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For the Love of Space – Student Group Hosts Multiple Space Related Events
It’s no secret UCF loves space. From a space-themed football game to its “reach for the stars” motto, space is a part of the university’s fiber. The university was founded in part to support the space industry on the Space Coast. Since then, faculty and students have participated in more than 600 NASA research projects […]
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Pluto a Planet? New Research from UCF Suggests Yes
By Robert H. Wells The reason Pluto lost its planet status is not valid, according to new research from the University of Central Florida. In 2006, the International Astronomical Union, a global group of astronomy experts, established a definition of a planet that required it to “clear” its orbit, or in other words, be the […]
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UCF Space Experts in Hot Demand
By Zenaida Kotala UCF has diligently and methodically been making a name for itself in the world of planetary exploration, and it’s beginning to pay off in big ways. Not only are two UCF professors part of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission to collect asteroid samples – a first for the United States, but scientists are playing […]
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Bizarro Comet Challenging Central Florida Researchers
Original story by Zenaida Kotala Scientists pursue research through observation, experimentation and modeling. They strive for all of these pieces to fit together, but sometimes finding the unexpected is even more exciting. That’s what happened to University of Central Florida’s astrophysicist Gal Sarid, who studies comets, asteroids and planetary formation and earlier this year was part […]
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UCF Physics Team Finds Solution for Celestial Radiation
University of Central Florida Department of Physics Professor Dan Britt, Ph.D., and UCF planetary sciences doctoral student Leos Pohl believe there is an alternative to battling radiation in space. Research of the UCF scientists was recently featured in a New Scientist article, ‘Asteroid clay is a better space radiation shield than aluminium,’ published March 14, […]
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Science SURE is Awesome
Thursday, April 3, students, professors and family members crowded the Pegasus Ballroom in the Student Union for the Showcase of Undergraduate Research Excellence (SURE) Conference. The entire ballroom was covered almost wall-to-wall with fascinating and innovative research presentations. Each student had a trifold poster on display. They stood next to their work and answered questions […]
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Red Moon Rising for Knights Under the Stars Event
UCF wants to give you a front row seat to the first lunar eclipse visible from Florida in more than three years. From 2:30 to 5 a.m. on Tuesday, April 15, volunteers from the UCF Robinson Observatory will share several telescopes with the public on Memory Mall as part of its “Knights Under the Stars” […]
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UCF Team Tests Satellite Design in Zero Gravity
For more than 10 years, scientists and engineers have been developing satellites the size of softballs that float in space and collect data, such as weather conditions. These picosatellites, which weigh less than 1 kilogram (about 2.2 pounds), are a lot less expensive than conventional large satellites and easier to launch into space as secondary […]
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UCF Alumnus Earns Prestigious Sagan Fellowship
Kevin Stevenson ’12, graduated from the University of Central Florida with a Ph.D. in physics (planetary sciences track) and the Order of the Pegasus. He is now a post-doctoral scholar at the University of Chicago. In January, Kevin was awarded a 2014 Sagan Postdoctoral Fellowship. It is estimated that 7 fellowships will be given out […]
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UCF Students To Ride ‘Vomit Comet’
Flying at zero gravity is usually something reserved for astronauts in training or very wealthy people with cash to burn, but six UCF students will get the chance to do so in June, courtesy of NASA. NASA selected UCF’s team to run an experiment aboard a parabolic flight as part of its Undergraduate Student Instrumentation […]