News
On August 4, 2024, the shadow of Pluto swept across the Earth cast by a star 500 times fainter than the eye can detect. As it happened, UVA Astronomy professor Michael Skrutskie staffed a brand new a new 0.5-meter Hubble Optics telescope in the middle of the Kalahari Desert in South Africa. Skrutskie was part of a six-person team, which also included four UWC faculty and students and fellow UVA Professor Anne Verbiscer. The team had spent about a week in Cape Town setting up the telescope, donated by UVA to UWC, before heading 500 miles north to view the occultation. In the approximately one-second-long event, they gained invaluable information about Pluto and its atmosphere.