Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA) logo

An international team of astrophysicists, led by Northwestern University and the University of Leicester in England, has uncovered a possible origin of fast X-ray transients (FXTs) — mysterious, fleeting bursts of X-rays that have long puzzled astronomers. Using a combination of telescopes around the globe and in space, the team studied the closest FXT associated

CIERA’s Tjitske Starkenburg, Northwestern Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, and Assistant Director for Research Operations at SkAI Institute, shares her excitement about Rubin Observatory’s First Light Watch Party and the new science that will result.

The blood moon was visible during a total lunar eclipse, when Earth cast its shadow over the moon. This photo was taken by CIERA graduate student Imran Sultan, amateur astrophotographer and member of Professor Claude-André Faucher-Giguère‘s research group. Sultan photographed the entire event, which lasted about four hours early Friday morning (12-4am), using a refractor

The blood moon was visible during a total lunar eclipse, when Earth cast its shadow over the moon. This photo was taken by CIERA graduate student Imran Sultan, amateur astrophotographer and member of Professor Claude-André Faucher-Giguère‘s research group. Sultan photographed the entire event, which lasted about four hours early Friday morning (12-4am), using a refractor

The blood moon was visible during a total lunar eclipse, when Earth cast its shadow over the moon. This photo was taken by CIERA graduate student Imran Sultan, amateur astrophotographer and member of Professor Claude-André Faucher-Giguère‘s research group. Sultan photographed the entire event, which lasted about four hours early Friday morning (12-4am), using a refractor

The blood moon was visible during a total lunar eclipse, when Earth cast its shadow over the moon. This photo was taken by CIERA graduate student Imran Sultan, amateur astrophotographer and member of Professor Claude-André Faucher-Giguère‘s research group. Sultan photographed the entire event, which lasted about four hours early Friday morning (12-4am), using a refractor

This is the largest photomosaic ever assembled from Hubble Space Telescope observations. It is a panoramic view of the neighboring Andromeda galaxy, located 2.5 million light-years away. It took over 10 years to make this vast and colorful portrait of the galaxy, requiring over 600 Hubble overlapping snapshots that were challenging to stitch together. The

In a study fit for Valentine’s Day, Northwestern University astrophysicists discovered that binary black holes — when formed in crowded clusters of stars — align their spins before merging together. As the black holes orbit one another, each object has its own spin. Previous research indicated these spins should be chaotic and random. However, in

Just days after comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas (C/2023 A3) peaked at a brilliant +2 magnitude on October 12, 2024, the Lake Forest College Astronomy Club hosted a campus-wide viewing event led by senior Dean Kousiounelos in collaboration with the Physics department. During this time, the comet’s tail was visible with a good pair of binoculars, drawing in

NGC 261 blooms a brilliant ruby red against a myriad of stars in this new image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. Discovered on Sept. 5, 1826 by Scottish astronomer James Dunlop, this nebula is located in one of the Milky Way’s closest galactic companions, the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). The ionized gas blazing from within this

By studying nearby galaxy ESO320-G030, a team of international astronomers led by CIERA Postdoctoral Fellow Mark Gorski has discovered extremely dense and powerful rotating, magnetic winds help the galaxy’s central supermassive black hole grow. This image, created by CIERA Professor Aaron Geller, depicts this phenomenon. The process is strikingly similar to the birth of new