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

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

Between May 10 – 14, 2024 a series of powerful solar storms led to the production of visible aurorae far further towards the equator than normal. This photo was taken by CIERA Postdoctoral Fellow Sharan Banagiri. Banagiri captured this photo between 9 and 10PM on May 10 at Hollywood Beach in Edgewater, Chicago, Illinois, featuring

Between May 10 – 14, 2024 a series of powerful solar storms led to the production of visible aurorae far further towards the equator than normal. This photo was taken by CIERA Postdoctoral Fellow Sharan Banagiri. Banagiri captured this photo between 9 and 10PM on May 10 at Hollywood Beach in Edgewater, Chicago, Illinois. When

Between May 10 – 14, 2024 a series of powerful solar storms led to the production of visible aurorae far further towards the equator than normal. This photo was taken by CIERA Postdoctoral Fellow Sharan Banagiri. Banagiri captured this photo between 9 and 10PM on May 10 at Hollywood Beach in Edgewater, Chicago, Illinois. When

Between May 10 – 14, 2024 a series of powerful solar storms led to the production of visible aurorae far further towards the equator than normal. This photo was taken by CIERA Postdoctoral Fellow Sharan Banagiri. Banagiri captured this photo between 9 and 10PM on May 10 at Hollywood Beach in Edgewater, Chicago, Illinois. When

Between May 10 – 14, 2024 a series of powerful solar storms led to the production of visible aurorae far further towards the equator than normal. This photo was taken by CIERA graduate student Imran Sultan, amateur astrophotographer and member of Professor Claude-André Faucher-Giguère‘s research group. Sultan took this photo on May 10 in Evanston.

Between May 10 – 14, 2024 a series of powerful solar storms led to the production of visible aurorae far further towards the equator than normal. This photo was taken by CIERA graduate student Imran Sultan, amateur astrophotographer and member of Professor Claude-André Faucher-Giguère‘s research group. Sultan took this photo from dark skies in Wisconsin

Between May 10 – 14, 2024 a series of powerful solar storms led to the production of visible aurorae far further towards the equator than normal. This photo was taken by CIERA graduate student Imran Sultan, amateur astrophotographer and member of Professor Claude-André Faucher-Giguère‘s research group. Sultan took this photo from dark skies in Wisconsin

Between May 10 – 14, 2024 a series of powerful solar storms led to the production of visible aurorae far further towards the equator than normal. This photo was taken by CIERA graduate student Imran Sultan, amateur astrophotographer and member of Professor Claude-André Faucher-Giguère‘s research group. Sultan took this photo from dark skies in Wisconsin

Between May 10 – 14, 2024 a series of powerful solar storms led to the production of visible aurorae far further towards the equator than normal. This photo, taken by CIERA Postdoctoral Fellow Meng Sun captures a pinkish aurora in Virginia. Dr. Sun captured the shot on May 10 from Chris Greene Lake Park in

Between May 10 – 14, 2024 a series of powerful solar storms led to the production of visible aurorae far further towards the equator than normal. This photo, taken by CIERA Postdoctoral Fellow Meng Sun captures a pinkish aurora in Virginia. Dr. Sun captured the shot on May 10 from Chris Greene Lake Park in

Between May 10 – 14, 2024 a series of powerful solar storms led to the production of visible aurorae far further towards the equator than normal. This photo, taken by CIERA Postdoctoral Fellow Meng Sun depicts the aurora visible over Lake Michigan. Dr. Sun captured the shot on May 11 on a flight back from

Near Rigel, a bright star found in the constellation Orion, lies the Witch Head Nebula (look closely to see the face!). This nebula is a reflection nebula– a cloud of dust that is lit up by nearby stars. Rigel’s starlight reflects off the dust to light up this very faint nebula. Photographer and CIERA graduate

In sufficiently dark skies, you can spot a handful of stars packed closely together. This is an open star cluster called the Pleiades, also known as the Seven Sisters. Photographer and CIERA graduate student Imran Sultan’s image shows the Pleiades in the center and the nearby reflection nebulosity (there are evidently many more stars than

A 31.5 solar-mass black hole with an 8.38 solar-mass black hole companion viewed in front of its (computer generated) stellar nursery prior to merging. The distant band of the Milky Way can be seen toward the lower-left of the black hole pair. Light is warped nearby the black holes due to their strong gravity. The