Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA)

Spin separates giant planets from ‘failed stars’

Clearest evidence yet that giant planets spin faster than their cosmic lookalikes

Gravitational-wave detections double with new catalog

New crop includes heaviest, most lopsided and fastest-spinning black hole binaries

Registration Open for CIERA's Astronomy Night Out on May 28

Northwestern's Nick Winters to present 'Heavenly Spheres: How Ancient Greece and Rome Mapped the Cosmos

NASA Astronaut Kate Rubins Visits Northwestern

On February 3, CIERA joined the Center for Synthetic Biology in welcoming Dr. Kate Rubins to campus.

Research at CIERA

Researchers at CIERA study a wide variety of topics, all with the aim of advancing the field of astrophysics and expanding our understanding of the Universe.

Black Holes & Dead Stars

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Black Holes & Dead Stars

Supermassive, Intermediate & Stellar Mass Black Holes, White Dwarfs, Neutron Stars . . .

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Exoplanets & The Solar System

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Exoplanets & The Solar System

Planet Formation, Planet Dynamics, Protoplanetary Disks . . .

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Galaxies & Cosmology

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Galaxies & Cosmology

Galaxy Formation, Intergalactic Medium, Galaxy Clusters, Early Universe . . .

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Gravitational Waves & Multi-Messenger Astronomy

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Gravitational Waves & Multi-Messenger Astronomy

Black Hole & Neutron Star Mergers, Gravitational Wave Sources & Their Electromagnetic Counterparts . . .

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Life & Death of Stars

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Life & Death of Stars

Interstellar Medium, Star Formation & Evolution, Supernovae & Their Remnants . . .

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Stellar Dynamics & Stellar Populations

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Stellar Dynamics & Stellar Populations

Star Clusters, Galactic Nuclei, Stellar Collisions & Mergers, Interacting Binaries . . .

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Our Faculty

There are many different methods used to study the cosmos. CIERA researchers use observations and data science to make new discoveries, use theory and computation to explain and predict what we see, and build innovative new instruments to see farther and in more detail than ever before.