SLAC topics

Astrophysics and cosmology RSS feed

SLAC’s astrophysicists and cosmologists pursue top-priority research on topics including dark matter and dark energy, the formation of galaxies and cosmic evolution. 

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Astrophysics and cosmology

Dwarf Galaxy 3.

News Feature
VIA Symmetry Magazine

A tinkerer models a cosmic camera

An engineer at SLAC laboratory constructed a full-scale model of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope's cryostat in his spare time.

News Feature
VIA Symmetry Magazine

A ‘crack in the cosmic egg’

The recent BICEP2 discovery of evidence for cosmic inflation might point to new physics.

News Feature

SLAC's Siegfried Glenzer has been selected to receive an Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award, presented by the U.S. Secretary of Energy to honor scientists across...

Photo - Siegfried Glenzer
News Feature

Five years ago, the brightest source of X-rays on the planet lit up at SLAC. The Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) X-ray laser's scientific...

Image - Some of the LCLS team members stand by the newly installed undulators in this 2009 photo. From right: Mike Zurawel, Geoff Pile from Argonne National Laboratory, Paul Emma, Dave Schultz, Heinz-Dieter Nuhn and Don Schafer. (Brad Plummer)
News Feature

Scientists from the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology are helping build cameras for the Cherenkov Telescope Array, an advanced, ground-based gamma-ray observatory.

Photo - A photomultiplier module undergoing testing
News Feature

Scientists say collisions between dark matter particles might be the cause of a curious excess of gamma-ray light coming from the center of our...

News Feature
VIA Symmetry Magazine

The Oldest Light in the Universe

The Cosmic Microwave Background, leftover light from the big bang, carries a wealth of information about the universe—for those who can read it.

News Feature

Two scientists at Stanford University and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory made key contributions to the discovery of the first direct evidence for cosmic inflation...

Image - The BICEP2 detector shown in this electron-beam micrograph works by converting the light from the cosmic microwave background into heat. A titanium film tuned on its transition to a superconducting state makes a sensitive thermometer.
Press Release

Researchers from the BICEP2 collaboration have announced the first direct evidence supporting the theory of cosmic inflation. Their data also represent the first images...

The Dark Sector Lab (DSL)
News Feature

Black widow spiders and their Australian cousins, known as redbacks, are notorious for their tainted love, expressed as an unsettling tendency to kill and...

Image - Illustration of black widow pulsar blasting material off companion star
News Feature

In a SLAC test facility, scientists have set the stage for an experiment that mimics what happens when incredibly energetic cosmic ray particles hit...

Photo - Researchers look over the magnetic coils that will impersonate the Earth's magnetic field.
News Feature

Teachers are using Google+ to bring their classes behind the scenes at national laboratories and to teach students about careers in STEM.