture series to explore the scientific and technical foundations of this unprecedented survey and how it will reshape our understanding of the universe. The Vera C. Rubin Observatory is set to transform how we see the unive…
With access to the historical 24-inch telescope and the newly installed 0.7m telescope at the Stanford Student Observatory, along with a number of digital telescopes (eVscopes) and optical telescopes, KIPAC offers regular, in-person stargaz…
Supermassive black holes (SMBHs), which are millions to billions of times more massive than the sun, commonly reside at the centers of almost all galaxies that are as massive as the Milky Way Galaxy. Despite this commonality, how SMBHs grow…
NSF-DOE Rubin Observatory’s rapid monitoring of supernovae, asteroids, and other astronomical events marks a historic milestone in astrophysics. Cosmologists Josh Frieman and Risa Wechsler reflect on the Dark Energy Survey, sharing how it’s…
Right now, unless you are a hundred feet underground, a few relativistic particles are passing through your head every second. They go right through the atmosphere, the clouds, the roof, the ceiling, and anything else you might try to shiel…
Cosmologists Josh Frieman and Risa Wechsler reflect on the Dark Energy Survey, sharing how it’s paving the way for future research at the NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory. With survey operations set to begin this fall, the Rubin control ro…
The South Pole boasts some of the most extreme living conditions on the planet: high altitude, an extremely dry atmosphere, bitter cold, and one sunrise and sunset per year. These conditions make sustaining life nearly impossible at the bot…
What are the laws of physics governing black holes, neutron stars, and relativistic plasmas in the strongest gravitational and magnetic fields in nature? How do compact objects launch jets, accelerate particles, and produce the high-energy
How did the Universe begin, and what physical processes set the initial conditions for the cosmic structures we see today? What is the nature of dark matter, and how does it shape the growth of structure across cosmic time? What is driving
Every year we invite the local community to join our Open House to learn more about the Universe and the exciting discoveries we have made. Co-hosted by both KIPAC and the SLAC National Laboratory, the event offers immersive science-learnin…