BERKELEY, CA – The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation of San Francisco has awarded $2,377,000 to the University of California at Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory, in support of the Nearby Supernova Factory (SNfactory). The grant is intended to further dark energy research through the study and understanding of nearby Type Ia supernovae, a special class of very bright exploding stars.

The grant is one of five the Moore Foundation has recently made to the University of California system in astronomy and astrophysics, including grants for the creation of a 30-meter telescope (with Caltech) and to the Mount Wilson Observatory, and grants for studies of stellar atmospheres and adaptive optics. The SNfactory grant, made through UC Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory, is directed to the "development of tools critical for greater understanding of Type Ia supernovae as indicators of dark energy."

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