http://newscenter.berkeley.edu News from the University of California, Berkeley Tue, 21 May 2013 23:24:03 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 http://newscenter.lbl.gov/news-releases/2012/12/04/moore-foundation-bigboss/ http://newscenter.lbl.gov/news-releases/2012/12/04/moore-foundation-bigboss/#comments Wed, 05 Dec 2012 15:50:29 +0000 Robert Sanders http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/?p=33571 A $2.1 million grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to the Berkeley Center for Cosmological Physics will fund revolutionary technologies that the proposed BigBOSS project will use to study dark energy with unprecedented precision. BigBOSS, based at Berkeley Lab, will probe the expansion history of the universe, says BCCP director Uros Seljak. professor of physics.]]> http://newscenter.lbl.gov/news-releases/2012/12/04/moore-foundation-bigboss/feed/ 0 http://news.uchicago.edu/article/2012/04/02/south-pole-telescope-homes-dark-energy-neutrinos http://news.uchicago.edu/article/2012/04/02/south-pole-telescope-homes-dark-energy-neutrinos#comments Mon, 02 Apr 2012 22:24:03 +0000 Robert Sanders http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/?p=27791 Preliminary data from the South Pole Telescope show that Einstein was probably right about the cosmological constant, which some believe can explain dark energy. UC Berkeley astrophysicists William Holzapfel & Adrian Lee, with postdoc Christian Reichardt & others, designed and built the receiver for the telescope, which explores questions of dark energy, dark matter and neutrinos.]]> http://news.uchicago.edu/article/2012/04/02/south-pole-telescope-homes-dark-energy-neutrinos/feed/ 0 http://newscenter.lbl.gov/news-releases/2012/03/30/boss-first-results/ http://newscenter.lbl.gov/news-releases/2012/03/30/boss-first-results/#comments Fri, 30 Mar 2012 17:15:32 +0000 Robert Sanders http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/?p=27649 The Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) has made the most accurate measurement yet of the distance scale of the universe during the era when dark energy turned on some 6 billion years ago. The precision measurements - the best of any galaxy survey, according to UC Berkeley astronomer Martin White - will allow exploration of the enigmatic nature of dark energy.]]> http://newscenter.lbl.gov/news-releases/2012/03/30/boss-first-results/feed/ 0 http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2011/12/15/hubble-images-help-pin-down-identity-of-august-supernova%e2%80%99s-companion-star/ http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2011/12/15/hubble-images-help-pin-down-identity-of-august-supernova%e2%80%99s-companion-star/#comments Thu, 15 Dec 2011 17:27:33 +0000 Robert Sanders http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/?p=22421 Thanks to images obtained over the past nine years by the Hubble Space Telescope, UC Berkeley astronomers were able to narrow down the identity of the companion star to a supernova first observed in August. It was not a bright red giant or helium star, but probably a more modest star like the sun, a subgiant or even a white dwarf.]]> http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2011/12/15/hubble-images-help-pin-down-identity-of-august-supernova%e2%80%99s-companion-star/feed/ 0 http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2011/12/13/saul-perlmutter-receives-nobel-prize-in-stockholm/ http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2011/12/13/saul-perlmutter-receives-nobel-prize-in-stockholm/#comments Tue, 13 Dec 2011 17:49:01 +0000 Robert Sanders http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/?p=22152 Saul Perlmutter, UC Berkeley and Berkeley Lab physicist, was feted in Stockholm, Sweden, last week before receiving his Nobel Prize medal on Saturday, Dec. 10, during a ceremony at the Stockholm Concert Hall. Perlmutter shared the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics with Brian Schmidt and Adam Riess.]]> http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2011/12/13/saul-perlmutter-receives-nobel-prize-in-stockholm/feed/ 0 http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2011/11/02/perlmutter-filippenko-in-nova-special-premiering-tonight/ http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2011/11/02/perlmutter-filippenko-in-nova-special-premiering-tonight/#comments Wed, 02 Nov 2011 17:09:43 +0000 Robert Sanders http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/?p=19581 Newly minted Nobel Laureate Saul Perlmutter is among the physicists and astronomers interviewed in the premier episode of a four-part NOVA series, "The Fabric of the Cosmos," which airs tonight on PBS stations around the country. In the San Francisco Bay Area, the one-hour episode can be viewed on KQED-TV at 9 p.m.]]> http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2011/11/02/perlmutter-filippenko-in-nova-special-premiering-tonight/feed/ 0 http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2011/10/04/perlmutters-excellent-day/ http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2011/10/04/perlmutters-excellent-day/#comments Tue, 04 Oct 2011 22:12:36 +0000 Public Affairs http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/?p=17456 For Berkeley physicist Saul Perlmutter, Tuesday, Oct. 4 began before 3 a.m. with a press call from Sweden, and soon a meaningful moment with his sleepy but excited 8-year-old. Then — quickly and inevitably — came the deluge of phone calls and e-mails, celebratory events and photo ops. And, it goes without saying, a coveted parking pass. ]]> http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2011/10/04/perlmutters-excellent-day/feed/ 0 http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2011/10/04/saul-perlmutter-awarded-2011-nobel-prize-in-physics/ http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2011/10/04/saul-perlmutter-awarded-2011-nobel-prize-in-physics/#comments Tue, 04 Oct 2011 10:38:59 +0000 Robert Sanders http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/?p=17379 Saul Perlmutter, UC Berkeley professor of physics and LBNL senior scientist, will share the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics with two other scientists, including former UC Berkeley postdoc Adam Riess, for their discovery that the expansion of the universe is accelerating. This discovery in 1998 led to the realization that the universe is largely composed of an enigmatic "dark energy."]]> http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2011/10/04/saul-perlmutter-awarded-2011-nobel-prize-in-physics/feed/ 0 http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2011/10/04/survey-gives-clues-to-origin-of-type-ia-supernovae/ http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2011/10/04/survey-gives-clues-to-origin-of-type-ia-supernovae/#comments Tue, 04 Oct 2011 09:48:51 +0000 Robert Sanders http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/?p=17348 One white dwarf or two? That's what astronomers have been asking about Type Ia supernovae, the key to measuring cosmic distance. Is the explosion from one white dwarf grown fat from feeding off another star, or are two white dwarfs merging? A new study suggests the latter.]]> http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2011/10/04/survey-gives-clues-to-origin-of-type-ia-supernovae/feed/ 0