An international team of scientists led by astronomers at the University of Victoria has discovered an ancient group of stars orbiting our own galaxy, the Milky Way. The newly discovered satellite consists of only five dozen bright stars spread over a volume just 10 light years across. This is miniscule compared to the Milky Way, which contains over ten billion stars, and measures a hundred thousand light years in diameter.

From testing environmental stresses on plants to understanding mysteries of the universe, five University of Victoria (UVic) research projects received infrastructure support from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI).

Open any astronomy textbook to the section on white dwarf stars and you’ll likely learn that they are “dead stars” that continuously cool down over time. New research published in Nature is challenging this theory, with the University of Victoria (UVic) and its partners using data from the European Space Agency’s Gaia satellite to reveal why a population of white dwarf stars stopped cooling for more than eight billion years.

Two passionate BC students—one focused on space, the other on cyberspace—who are planning to pursue an education in the sciences at the University of Victoria are among the 100 elite scholars from across Canada recently named Schulich Leaders. Mohammad Awwad was named the 2023 Schulich Leader Scholar in Engineering and will be entering UVic from North Surrey Secondary School while Evan Warburton, a recent graduate of Oak Bay Secondary School, is the 2022 Schulich Leader Scholar in Science. Awwad and Warburton have demonstrated a deep interest in and dedication to technology and astronomy respectively, and both worked to share their knowledge and enthusiasm with peers.

Whether it’s amplifying voices, empowering communities through technology or reconnecting cultural traditions and plant-based knowledge, three UVic alumni are at the forefront of creating positive change for Indigenous people. They are all among the recipients of the 2023 Distinguished Alumni Awards, announced today.

From the far reaches of outer space to the intersection of Indigenous science and self-care, the recipients of the 2023 University of Victoria Distinguished Alumni Awards span the globe and beyond.

An unexpected and substantial legacy gift from the estate of renowned Calgarian and philanthropist Margaret (Marmie) Hess is supporting graduate and post-doctoral researchers at the University of Victoria across the sciences. The gift created a $2 million endowment to fund two graduate student awards, with the remaining $500,000 funding research grants for post-doctoral fellows.

Physics and astronomy student Tess Grindlay's co-op work term with the Canadian Space Agency is one of more than 100,000 that students UVic students have completed since the program was established in 1976.

It's the first UVic satellite in space: the innovative miniature ORCASat is set to launch on a NASA rocket after winning a national contest held by the Canadian Space Agency.

Astrophysicist and UVic alum Louise Edwards was one of the first Black Canadians to earn a PhD in physics. She’s an expert on the evolution of galaxies, her face has appeared on a Canadian stamp—and she’s only getting started.

Astrophysicist and UVic alum Julie Claveau has taken a fascinating career trajectory to her current work on the James Webb Telescope, which will reveal new secrets of the universe.

UVic astronomer Kim Venn co-led an international team that found one of these traces—a first-of-its-kind discovery that was published in Nature earlier this year. Not only was it a breakthrough for what they found—a star cluster with the lowest concentration of metals ever observed—it was made possible by making two ground-based telescopes work together in a new way. 

Together with an international research team, UVic astronomer Ruobing Dong uncovered the first evidence of a stellar flyby disturbing the protoplanetary disk—or birthplace of planets—using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (JVLA).

Like catching lightning in a jar, UVic astronomer Ruobing Dong with international team uncover first evidence of a stellar intruder object, or flyby, disturbing a protoplanetary disk the birthplace of planets.

Newly discovered star cluster opens a unique window into galaxy formation from ancient times and challenges longstanding theories, thanks to international collaboration.

Eight UVic researchers in the fields of science, social sciences, engineering, and humanities have been recognized by the Royal Society of Canada, the country’s highest academic honour.