What keeps galaxies from flying apart? What is the invisible mass that bends light in space? For now, we’re calling it dark matter, and this Oct. 31, laboratories around the world are shining a light on the search for it. Dark Matter Day events include live webcasts with researchers, dark matter scavenger hunts and a Reddit AMA.
On Thursday, Oct. 17, from approximately 9 p.m. to midnight, Fermilab and the Kane County Sheriff’s Office will conduct live-gunfire tests of Fermilab’s on-site gunfire detection system. These tests will be conducted safely, using bullet traps – no live rounds will be fired into the air or into the ground, and there will be no danger to the public or wildlife. However, the sound of gunfire may be heard in neighborhoods near Fermilab on Thursday evening.
Join us on Wednesday, Sept. 25, at 6 p.m. at the Pritzker Auditorium in Chicago for a special event celebrating the life and legacy of Leon Lederman and looking forward to the future of particle physics. Presented by the Chicago Council on Science and Technology and Fermilab, in conjunction with the the Chicago Public Library, the program will include presentations, a question-and-answer panel with physicists and a miniature physics slam featuring students from IMSA.
Major deliveries in June set the stage for the next phase of work on LUX-ZEPLIN project, led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. A Fermilab group is responsible for implementing key parts of the critical systems that handle the xenon in the detector.
It took three sky surveys to prepare for a new project that will create the largest 3-D map of the universe’s galaxies and glean new insights about the universe’s accelerating expansion. This Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument project will explore this expansion, driven by a mysterious property known as dark energy, in great detail. The surveys, which wrapped up in March, have amassed images of more than 1 billion galaxies and are essential in selecting celestial objects to target with DESI, now under construction in Arizona.
For the 11th year in a row, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory is inviting families, scout troops and other youth groups to attend the Family Outdoor Fair on Sunday, June 9, from 1-4 p.m. The fair takes place outside the Lederman Science Center and highlights the plant and animal life found on the 6,800-acre Fermilab site in Batavia.
On Saturday, April 20, baby bison season officially began. The first calf of the year was born in the early morning hours, and mother and baby are doing well. Fermilab is expecting between 12 and 14 new calves this spring, and all of our neighbors are welcome to come on site to see and photograph the newborns.
The Event Horizon Telescope—a planet-scale array of eight ground-based radio telescopes forged through international collaboration—was designed to capture images of a black hole. On April 10, in coordinated news conferences across the globe, researchers revealed that they have succeeded, unveiling the first direct visual evidence of a supermassive black hole and its shadow.
On Wednesday, April 17, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m., Fermilab will offer high school students a valuable opportunity to ask STEM career questions in person. The annual STEM Career Expo, held in the atrium of Wilson Hall, will put students face to face with people actually doing the jobs they will be applying for in the coming years.
The optical lenses for the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument have seen their first light. Fermilab contributed key components to DESI, including the corrector barrel and its support structures, along with vital software that ensures the instrument’s 5,000 robotic positioners are precisely aligned with their celestial targets.