Daniel Apai
Professor of Astronomy, Planetary Sciences, and Optics at The University of Arizona. I study exoplanets, build telescopes, and lead the NASA-funded Alien Earths astrobiology team. Fellow of AAAS and The Explorers Club. Own opinions.
- Pandora is up in orbit! But how did the launch feel, up close and personal? Read my blog about my experience: distantearths.com/how-did-the-...
- Our NASA’s Pandora space telescope is on orbit!! Congrats to the team and NASA, LSP, SpaceX, and everyone who helped to get to this exciting point! What will Pandora do and why is it important for exoplanet science? Read my short article on this: theconversation.com/nasas-pandor...
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- Martin: It is a compact spacecraft. Built on existing Blue Canyon spacecraft bus and a telescope from Livermore. No propulsion. These article give a more technical overview of the mission: skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne... ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2025arXi...
- Spotted a Sonora bobcat this morning just when it snatched a white-winged dove. Such a beautiful animal!
- Countdown clock in @stewardobservatory.bsky.social for our NASA Pandora Space Telescope: T-60 days!! Our team is getting ready for the launch of this incredibly exciting mission to explore worlds beyond the Solar System! #exoplanets @uazresearch.bsky.social @uarizonalpl.bsky.social
- I had fun talking about exoplanets and search for habitable worlds at The Explorers Club live event in Sedona. Sam Schwann, underwater explorer and artist followed with very cool videos of ocean exploration and swimming with sharks! Will do this again soon - next time in Tucson!
- Enjoyed talking w Bruce Dorminey in Iceland about our universal framework to assess which exoplanets & moons may be habitable. Key for search for life beyond Earth! His story: @forbes.com www.forbes.com/sites/bruced... @stewardobservatory.bsky.social @uarizonalpl.bsky.social @uarizona.bsky.social
- Much enjoyed last week's Sagan Summer School. Great to see friends, colleagues, & meet early-career scientists! My lecture and blog post on the future of exoplanet/sub-neptune research are now online: www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSzY... distantearths.com/sub-neptunes... @stewardobservatory.bsky.social
- Exciting nights! We are integrating the first prototype telescope based on Nautilus multi-order diffractive optics! At Mt Lemmon Sky Center. Our telescope is unique, custom-built to demonstrate broadband imaging with a light, flat lens! @stewardobservatory.bsky.social @uarizona.bsky.social
- Glenn was an exceptional scholar and kind colleague whose office door was always open. His debris disk images will continue to inspire. As a dedicated solar eclipse chaser, he captured the rare ethereal beauty of science around the globe. Ad Astra, Glenn! nicmosis.as.arizona.edu:8000/UMBRAPHILLIA...
- I am thrilled to speak in the College of Science Lecture Series "Can We Talk?". On March 27, Chris Impey and I will explore a really cool topic: communicating with alien civilizations! science.arizona.edu/community-en... @stewardobservatory.bsky.social @uarizona.bsky.social @uarizonalpl.bsky.social
- Excellent study of a very exciting substellar companion in the Pleiades!
- I'm very excited to share that my first (and first-author) publication is up on the arXiv today! arxiv.org/abs/2501.16429 We studied a circumbinary brown dwarf companion in the Pleiades with direct imaging taken using both apertures of the Large Bincocular Telescope.
- A great visit to White Sands National Park. We enjoyed a hike deep into the dune fields. Amazing wind-sculpted landscape! Pretty cool that the gypsum ultimately originates from layers deposited by the Permian Sea on the Pangea supercontinent about 250 million years ago!
- Our exoplanets and astrobiology research group – what a thrill to work with this amazing team on exploring new worlds! @gabeweible.bsky.social @stewardobservatory.bsky.social @bemiles.bsky.social @sailorsupernova.bsky.social @matthewmurphy.bsky.social @kevinkhu.bsky.social
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- Congratulations, Kevin! We have been fortunate to have you in our group - thank you for all you have done to support the projects, our team and students! I enjoyed working with you on Project EDEN and the Bioverse studies of the ELT exoplanet science cases. Ad Astra!
- I am honored to be elected Fellow of The Explorers Club! Very excited to join this renowned group of explorers who have been leading and supporting scientific expeditions for over a century. www.explorers.org Here's to exploring Earth and new worlds like it!
- It was fun to answer Chris Young’s questions on our Nautilus Space Observatory for his Interesting Engineering article — which includes photos of our latest lens prototype! It is time to rethink how we build space telescopes! interestingengineering.com/innovation/j... youtu.be/0aPhoYISwOI?...
