Prof. Fong Receives NSF Honor for Young Faculty
Professor Wen-fai Fong has received the prestigious Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the foundation’s most prestigious honor for...
News
Welcome New CIERA Postdoctoral Researchers
We are pleased to announce the following postdoctoral researchers joining CIERA this summer and fall, 2021. Welcome! CIERA Postdoctoral Fellows Tarraneh Eftekhari (Harvard) joins...
New Kind of Space Explosion Reveals the Birth of a Black Hole
In 2018, astronomers were shocked to find a bizarre explosion in a galaxy 200 million light-years away. It wasn’t like any normal supernova seen...
CIERA Astronomy LIVE Debuts on YouTube
On January 29, 2021, CIERA debuted its new public outreach event CIERA Astronomy LIVE to an audience of about 45 people. The YouTube live...
Rare Short Gamma-ray Burst Discovered in Galaxy Cluster
New evidence helps astronomers learn about SGRB ancestors Banner image: The surrounding environment of SGRB 161104A, which includes a galaxy cluster. Image taken by...
Growing Library of Educational Brochures by CIERA Astronomers
A new educational brochure series has debuted from CIERA, highlighting various topics in astrophysics research at Northwestern. The brochures are written in publicly accessible...
CIERA Welcomes New Faculty Members Ryan Chornock and Daniel Lecoanet
This fall, we are excited to welcome Ryan Chornock and Daniel Lecoanet to CIERA as two new astrophysics faculty members. Ryan Chornock joins as...
4th Award of LSSTC Enabling Science Grant to CIERA’s Aaron Geller
For the fourth year in a row, Research Assistant Professor Aaron Geller was awarded an Enabling Science Grant from the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope Corporation (LSSTC), to...
Calcium-rich supernova examined with X-rays for first time
Unprecedented observations shine light on a compact star’s final moments Artist’s interpretation of the calcium-rich supernova 2019ehk. Shown in orange is the calcium-rich material...
Spectacular ultraviolet flash may finally explain how white dwarfs explode
Event also could give insight into dark energy and the creation of iron Composite image of SN2019yvq (blue dot) in the host galaxy NGC...
Short Gamma Ray Burst Leaves Most-distant Optical Afterglow Ever Detected
Image Credit: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/K. Paterson & W. Fong (Northwestern University) The farther away an object lies in the universe, the fainter it appears...
Astrophysicists Capture New Class of Transient Objects
Artist’s illustration comparing FBOTs to normal supernovae and gamma-ray bursts. Credit: Bill Saxton, NRAO/AUI/NSF ‘A new beast is out there,’ researcher says of object...