Iowans who bundle up to brave the evening chill will be able to see a relatively rare event in the January night sky, what some are calling the Parade of Planets. Allison Jaynes, a physics and astronomy professor at the University of Iowa, says Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn are all shifting into near-alignment, and two more planets — Uranus and Neptune — will join the celestial conga line later this month.

Jun Wang, University of Iowa’s Lichtenberger Family Chair in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, was awarded the 2024 Joanne Simpson Medal for mid-career scientists in recognition of significant contributions to Earth and space science. Wang has a secondary appointment in the Department of Physics and Astronomy.

In this video, "Hawkeyes at Home: Hawkeyes in Flight," from the University of Iowa Center for Advancement, our faculty and staff discuss the opportunities for physics and astronomy students to do hands-on research.

Several Department of Physics and Astronomy students were candidates for degrees at the University of Iowa Fall Commencement ceremonies on Dec. 20 and 22.

Research Scientist/Engineer George Hospodarsky gave three space physics presentations to 65 7th-grade students and their teachers at a STEAM Institute on Dec 16 at the Kirkwood Community College Linn County Regional Center.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine has released the 2024 Solar and Space Physics (Heliophysics) Decadal Survey, produced by a steering committee that included Associate Prof. Allison Jaynes.

Interactions between Earth and the sun's magnetic fields cause "space weather" which can cause problems with our electrical infrastructure. The University of Iowa is leading NASA's TRACERS mission that is studying this occurrence. On Iowa Public Radio's River to River program, host Ben Kieffer speaks with David Miles, the principal investigator on the project.

In summer 2017, University of Iowa physicist Craig Kletzing learned NASA was giving him an initial $1.25 million to flesh out a proposal to study how solar winds interact with Earth’s magnetic fields — in hopes of better understanding space weather, including to what extent it might affect satellites and other aspects of everyday life. Seven years later — after securing an additional $115 million from NASA to pursue the project in full, navigating delays through the pandemic and losing its leader in Professor Kletzing’s unexpected passing — the groundbreaking mission is nearing launch.

In just over five months, the University of Iowa will be launching its TRACERS mission which currently stands as the largest grant ever awarded to the university.

The twin spacecraft of NASA’s TRACERS (Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites) mission were recently completed, in preparation for launch in 2025.