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Short gamma-ray bursts traced farther into distant universe

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Short gamma-ray bursts traced farther into distant universe

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’s 14th Annual Public Lecture, “Cassini to Saturn: The Journey and the Legacy”

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CIERA’s 14th Annual Public Lecture, “Cassini to Saturn: The Journey and the Legacy”

CIERA 14th 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

A view of GRB221009A from Gemini South in Chile.

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A view of GRB221009A from Gemini South in Chile.

“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)

A quick jump into space — and back — for pictures of ‘star stuff’

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A quick jump into space — and back — for pictures of ‘star stuff’

On Aug. 21, a NASA-funded team that includes Northwestern faculty and students launched the “Micro-X” rocket from White Sands Missile Range in southern New Mexico. The rocket spent 15 minutes in space — just enough time to snap a quick image of supernova remnant Cassiopeia A, a star in the Cassiopeia constellation that exploded approximately

Tali Figueroa-Feliciano

  • Science

Northwestern astrophysicist contributes to Webb’s first exoplanet image

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Northwestern astrophysicist contributes to Webb’s first exoplanet image

This image shows the exoplanet HIP 65426 b in different bands of infrared light, as seen from the James Webb Space Telescope: purple shows the NIRCam instrument’s view at 3.00 micrometers, blue shows the NIRCam instrument’s view at 4.44 micrometers, yellow shows the MIRI instrument’s view at 11.4 micrometers, and red shows the MIRI instrument’s

NASA/ESA/CSA, A Carter (UCSC), the ERS 1386 team and A. Pagan (STScI)

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Northwestern University team launches rocket into space after a decade of development

Interview

Northwestern University team launches rocket into space after a decade of development

A team at Northwestern University spent a decade working on a rocket. The goal was to send it to space to take an image of the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A, a star in the constellation that exploded. On August 21, 2022, the team launched their rocket. “People just went wild,” said Tali Figeroa-Feliciano, project lead.

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Northwestern astrophysicist uses Webb Telescope as ‘time machine’ to trace origins of the universe

Interview

Northwestern astrophysicist uses Webb Telescope as ‘time machine’ to trace origins of the universe

The images of space produced by the James Webb Telescope have captured the attention of the world, giving academic experts and everyday stargazers the clearest picture of the universe ever seen. “Even astronomers, like when we look at this, we had the same reaction as everyone else,” said Allison Strom, a Northwestern University professor of physics and

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X-shaped Radio Galaxy Morphology: 3-dimensional movie of density

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X-shaped Radio Galaxy Morphology: 3-dimensional movie of density

When astronomers use radio telescopes to gaze into the night sky, they typically see elliptical-shaped galaxies, with twin jets blasting from either side of their central supermassive black hole. But every once in a while — less than 10% of the time — astronomers might spot something special and rare: An X-shaped radio galaxy, with

Aretaios Lalakos

Northwestern’s ‘Micro-X’ rocket to image supernova remnant (b roll)

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Northwestern’s ‘Micro-X’ rocket to image supernova remnant (b roll)

On Aug. 21, 2022, a NASA-funded Northwestern University team of astrophysicists launched its “Micro-X” rocket from White Sands Missile Range in southern New Mexico. The rocket spent 15 minutes in space — just enough time to snap a quick image of supernova remnant Cassiopeia A, a star in the Cassiopeia constellation that exploded approximately 11,000

Northwestern University

Northwestern’s ‘Micro-X’ rocket to image supernova remnant

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Northwestern’s ‘Micro-X’ rocket to image supernova remnant

On Aug. 21, 2022, a NASA-funded Northwestern University team of astrophysicists will launched its “Micro-X” rocket from White Sands Missile Range in southern New Mexico. The rocket spent 15 minutes in space — just enough time to snap a quick image of supernova remnant Cassiopeia A, a star in the Cassiopeia constellation that exploded approximately

Northwestern University

Micro-X rocket

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Micro-X rocket

On Aug. 21, the NASA-funded team launched its “Micro-X” rocket from White Sands Missile Range in southern New Mexico. The rocket spent 15 minutes in space — just enough time to snap a quick image of supernova remnant Cassiopeia A, a star in the Cassiopeia constellation that exploded approximately 11,000 light-years away from Earth. Then,

Northwestern University

Pillars of Creation in STARFORGE

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Pillars of Creation in STARFORGE

360° narrowband map of a star forming cloud from the STARFORGE simulations, visit http://starforge.space to see more movies or learn about the project. This 360° movie shows a massive (20,000 solar mass) star forming molecular cloud as it is being destroyed by newly born stars. This happens due to massive stars that are extremely bright

STARFORGE

CIERA’s 12th Annual Public Lecture, “Strange New Worlds: Is Earth Special?”

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CIERA’s 12th Annual Public Lecture, “Strange New Worlds: Is Earth Special?”

This lecture was presented on October 14, 2021 by Dr. Phil Plait, astronomer and best-selling author. Plait discussed the explosion in exoplanet detections since the 1990s (over four thousand so far!). These planets orbit a wide variety of stars, and themselves are all wildly different; huge, small, hot, cold, airless, or with thick atmospheres. The