Globular Clusters, Galactic Nuclei, Stellar Collisions & Mergers, Interacting Binaries
Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA
Research at CIERA
The centers of galaxies are complex environments whose properties are a result of the interactions between the massive black holes that reside there, vast clouds of gas, and dense populations of stars and stellar remnants.
Professor Rasio’s group studies numerical models of dense stellar environments such as nuclear star clusters.
Professor Larson’s group studies the interactions of single stars with massive black holes, a prospective LISA gravitational wave source class known as an EMRI (“extreme mass ratio inspiral”).
Professor Zadeh is an observer who studies stellar populations and physical processes in the Milky Way nucleus using observations across the electromagnetic spectrum.
News




Gallery

Rho Oph dark cloud observed with HAWC+

Rho Oph dark cloud observed with HAWC+
Left: NASA Spitzer image showing the portion of the Rho Oph dark cloud observed with HAWC+ instrument….
NASA/JPL-Caltech/Harvard-Smithsonian CfA. SOFIA/ HAWC+/ Northwestern University /F. Pereira Santos
- Science

Image Gets “Starlinked”

Image Gets “Starlinked”
Cliff Johnson (Northwestern University) and colleagues took this image using the Dark Energy Camera on the 4-meter Blanco Telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. Nineteen Starlink satellite trails crossed the image during the six-minute exposure. The image was taken as part of the DELVE survey, which is mapping the outskirts of the Magellanic Clouds,
DELVE Survey / CTIO / AURA / NSF

Giant balloon-like structures discovered at center of Milky Way
Giant balloon-like structures discovered at center of Milky Way
An international team of astronomers, including Northwestern University’s Farhad Yusef-Zadeh, has discovered one of the largest structures ever observed in the Milky Way. A newly spotted pair of radio-emitting bubbles reach hundreds of light-years tall, dwarfing all other structures in the central region of the galaxy.
- Science

APERTURE Telescope Conceptual Design Animation
APERTURE Telescope Conceptual Design Animation
APERTURE: A Precise Extremely large Reflective Telescope Using Reconfigurable Elements. This is the deployment concept which was produced during the NIAC Phase I feasibility study. APERTURE is a UV-Visible telescope with a 16-m diameter primary mirror. The primary is a flexible membrane coated with magnetic smart material. The shape of the reflector can be corrected
Mel Ulmer / CIERA Northwestern

Pulsars in the Snow Globes
Pulsars in the Snow Globes
Northwestern Physics and Astronomy student Shi Ye 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

Stellar encounters: Binary+single (exchange and collision)
Stellar encounters: Binary+single (exchange and collision)
Binary+single encounter that leads to an exchange, followed by a second binary+single encounter that leads to a collision Within star clusters, close encounters between single and multiple stars can be frequent and may lead to the production of exotic stars like X-ray sources and blue stragglers. By using the small-N-body code FEWBODY and another visualization
Movies by Aaron Geller using IDL and MPEG Streamclip; dynamical calculation performed using FEWBODY / Funding: NSF
People
Core Faculty

Vicky Kalogera
Daniel I. Linzer Distinguished University Professor, Director of CIERA

Shane Larson
Research Professor, Associate Director of CIERA


Associate and Affiliate Faculty




Postdocs
Graduate Students








