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 Tchekhovskoy uses state-of-the-art simulations to study the formation of relativistic jets in core-collapse gamma ray bursts.
Professor Miller’s group uses ground- and space-based telescopes to study the endpoints of the stellar life cycle as punctuated by supernovae. The group uses data science methods, such as machine learning, to support the discovery and classification of these explosions prior to studying their properties in greater detail.
Professor Figueroa-Feliciano’s group studies the X-ray signatures of supernova remnants through the NASA Micro-X Sounding Rocket, a Northwestern-led rocket payload which takes high-energy-resolution spectra of remnants in suborbital flights.
Opportunities
Deadline: 11:59pm, March 20, 2023
REACH (Research Experiences in Astronomy at CIERA for High School Students) is a highly interactive, 3-week program (with an optional 3-week extension) that provides high school students experience with astronomy research in an atmosphere of team-style learning, hands-on training, and mentorship from professional scientists. Students enrolled in the program engage in astronomy research projects with CIERA astronomers.
News
Gallery
Ultracool dwarf binary stars break records
Ultracool dwarf binary stars break records
The researchers say that by studying similar star systems, we can learn more about potentially habitable planets beyond Earth. Ultracool dwarfs are much fainter and dimmer than the sun, so any worlds with liquid water on their surfaces — a crucial ingredient to form and sustain life — would need to be much closer to
NASA/JPL Caltech image
CIERA Interdisciplinary Colloquium: “Extremely Cool Detectors On a Fireball: Launching the Micro-X Sounding Rocket”
CIERA Interdisciplinary Colloquium: “Extremely Cool Detectors On a Fireball: Launching the Micro-X Sounding Rocket”
Professor Enectali Figueroa-Feliciano presents an Interdisciplinary Colloquium on December 1, 2022, organized by Northwestern University’s Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics. Read the full CIERA News story here.
Star Collapses into NEW Black Hole
Star Collapses into NEW Black Hole
Affectionately referred to as the B.O.A.T. (“brightest of all time”), the powerful explosion occurred approximately 2.4 billion light-years away from Earth, in the direction of the constellation Sagitta. Astrophysicists, including Jillian Rastinejad, first detected the GRB, which was a few hundred seconds in duration, in gamma-ray light on Oct. 9. Read the full Northwestern News
National Science Foundation
Gemini North image (Surprise kilonova upends established understanding of long gamma-ray bursts)
Gemini North image (Surprise kilonova upends established understanding of long gamma-ray bursts)
This Gemini North image, superimposed on an image taken with the Hubble Space Telescope, shows the telltale near-infrared afterglow of a kilonova produced by a long GRB (GRB 211211A). This discovery challenges the prevailing theory that long GRBs exclusively come from supernovae, the end-of-life explosions of massive stars. Read the full Northwestern News story: December
International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/M. Zamani; NASA/ESA
artist’s impression of a kilonova produced by two colliding neutron stars (Surprise kilonova upends established understanding of long gamma-ray bursts)
artist’s impression of a kilonova produced by two colliding neutron stars (Surprise kilonova upends established understanding of long gamma-ray bursts)
This artist’s impression shows a kilonova produced by two colliding neutron stars. While studying the aftermath of a long gamma-ray burst (GRB), two independent teams of astronomers using a host of telescopes in space and on Earth, including the Gemini North telescope on Hawai‘i and the Gemini South telescope in Chile, have uncovered the unexpected
NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/J. da Silva/Spaceengine
A broader view of GRB 211211A’s location (Surprise kilonova upends established understanding of long gamma-ray bursts)
A broader view of GRB 211211A’s location (Surprise kilonova upends established understanding of long gamma-ray bursts)
A broader view of GRB 211211A’s location, circled in red, captured using three filters on Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3. Read the full Northwestern News story: December 7, 2022
NASA, ESA, Rastinejad et al. (2022), Troja et al. (2022), and Gladys Kober (Catholic Univ. of America)
People
Core Faculty
Kari Frank
Director of Operations of CIERA, Research Assistant Professor
Associate Faculty
Postdocs
Research Staff
Graduate Students
