WASHINGTON – Congresswoman Rosa. L. DeLauro (Conn.-3) today announced that Wesleyan University was awarded a grant in the amount of $216,000 from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The funding will support a long-standing research project in Wesleyan’s astronomy department that monitors “young stars” for a link between their behavior and planetary origin. The grant was administered through the Origins of Solar Systems (SSO) program, which provides resources for planetary study.

“That Wesleyan was recognized by NASA with this grant is further evidence of the important research being done at this institution,” said DeLauro. “This funding will aid Wesleyan’s ongoing studies, which have already provided numerous advancements in the field of astronomy.”

Dr. William Herbst, who oversees Wesleyan’s program, said the following, “I am greatly appreciative to NASA for providing this funding and would especially like to thank Wesleyan students and observatory staff who make this research possible. I am excited to be able to carry on this study, which will help us discover where we came from.”

Herbst’s program studies the patterns of young stars, which are known to behave in erratic ways, but can hold the key to learning the origins of our solar system. Wesleyan’s astronomy department monitors stars that might be related to events caused by planet formation.

In 1995, a group of Wesleyan undergraduate students led by Herbst discovered a star that behaved unlike any other star in history. The KH 15D star, as it was coined, faded out every 48 days and remained faint for 18 days. Astronomers determined that dust, rocks and debris swirling around the star caused the light to fade. The swirling particles – the stuff of which planets are made – could reveal the dynamics of planet evolution as a newborn planet may be forming.