Interstellar Medium, Molecular Clouds, Star Formation & Evolution, Supernovae & Their Remnants, Long Gamma-ray Bursts, Cosmic Rays
Image credit: ALMA / ESO / NAOJ / NRAO / Alexandra Angelich, NRAO / AUI / NSF.
Stars are the fundamental building blocks and probes of the Universe. They are formed in stellar nurseries enshrouded by dust and gas, and end their lives in violent explosions, creating some of the most captivating events one can witness. Faculty in CIERA study, model, and observe many stages of a star’s life from birth to death, the planets formed around them, how they impact their environments, as well as the compact remnants they leave behind.
Research at CIERA
Evolving to the end states of stellar evolution, Professor Fong’s team uses radio and optical observations to study and model relativistic explosions called gamma-ray bursts and their host galaxy environments, probing star formation from the local neighborhood to the high-redshift Universe. Professor Margutti’s group uses multi-wavelength observations to study the last chapter of the stellar story including gamma-ray bursts, the most luminous supernovae, and new classes of enigmatic transients. Professor Tchekhovskoy uses state-of-the-art simulations to study the formation of relativistic jets in core-collapse gamma ready busts.
Opportunities
Deadline: 11:59pm, February 16, 2020
CIERA is pleased to announce the High School Summer Research Experience in Astronomy at Northwestern during Summer 2020. This highly-interactive, small-cohort program provides exposure to real astronomy research experiences in an atmosphere of team-style learning, hands-on training, and individual mentorship and advising. Students enrolled in the research experience program will: take computer programming
News
Gallery
Press Conference: “Astronomers Have a Cow”
Press Conference: “Astronomers Have a Cow”
233rd Meeting of the American Astronomical Society, Seattle, WA Thursday, 10 January 2019
- Science
CIERA’s 10th Annual Public Lecture, “The NU Astronomy of Stars, Black Holes, and Cosmic Explosions”
CIERA’s 10th Annual Public Lecture, “The NU Astronomy of Stars, Black Holes, and Cosmic Explosions”
CIERA’s 10th annual public lecture was presented October 11, 2018 by director Vicky Kalogera. Kalogera’s talk–a glimpse into the years of fascinating work conducted by CIERA–highlighted key discoveries and what they mean for the future of astronomy. Kalogera discussed the lives of stars, how their influence on the Cosmos has changed in the recent decade,
CIERA / Northwestern
- Event,
- Interdisciplinary
Radio Rebound Powered by Jets from Gamma-Ray Burst
Radio Rebound Powered by Jets from Gamma-Ray Burst
Astronomers using ALMA studied a cataclysmic stellar explosion known as a gamma-ray burst, or GRB, and found its enduring “afterglow.” The rebound, or reverse shock, triggered by the GRB’s powerful jets slamming into surrounding debris, lasted thousands of times longer than expected. These observations provide fresh insights into the physics of GRBs, one of the
National Radio Astronomy Observatory
How many merger binary black holes are there?
How many merger binary black holes are there?
How many merger binary black holes are there? There are lots of uncertainties in our understanding of stellar evolution. This plot shows one prediction from the COMPAS population synthesis code for the number of gravitational-wave detections: there would be about 500 detections per year of observing time once our detectors reach design sensitivity! In Barrett, Gaebel,
Barrett, Gaebel, Neijssel, Vigna-Gómez, Stevenson, Berry, Farr, & Mandel (2018)
BLAST-TNG
BLAST-TNG
Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope – The Next Generation (BLAST-TNG) BLAST is a 5,000 pound balloon-borne telescope bound for the stratosphere over Antarctica, to search for the origins of stars and planets. This photo was taken by graduate student Paul Williams in the summer of 2018 in Palestine, Texas at the Columbia Scientific Ballooning Facility.
Gabriele Coppi / University of Pennsylvania
Revealing the Lives of Stars Through the Cataclysmic Collisions of Black Holes
Revealing the Lives of Stars Through the Cataclysmic Collisions of Black Holes
Northwestern Physics and Astronomy student Mike Zevin presents a talk as part of the Northwestern Ready Set Go (RSG) program. The goals of the program are to increase awareness for the urgent need for excellent research communicators and to coach graduate and post doctoral researchers to improve their own presentation skills. The program focuses on three important
Northwestern's RSG Program
People
Core Astronomy Faculty
Faculty
Kari Frank
Director of Operations of CIERA, Research Assistant Professor
Postdocs
Adam Miller
LSST Data Science Fellow; Data Science Fellowship Program Director
Graduate Students
