Latest news and comment | University of Oxford Department of Physics

Audience

Research theme

Sub-department

NSF-DOE Rubin Trifid and Lagoon nebulas

First look: the trailer for Rubin’s movie of the sky

The first images from the extraordinary NSF-DOE Vera C Rubin Observatory have been made public today.

Professor Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell CH

Jocelyn Bell Burnell appointed Companion of Honour

Professor Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell has been appointed Companion of Honour in the King’s Birthday Honours List 2025 for her services to astronomy and physics and to diversity.

Deaglan Bartlett

Meet...Deaglan Bartlett

We work among extraordinary people doing extraordinary things; get to know some of them by reading these quick-fire interviews.

One of the Simons Observatory small aperture telescopes (SAT)

Commentary: Professor Alonso on unlocking secrets of the universe with the Simons Observatory

A consortium across six UK universities has been awarded an STFC Astronomy Large Award to fund their work analysing data from the Simons Observatory; Professor David Alonso explains how it could shed light on dark matter, dark energy and the Big Bang.

Members of the partnership standing around the phased array feed (PAF).

New Breakthrough Listen partnership to monitor the skies

Breakthrough Listen is partnering with ASTRON, the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy, and the University of Manchester, to deploy a new all-sky monitor at the Westerbork Observatory in the Netherlands.

Examples of gravitational lenses that Euclid captured in its first observations of the Deep Field areas

Citizen science helps make space discoveries in new satellite data

New data from a satellite one million miles from Earth has helped UK scientists shed light on how mysterious forces shaped the evolution of the Universe.

Graphic of two-star system

Two-star system explains unusual astrophysical phenomenon

An international team of astrophysicists led by the Netherlands and the UK have discovered that radio pulses lasting seconds to minutes are due to two stars coming together – rather than emissions from a single star.

Graphic of planet LTT 9779 b

JWST provides insights into rare ultra-hot Neptune LTT 9779 b

A team of international researchers including Dr Jake Taylor from the Department of Physics at the University of Oxford, has used the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to explore the exotic atmosphere of LTT 9779 b, a rare ‘ultra-hot Neptune’.

25 February 2025

Professor Stephen Smartt

Commentary: Professor Smartt on preparing for impact

Professor Stephen Smartt, Wetton Professor of Astrophysics, comments on the latest talk of an asteroid headed for impact…

17 February 2025

The image shows the new planet, HD 20794 d, and its elliptical orbit around a sun-like star around 20 light years away

Researchers confirm existence of exoplanet in ‘habitable zone’

An international team has confirmed the discovery of a super-Earth orbiting in the habitable zone of a nearby Sun-like star. The planet was originally detected two years ago by Oxford University scientist Dr Michael Cretignier.

28 January 2025

Professor James Binney

Professor Binney awarded RAS Gold Medal

Professor Binney awarded the Royal Astronomical Society's Gold Medal for his lifetime achievements in the study of the structure and evolution of galaxies.

10 January 2025

Dr Boon Kok Tan

Commentary: Dr Tan on next-gen quantum device tech

Dr Boon Kok Tan is a senior researcher in astrophysics of the Department of Physics. His ERC research project aims to advance ultra-sensitive instrumentation for microwave, millimetre (mm), sub-mm, and terahertz (THz) frequencies.

3 December 2024