• Question: Have you ever made a new discovery in astronomy?

    Asked by rebel to Catherine on 10 Mar 2015.
    • Photo: Catherine Vlahakis

      Catherine Vlahakis answered on 10 Mar 2015:

      That’s a good question! In astronomy, most of what we do is trying to understand and show new things, but they’re usually not “big” discoveries. Discoveries big enough to make it into the news are really quite rare.

      The picture of the object HL Tau that I show on my profile page is an example of a new, big discovery, and that’s why it was in the news a lot last year (including in the BBC online news!). But I didn’t do that on my own – I have a whole team working with me here in Chile! Nowadays in astronomy that’s how any discoveries tend to be made – by big groups not individuals.

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