Who: Astronomer Tabetha Boyajian When: Sunday, Aug. 20, 7 p.m. Where: Kearney High School Auditorium Cost: Free Audience: All ages Web: https://www.ted.com/talks/tabetha_boyajian_the_most_mysterious_star_in_the_universe?language=en KEARNEY – Something massive, with roughly 1,000 times the area of Earth, is blocking the light coming from a distant star known as KIC 8462852, and nobody is quite sure what it is. As astronomer Tabetha Boyajian investigated this perplexing celestial … [Read more...]
Are we Alone?: Adam Jensen’s work for NASA examines life beyond Earth
BY JAN TREFFER THOMPSON When 8-year-old Adam Jensen pointed his first telescope to the sky in the early 1990s, scientists already knew there had to be planets beyond Earth’s solar system. They just couldn’t prove it. It was a dilemma Jensen could have sympathized with. Whether seeing dinosaurs come to life in the movies, turning the pages of chemistry and astronomy books at the library, or searching for deep-sky objects in his backyard, Jensen’s scientific interests were fueled early by … [Read more...]
Wyatt Behn awarded NASA Nebraska Space Grant Fellow
KEARNEY – University of Nebraska at Kearney senior Wyatt Behn has been awarded a prestigious NASA Nebraska Space Grant Fellowship. A senior from Kearney, Behn is a physics major with a minor in mathematics. The NASA Nebraska Space Grant Fellowship Program funds students to engage in research, internships, senior design projects, professional conferences, faculty lab assistance and other activities at NASA or in the aerospace industry. The goal of the program is to recruit and retain … [Read more...]
UNK faculty Adam Jensen picked for NASA exoplanet project
KEARNEY – UNK faculty member Adam Jensen is among a group of earth science, planetary science, heliophysics and astrophysics experts selected by NASA for an unprecedented initiative dedicated to the search for life on planets outside our solar system. The Nexus for Exoplanet System Science, or NExSS, hopes to better understand the various components of an exoplanet, as well as how the planet stars and neighbor planets interact to support life. An assistant professor in the University of … [Read more...]
