Medium-sized black holes eat stars like messy toddlers
Elusive intermediate-mass black holes take a few bites, then eject the leftovers If they exist, intermediate-mass black holes likely devour wayward stars like a...
News
Wen-fai Fong named ‘Rising Star’ by Astronomy Magazine
Honor recognizes 25 distinguished early career astronomers Astronomy Magazine named Northwestern University astrophysicist Wen-fai Fong to its list of “Rising Stars in Astronomy,” an honor recognizing...
Graduate student’s photos of green comet featured in major media outlets
A green-hued comet has made its closest approach to Earth, wowing night sky watchers in the Northern Hemisphere who caught a glimpse of the...
Watch distant worlds dance around their sun
Stunning new time lapse video shows 12 years of exoplanets orbiting their star In 2008, HR8799 was the first extrasolar planetary system ever directly...
First exoplanet detected with Gaia satellite found to be undergoing nuclear fusion
An international team of scientists including CIERA Professor Jason Wang have used the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Gaia satellite to detect a new exoplanet undergoing...
Ultracool dwarf binary stars break records
Astrophysicists discover the closest and oldest ultracool dwarf binary ever observed Northwestern University and the University of California San Diego (UC San Diego) astrophysicists...
Surprise kilonova upends established understanding of long gamma-ray bursts
Long gamma-ray bursts can be generated by neutron star mergers, study finds For nearly two decades, astrophysicists have believed that long gamma-ray bursts (GRBs)...
Short gamma-ray bursts traced farther into distant universe
Most robust inventory to date catalogs SGRBs’ host galaxies, characteristics A Northwestern University-led team of astronomers has developed the most extensive inventory to date...
What makes gamma-ray bursts blink on and off?
The most energetic events in the universe have a strange habit of going silent mid-blast, stumping astrophysicists. But new simulations suggest a surprising answer....
Brightest-ever gamma-ray burst breaks records
Once-in-a-lifetime event was likely generated by a massive star collapse Affectionately referred to as the B.O.A.T. (“brightest of all time”), the powerful explosion occurred...
Northwestern astrophysicist contributes to Webb’s first exoplanet image
Jason Wang helped the team reveal the planet hidden behind its host star’s glare For the first time, a team of astronomers — including...
Stars determine their own masses
Simulations show why stars formed in different environments have similar masses Last year, a team of astrophysicists including key members from Northwestern University launched...