News

Because of COVID-19 lockdowns unable to travel into the zone of annularity, where a 0.3% annulus of everyday sun remained around the lunar silhouette at maximum, Prof. Pasachoff monitored the eclipse progress from Williamstown on the Web.  He had made suggestions to several observers in Oman and India for observing… Continue reading »

In line with messages from Williams College President Maud Mandel, American Astronomical Society President Megan Donahue, the American Physical Society, and many others, we stand in support of our black students, friends, and colleagues in these challenging times. Prof Jay Pasachoff, Prof Anne Jaskot, Dr. Kevin Flaherty   Protests, Justice,… Continue reading »

https://aas236-aas.ipostersessions.com/default.aspx?s=66-DC-E4-9E-8D-00-37-6C-AA-C5-FF-19-4B-CE-9B-7E&guestview=true Three seniors + two alumni joined Prof. Pasachoff in presenting an iPoster+ about results rom the June 2, 2019, total solar eclipse in Chile.  Christian Lockwood ’20, Erin Meadors ’20, John Inoue ’20, Dan Seaton ’01, Kevin Reardon ’92, and Jay Pasachoff participated in the research and exposition… Continue reading »

M61, a galaxy about 50 million light years away, is one of our favorite targets at Williams, and we were excited to recently learn of a new supernova in this galaxy! This explosion of a dying star is visible in the images below, comparing an image taken by Nicole Ford… Continue reading »

Christian Lockwood ’20 is receiving the 2020 Milham Prize in Astronomy, in recognition of an outstanding combination of hgh grades, research activity, and contributions to the Astronomy Department community.  The Prize is in memory of Willis Milham, professor of astronomy from 1901 to 1942 and the third director of the Hopkins Observatory. Continue reading »

Connor Marti, Nicole Ford, Christian Lockwood, and Johnny Inoue are all receiving high honors at graduation with the photographs taken during the last days that they were on campus this spring.  Allen Wang is getting honors in math on a joint thesis between math and astronomy. Prof. Pasachoff with… Continue reading »

Nicole Ford ’20 is one of 15 student medalists (out of 355 entrants) for the Chambliss student poster award from the last AAS meeting (Honolulu, January 2020).  Her poster is about “Understanding the Epoch of Reionization: Examining Proposed Indicators of Ionizing Radiation Escape in Nearby Star-forming Galaxies”; her advisor… Continue reading »

Attending the 235th American Astronomical Society meeting in Honolulu during January were (front row): Debbie (Maraziti) Skapik (former Lab Instructor and Observatory Supervisor at Williams 1994-1996; now at Friends Central School, near Philadelphia); Amy Steele ’08 (U Maryland grad student); Connor Marti ’20; Anne Jaskot ’08 (Assistant Professor of Astronomy… Continue reading »

On Nov 20th, Dr. Kevin Flaherty and Anneliese Silveyra ’21 were recognized by the North Berkshire Community Coalition with a Neighborly Award at a ceremony in North Adams. The Neighborlies are awards given annually to individuals and organizations across North Adams and Williamstown that have made a positive impact on… Continue reading »

Mercury will make a rare transit across the face of the sun on the morning of Monday, November 11. Mercury will appear as a tiny dot, and viewers would need a safe solar filter to reduce the sun’s brightness by a factor of about a million in order to… Continue reading »