A Rising Star In Astronomy

In today’s show, written by Karen Doss Bowman is a freelance writer living in Bridgewater, VA, we look at Rachael Beaton, a first year grad student at the University of Virginia, whose galactic discoveries have earned her international attention.

First-year graduate students aren’t usually given historic research assignments. But after years of waiting for the opportunity to make their first observation on the Large Binocular Telescope or LBT, in Tucson, Ariz., UVa’s astronomy faculty voted last fall to bestow the honor on first-year graduate student Rachael Beaton (Astronomy-Physics, Mathematics ’07, MS Astronomy ’10).

Beaton used the LBT, whose construction was completed last fall and is the world’s largest optical telescope in which the University shares ownership, to take images of one of the breakthrough discoveries she had made before receiving her undergraduate degree, a dwarf galaxy she had discovered in 2006…

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