W.M. Keck Foundation Gift to Enable Caltech and JPL Scientists to Research the Universe's Violent Origin
11/10/2008

Jon Weiner
The W.M. Keck Foundation has awarded $2.3 million to the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) to fund the Keck Array--a suite of three microwave polarimeters at the South Pole--and the corresponding research initiative, "Imaging the Beginning of Time: A Search for the Signature of Inflation in the Cosmic Microwave Background." "Einstein's Cosmic Messengers" Multimedia Concert Inspired by Quest for Gravitational Waves 10/24/2008 ## "Einstein's Cosmic Messengers" Multimedia Concert Inspired by Quest for Gravitational Waves Martin Voss Join two world-renowned California Institute of Technology (Caltech) physicists and an award-winning composer for the world premiere of "Einstein's Cosmic Messengers," an inventive multimedia concert. Inspired by Caltech's involvement with the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO), the presentation takes an innovative approach to communicating scientific exploration and discovery to the general public. The event takes place Thursday, October 30, at 8 p.m., in Beckman Auditorium on the Caltech campus. Keck Telescope and "Cosmic Lens" Resolve Nature and Fate of Early Star-Forming Galaxy 10/08/2008 ## Keck Telescope and "Cosmic Lens" Resolve Nature and Fate of Early Star-Forming Galaxy Kathy Svitil Astronomers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and their colleagues have provided unique insight into the nature of a young star-forming galaxy as it appeared only two billion years after the Big Bang and determined how the galaxy may eventually evolve to become a system like our own Milky Way. Caltech Scientist Proposes Explanation for Puzzling Property of Night-Shining Clouds at the Edge of Space 09/25/2008 ## Caltech Scientist Proposes Explanation for Puzzling Property of Night-Shining Clouds at the Edge of Space Kathy Svitil An explanation for a strange property of noctilucent clouds--thin, wispy clouds hovering at the edge of space at 85 km altitude--has been proposed by an experimental plasma physicist at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), possibly laying to rest a decades-long mystery. MacArthur Foundation Names Alexei Kitaev Latest Caltech "Genius" 09/22/2008 ## MacArthur Foundation Names Alexei Kitaev Latest Caltech "Genius" Sonia Chernobieff Alexei Kitaev, a California Institute of Technology (Caltech) faculty member, has been named a MacArthur Fellow, winning one of the five-year,$500,000 grants that are awarded annually to creative, original individuals and that are often referred to as the "genius" awards.
Caltech Astronomers Describe the Bar Scene at the Beginning of the Universe
07/29/2008

## Caltech Astronomers Describe the Bar Scene at the Beginning of the Universe

Kathy Svitil

Bars abound in spiral galaxies today, but this was not always the case. A group of 16 astronomers, led by Kartik Sheth of NASA's Spitzer Science Center at the California Institute of Technology, has found that bars tripled in number over the past seven billion years, indicating that spiral galaxies evolve in shape.

Rare 'Star-making Machine' Found in Distant Universe
07/10/2008

## Rare 'Star-making Machine' Found in Distant Universe

Kathy Svitil

Astronomers have uncovered an extreme stellar machine -- a galaxy in the very remote universe pumping out stars at a surprising rate of up to 4,000 per year. In comparison, our own Milky Way galaxy turns out an average of just 10 stars per year.

LIGO Observations Probe the Dynamics of the Crab Pulsar
06/02/2008

## LIGO Observations Probe the Dynamics of the Crab Pulsar

Kathy Svitil
The search for gravitational waves has revealed new information about the core of one of the most famous objects in the sky: the Crab Pulsar in the Crab Nebula. An analysis by the international LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) Scientific Collaboration to be submitted to Astrophysical Journal Letters has shown that no more than 4 percent of the energy loss of the pulsar is caused by the emission of gravitational waves.
Astrophysicist Wins One of First Kavli Prizes
05/30/2008

## Astrophysicist Wins One of First Kavli Prizes

Quasars--now known to be compact halos of matter that surround the massive black holes of distant galaxies--were once thought to be stars in our own galaxy. Now, Maarten Schmidt, who showed that quasars are thousands of millions of light-years away from Earth, has been named one of the first recipients of the \$1 million Kavli Prize for his contributions to the field of astrophysics.
Stellar Death Caught in the Act
05/21/2008