About Us
Founded in 1944, the American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science develops philanthropic support for the Weizmann Institute in Israel, and advances its mission of science for the benefit of humanity.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/rare-star-to-supernova-link-established/
Mar 22, 2009...
A supernova, or stellar explosion, some 200 million light-years away has been traced to its progenitor star, one of only a few times the source of a supernova has been identified based on pre- and post-supernova images.
Astrophysicist Avishay Gal-Yam of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, and astronomer Douglas Leonard of San Diego State University used images from the Hubble Space Telescope to single out the star. In 1997 images, there was a bright light source near where the explosion, dubbed SN 2005gl, was detected in 2005.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/super-supernovae/
May 22, 2013...
HIGHEST-ENERGY SUPERNOVAE might look quite spectacular from a planet orbiting the exploding star, but any civilization would most likely be obliterated. Illustration by Ron Miller.
In the middle of 2005 the W. M. Keck observatory on Mauna Kea in Hawaii completed an upgrade of one of its giant twin telescopes. By automatically correcting for atmospheric turbulence, the instrument could now produce images as sharp as those from the Hubble Space Telescope. Shrinivas Kulkarni of the California Institute of Technology urged young Caltech researchers—myself among them—to apply for observing time. Once the rest of the astronomy community realized how terrific the telescopes were, he warned us, securing a slot would become very competitive.
May 24, 2010...
Not all explosions are created equal: It’s as true for film effects as it is for the stars. Yet, until now, scientists had only observed two basic kinds of exploding stars, known as supernovae. Now, scientists at the Weizmann Institute of Science, in collaboration with others around the world, have identified a third type of supernova. Their findings appeared this week in Nature.
The first two types of supernova are either hot, young giants that go out in a violent display as they collapse under their own weight, or old, dense, white dwarves that blow up in a thermonuclear explosion. The new supernova appeared in telescope images in early January 2005, and scientists, seeing that it had recently begun the process of exploding, started collecting and combining data from different telescope sites around the world, measuring both the amount of material thrown off in the explosion and its chemical makeup. But Dr. Avishay Gal-Yam, Hagai Perets (now at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), Iair Arcavi, and Michael Kiewe of the Weizmann Institute’s Faculty of Physics, together with Paolo Mazzali of the Max-Planck Institute for Astrophysics, Germany, the Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, and INAF/Padova Observatory in Italy, Prof. David Arnett from the University of Arizona, and researchers from across the US, Canada, Chile, and the UK, soon found that the new supernova did not fit either of the known patterns.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/jupiter-s-stormy-winds-churn-deep-into-the-planet/
Oct 19, 2017...
A ring of cyclones swirls around Jupiter's south pole.
NASA’s Juno spacecraft has plumbed the depths of Jupiter, revealing that the planet’s famous bands of swirling winds extend thousands of kilometres down. The work is the sharpest glimpse yet into Jupiter’s interior.
Jupiter’s colourful stripes are atmospheric patterns composed of winds that flow alternately east and west. Until now, researchers haven’t been able to say whether those bands are confined to a shallow layer or reach deeper into the planet. “Determining this is one of the main goals of the Juno mission,” said team member Yohai Kaspi, a geophysicist at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, on 18 October at the American Astronomical Society’s Division for Planetary Sciences meeting in Provo, Utah.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/unveiling-the-depths-of-jupiter-s-winds/
Mar 07, 2018...
Jupiter’s south pole, taken during a Juno flyby, Dec 16, 2017. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Kevin M. Gill
REHOVOT, ISRAEL—March 7, 2018—Three papers appearing in Nature on March 8 answer a question that scientists have been asking ever since Galileo first observed the famous stripes of Jupiter: Are the colorful bands just a pretty surface phenomenon, or are they a significant stratum of the planet? The Weizmann Institute of Science’s Prof. Yohai Kaspi led this research, in which measurements from NASA’s Juno spacecraft were analyzed to reveal that the stripes – belts of strong winds circling the planet – extend to a depth of about 3,000 km (about 1,900 miles). That is quite a bit deeper than previous estimates, and is revising scientists’ picture of Jupiter’s atmosphere as well as its inner layers.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/beresheet-lunar-landing-site-revealed/
Mar 17, 2019...
The Beresheet landing site
REHOVOT, ISRAEL—March 17, 2019—The main scientific instrument on board the Israeli Beresheet spacecraft, the SpaceIL Magnetometer (SILMAG), has now been successfully turned on in space and data returned to Earth. After its successful launch, Beresheet is circling Earth on its journey to the Moon. Prof. Oded Aharonson of the Weizmann Institute of Science is heading the team that is currently analyzing the SILMAG information to evaluate the health and accuracy of the instrument in space, as well as recording the magnetic signature of the spacecraft itself, which will then be subtracted from the measurements made on the Moon.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/israeli-eyes-on-jupiter-orbiter/
Jun 30, 2016...
Image: NASA
On July 4, NASA’s Juno spacecraft will be entering orbit around Jupiter, the largest planet in the Solar System. Its extended trip – more than 2 billion kilometers over nearly five years – will be over, but its work will just be beginning. Following some intricate maneuvers, the spacecraft will go into a unique 14-day orbit that will allow it to get as close as 4000 km above the cloud tops of the planet – much closer than any mission ever before flown.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/israeli-space-team-still-shooting-for-the-moon/
Apr 02, 2018...
SpaceIL’s lunar module on a simulated moon backdrop. Photo: courtesy
“We are moving forward with the project, regardless of the terms or status of the Google Lunar X Prize,” said newly appointed SpaceIL CEO Ido Anteby, formerly of the Israel Atomic Energy Commission.
“SpaceIL and Israel Aerospace Industries are committed to landing the first Israeli spacecraft on the moon, and we plan to launch before the end of this year.”
May 21, 2014...
A brilliant supernova (right) explodes in the galaxy UGC 9379, located about 360 million light-years from Earth, in this before-and-after view. The left image was taken by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, while the right image was obtained with a 60-inch telescope at the Palomar Observatory. Credit: Avishay Gal-Yam, Weizmann Institute of Science
The most massive and luminous stars were long suspected to explode when they die, and astronomers now have the most direct evidence yet that these cosmic behemoths go out with a bang.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/science-tips-august-2007/
Aug 28, 2007...
A Computer Simulation Shows How Evolution May Have Speeded Up
Is heading straight for a goal the quickest way there? If the name of the game is evolution, suggests new research at the Weizmann Institute of Science, the pace might speed up if the goals themselves change continuously.
Nadav Kashtan, Elad Noor, and Prof. Uri Alon of the Institute’s Molecular Cell Biology and Physics of Complex Systems Departments create computer simulations that mimic natural evolution, allowing them to investigate processes that, in nature, take place over millions of years. In these simulations, a population of digital genomes evolves over time towards a given goal: to maximize fitness under certain conditions. Like living organisms, genomes that are better adapted to their environment may survive to the next generation or reproduce more prolifically. But such computer simulations, though sophisticated, don’t yet have all the answers. Achieving even simple goals may take thousands of generations, raising the question of whether the three-or-so billion years since life first appeared on the planet is long enough to evolve the diversity and complexity that exist today.
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