News: Department of Physics and Astronomy
![two stars in space](/sites/default/files/styles/768_width/public/articles/main-images/GSFC_20171208_Archive_e000214_orig.jpg?itok=dAqSMNJS)
To go further and faster than anything before, the Breakthrough Starshot mission will rely on unproven technology.
![Two students practice swordfighting](/sites/default/files/styles/768_width/public/articles/main-images/StageCombat.jpg?itok=VFW58uK5)
From magic and witchcraft to building robots using Legos, these wild courses can put swordfighters in training and future presidents ready to deal with environmental catastrophe.
![planet illustration](/sites/default/files/styles/768_width/public/articles/main-images/Kepler1.jpg?itok=-wFoKWji)
Passing the baton in the search for distant planets.
![Portrait Zhaohuan Zhu](/sites/default/files/styles/768_width/public/articles/main-images/D71395_006_0.jpg?itok=O6V9yigC)
UNLV scientist searches for new information and for ways to explain a complex subject to the everyday folk.
![total lunar eclipse](/sites/default/files/styles/768_width/public/articles/main-images/TotalEclipseSized.jpg?itok=OiT35eFE)
Super, blue, and eclipsed: Come Jan. 31, it's three moons in one.
![UNLV grad cap](/sites/default/files/styles/768_width/public/articles/main-images/D71514_06.jpg?itok=dHblgqm5)
Five UNLV graduates will be recognized by President Len Jessup during winter commencement for their combination of academic excellence and service to the community.
![Michael Pravica talks to Marshawn Lynch](/sites/default/files/styles/768_width/public/articles/main-images/PRavicaLynch_0.png?itok=oN42GDGD)
Physics professor Michael Pravica teams up with Raiders running back Marshawn Lynch in Bleacher Report web series.
![Image of an eclipse](/sites/default/files/styles/768_width/public/articles/main-images/Eclipse.jpg?itok=4mP-W46F)
Get ready for the sun to go dark during the day, but don't grab your shades. UNLV astrophysicist Jason Steffen on being humbled by the universe.
![Supernova 1987A](/sites/default/files/styles/768_width/public/articles/main-images/supernova1987a.jpg?itok=EpiENufw)
University Forum lecture looks back 30 years to the first time anyone since the days of Queen Elizabeth I was able to see a supernova with the naked eye.
![artwork from Inquiry: The Art of Scientific Discovery](/sites/default/files/styles/768_width/public/articles/main-images/ArtExhibitMain_0.jpg?itok=fibgDvkC)
“Inquiry: The Art of Scientific Discovery” shows the beauty of science and the artistic side of even the most lab-bound of scientists.
![Zhaohuan Zhu](/sites/default/files/styles/768_width/public/articles/main-images/D71395_006.jpg?itok=RdIQ9dRC)
Zhaohuan Zhu is the first UNLV scientist to earn fellowship for early career scholars considered ‘next generation of scientific leaders.’
![Kepler-47](/sites/default/files/styles/768_width/public/articles/main-images/681727main_kepler47_art_full.jpeg?itok=nXKImqCa)
Exoplanet discoveries have opened up brash new ways to think about the way systems operate in distant galaxies, and challenged how we approach own galactic neighborhood.