Astrophysics and cosmology

SLAC's Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (KIPAC) recently hosted many of the top scientists in the field to discuss the most important questions to confront in the coming decade.

As volunteers for a project called Einstein@Home, citizen scientists unleashed the unused cycles of their home computers on data from the Large Area Telescope, the SLAC-operated main instrument of the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, and found four new pulsars.

In scientific circles, “mock” is not always a four-letter word. To test that they’re interpreting their massive amounts of data correctly, astrophysicists create even more data: “mock” data. And while that may be counterintuitive at first, it actually makes a...

SLAC and Stanford physicists played a key role in monitoring and analyzing the brightest gamma ray burst ever measured, and suggest that its never-before-seen features could call for a rewrite of current theories.

Scientists in SLAC's Integrated Circuits Department reach a new frontier in ultrafast X-ray science with intricately designed signal-processing chips that translate particles of light into bits of data.

Particle astrophysicists are helping illuminate the dark side of the universe for a new show at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

Traces of iron spread smoothly throughout a massive galaxy cluster tell the 10 billion-year-old story of exploding supernovae and fierce outbursts from supermassive black holes sowing heavy elements throughout the early cosmos.

On June 11, 2008, what was then the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope rode a Delta II rocket into low-Earth orbit. After two months of tests and checks and calibrations, on August 11, 2008, NASA declared GLAST open for business...

For the 41st annual Particle Physics & Astrophysics Department’s SLAC Summer Institute (SSI), organizers introduced a successful new feature.

Theorists from the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology are helping dark matter sleuths decide where to start their search.

A record-setting blast of gamma rays from a dying star in a distant galaxy has wowed astronomers around the world.

A new study confirms what scientists have long suspected: Cosmic rays – energetic particles that pelt Earth from all directions – are born in the violent aftermath of supernovas, exploding stars throughout the galaxy.