astronomy

PULLMAN, Wash. – Look up to the twinkly stars and you’ll witness starlight traveling from deep space to your eyeballs. That twinkling you see is the light taking lots and lots of detours.

By Sabrina Zearott and Joanna Steward, College of Arts & Sciences PULLMAN, Wash. – The Washington State University flag has flown in many places around the world – from ESPN Game Day to the Great Wall of China – and now more than 18 miles into the stratosphere.

Tuesday, Oct. 15, 4:10 p.m., Webster 17 Dr. Paula Heron, University of Washington. Please meet our guest speaker and share refreshments at 3:45 p.m. in the foyer on floor G above the lecture hall. Is “interactive teaching” sufficient to promote conceptual development in physics?   Contact: Matthew McCluskey, mattmcc@wsu.edu

    PULLMAN, Wash. – The Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Palouse Astronomical Society will host a Barbecue and Star Party on Saturday, Sept. 7, at WSU’s Jewett Observatory. A barbecue and live music will run 7-9 p.m., with star gazing to follow 9-11 p.m. A $7 donation is suggested for the dinner. Stargazing is […]

The department of Physics and Astronomy’s Stephenson Distinguished Lecture will feature James K. Gimzewski, a leading authority on nanotechnology research. The lecture, Nano Tips: Exploring This Planet, Your Body and Beyond, will be on March 26 at 7 p.m. in the Webster Physical Science Building, Room 16. Gimzewski is a distinguished professor in the Department […]

    A total lunar eclipse will be visible in the Pacific Northwest Wednesday evening, Feb. 20.   Michael Allen, instructor at the WSU Department of Physics and Astronomy, said that when the moon rises that evening at 5:11 p.m. the eclipse will already have begun, but the center of eclipse –when the moon is directly […]

PULLMAN – A giant elliptical galaxy seen in an image from the Hubble Space Telescope is the closest gravitational lens yet known, according to information released Feb. 6 by the Hubble Heritage Project. John Blakeslee, an assistant professor with the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Washington State University, working with colleagues from the University […]

For 10 years he worked in construction, operating his own business for three of those years. That is, until knee surgery left few options other than going back to school. Tom Johnson, scientific instructional technician supervisor for the Department of Physics and Astronomy, landed his dream job through a simple twist of a knee.After earning […]

WSU physics and astronomy clubs dropped pumpkins and other objects from a 12th-floor window of Webster Physical Sciences Building on Nov. 5 to enact Galileo’s historical experiment, proving his Law of Falling Bodies. The Law of Falling Bodies states that all objects, regardless of their masses, fall toward the earth at the same rate. Drops […]

Tom Dickinson, WSU Regents professor, Paul A. Anderson professor of physics, and professor of material science, will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the WSU On-Line Question and Tutoring System during a physics and astronomy colloquium on Tuesday, Oct. 18.The title of the colloquium is “What you can do and what you can’t do with […]