Our Favorite Images of 2023
A year of exploration, perseverance and achievement at the University of Arizona — captured on camera
Dante Lauretta, principal investigator for NASA’s Wildcat-led OSIRIS-REx mission, celebrates in the Utah desert after the historic Sept. 24 return of a sample of the asteroid Bennu. Before the mission, the United States had never returned an asteroid sample to Earth. Lauretta serves as a Regents Professor of planetary science and cosmochemistry at the University of Arizona.
Edith Silas, a Hopi tribal member and the 2022-23 Lori Piestewa Post 80 Princess, performs a ceremonial dance during the unveiling ceremony for a new sign at Old Main in April. The sign describes Old Main as a gathering place in the Hopi language, reading: “Kiisonvi: The focal point of a community where thoughts and prayers become one to benefit all life.”
Lauretta wipes away tears of joy while speaking about the sample return. OSIRIS-REx was the dream of Lauretta’s mentor, the late Michael Drake, who previously directed the university’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory.
Students holding glowsticks gather outside Old Main during Destination Arizona, a new orientation program for first-year Wildcats.
A view of the partial solar eclipse on Oct. 14, with the Wildcat Family statue — which depicts four bobcats, including two cubs — in the foreground.
Homecoming 2023 brought together students, alumni and community members for a few days spent toasting the Wildcat spirit.
The university’s research enterprise makes it among the top institutions in the world for scholarship in multiple areas.
The Homecoming bonfire and royalty crowning on Nov. 3 preceded the Arizona football team’s 27-10 victory over UCLA — part of the program’s most successful season since 2014.