Using observations collected from 2009 to 2021 CIERA Professor Jason Wang has assembled a time lapse video of HR8799, the first directly imaged extrasolar planetary system. The video shows a family of four exoplanets, each more massive than Jupiter, orbiting their star and gives viewers an unprecedented glimpse into planetary motion. To construct the video,
Jason Wang/Northwestern/CIERA
The researchers say that by studying similar star systems, we can learn more about potentially habitable planets beyond Earth. Ultracool dwarfs are much fainter and dimmer than the sun, so any worlds with liquid water on their surfaces — a crucial ingredient to form and sustain life — would need to be much closer to
NASA/JPL Caltech image
Firefly video visualization of data from the the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Gaia satellite. The full demo enables users to explore all 1.46 billion stars in the Gaia DR3 dataset in real time. Firefly is a browser-based interactive particle visualization app created by CIERA researchers Alex Gurvich and Aaron Geller, in a joint venture with
Still image from a Firefly video visualization of data from the the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Gaia satellite. The full demo enables users to explore all 1.46 billion stars in the Gaia DR3 dataset in real time. Firefly is a browser-based interactive particle visualization app created by CIERA researchers Alex Gurvich and Aaron Geller, in
Professor Enectali Figueroa-Feliciano presents an Interdisciplinary Colloquium on December 1, 2022, organized by Northwestern University’s Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics. Read the full CIERA News story here.
Affectionately referred to as the B.O.A.T. (“brightest of all time”), the powerful explosion occurred approximately 2.4 billion light-years away from Earth, in the direction of the constellation Sagitta. Astrophysicists, including Jillian Rastinejad, first detected the GRB, which was a few hundred seconds in duration, in gamma-ray light on Oct. 9. Read the full Northwestern News
National Science Foundation
This Gemini North image, superimposed on an image taken with the Hubble Space Telescope, shows the telltale near-infrared afterglow of a kilonova produced by a long GRB (GRB 211211A). This discovery challenges the prevailing theory that long GRBs exclusively come from supernovae, the end-of-life explosions of massive stars. Read the full Northwestern News story: December
International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/M. Zamani; NASA/ESA
This artist’s impression shows a kilonova produced by two colliding neutron stars. While studying the aftermath of a long gamma-ray burst (GRB), two independent teams of astronomers using a host of telescopes in space and on Earth, including the Gemini North telescope on Hawai‘i and the Gemini South telescope in Chile, have uncovered the unexpected
NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/J. da Silva/Spaceengine
A broader view of GRB 211211A’s location, circled in red, captured using three filters on Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3. Read the full Northwestern News story: December 7, 2022
NASA, ESA, Rastinejad et al. (2022), Troja et al. (2022), and Gladys Kober (Catholic Univ. of America)
Gamma-ray burst 211211A, the location of which is circled in red, erupted on the outskirts of a spiral galaxy around 1 billion light-years away in the constellation Boötes. The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope captured the image with its Wide Field Camera 3 and Advanced Camera for Surveys. Read the full Northwestern News story: December 7,
NASA, ESA, Rastinejad et al. (2022), and Gladys Kober (Catholic Univ. of America)
Two neutron stars begin to merge in this illustration, blasting a jet of high-speed particles and producing a cloud of debris. Scientists think these kinds of events are factories for a significant portion of the universe’s heavy elements, including gold. Read the full Northwestern News story: December 7, 2022
A. Simonnet (Sonoma State University) and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
The field of GRB211211A. Read the full Northwestern News story: December 7, 2022
Nature/Rastinejad et al. (2002)
The kilonova and gamma-ray burst is on the right. The blue color represents material squeezed along the poles, while the red colors indicate material ejected by the two inspiralling neutron stars that is now swirling around the merged object. A disk of ejecta emitted after the merger, hidden behind the red and blue ejecta, is shown in
Aaron M. Geller/Northwestern/CIERA and IT Research Computing Services
Artist’s impression of STAR-X after its proposed launch in 2028. The aperature of the X-ray telescope is the large circular shape toward the left. The ultraviolet telescope is the outrigger tube attached to the facility’s underside.
The STAR-X team and NASA/GSFC
A Northwestern University-led team of astronomers has developed the most extensive inventory to date of the galaxies where short gamma-ray bursts (SGRBs) originate. Using several highly sensitive instruments and sophisticated galaxy modeling, the researchers, including Anya Nugent, pinpointed the galactic homes of 84 SGRBs and probed the characteristics of 69 of the identified host galaxies.
W.M. Keck Observatory/Adam Makarenko
CIERA 13th Annual Public Lecture by Dr. Carolyn Porco. October 6th, 2022 at Northwestern’s Cahn Auditorium. Thirty-two years ago, the United States and Europe joined hands and set off together on an historic adventure. It was a mission named Cassini that called for a 7-year journey across the Solar System and entry into orbit around
“This GRB is an extraordinarily rare event,” said Rastinejad, a Northwestern Ph.D. student. “It was so bright that it triggered the Swift gamma-ray telescopes twice and fully saturated the detectors — something I haven’t seen in my time observing GRBs.” “As long as we have been able to detect GRBs, there is no question that
International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/B. O'Connor (UMD/GWU) & J. Rastinejad & W. Fong (Northwestern University)
