Astrophysics Research

Thanks to a $1.7 million National Science Foundation grant awarded to Kevin Bandura, assistant professor in the Lane Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering in the Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources, a new telescope is slated to be built at the Green Bank Observatory to pinpoint the locations of FRBs in far off galaxies, enabling the ability to finally discover the nature of these enigmatic objects.

Though it makes up roughly 70 percent of the universe, dark energy is one of the greatest cosmological discoveries that is the least understood among scientists. A new project led by West Virginia University researcher Kevin Bandura will help scientists understand the nature of dark energy by mapping out the distribution of matter throughout the universe.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing uncertainties in the higher education world, West Virginia University received $195 million in external funding for research and other sponsored programs this past fiscal year.

A critical advancement for astrophysics research led by a team of West Virginia University physics and astronomy students will allow astronomers to be seven times faster in mapping a galaxy. The new radio camera at the Green Bank Telescope is the first of its kind in the U.S.

A West Virginia University physicist has created an exact mathematical formula to explain the gravitational wave signals that have been observed from colliding black holes, which serve as a key validation of Albert Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity.

An important breakthrough in how we can understand dead star collisions and the expansion of the universe has been made by an international team that includes researchers with the Center for Gravitational Waves and Cosmology at West Virginia University.

West Virginia University’s Duncan Lorimer might be the godfather of the fast radio burst, but a pair of international students has taken exploring these mysterious cosmic flashes to a new level.

Scientists like Piyush Mehta, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at West Virginia University, worry that a powerful solar storm today would unleash mighty havoc – widespread blackouts, destroyed electrical grids and an estimated $2 trillion in damages.

For more than a decade, astronomers across the globe have wrestled with the perplexities of fast radio bursts — intense, unexplained cosmic flashes of energy, light years away, that pop for mere milliseconds.

The National Science Foundation has formally decided to keep open the Green Bank Observatory, a partner of West Virginia University and a key site for the University’s astronomy research.