CIERA - Northwestern University

Congratulations to CIERA Postdoc Sylvia Biscoveanu on receiving the GWIC-Braccini Thesis Prize! The award recognizes her Ph.D. thesis work, completed at MIT, as a significant contribution to the growing field of gravitational-wave astronomy

A team including CIERA Prof. Charlie Kilpatrick has finally located the source of a long-period radio pulse: a red dwarf and white dwarf binary star system. The two bodies' orbit is so tight that the interaction of their magnetic fields generates seconds-long bursts of radio emission every two hours. Critical to this discovery was Northwestern's remote access to the Multiple Mirror Telescope (MMT) in Arizona, which Prof. Kilpatrick used to confirm the binary system as the source of the pulses.

TODAY is the deadline to apply to REACH, our summer astronomy program for high schoolers! Students receive hands-on experience in astronomy research, an introduction to computer programming, and more. Apply now at bit.ly/reach25

Less than a week left to apply for our summer high school astronomy program! Don't miss this one-of-a-kind opportunity. Learn more:

Come out to Dearborn Observatory this Friday, February 28 at 8pm for CIERA Astronomer Evenings! Hear about our members' exciting research and gaze up at the night sky through the historic telescope!

Congratulations to CIERA Profs Allison Strom and Adam Miller on receiving inaugural Research Corporation for Science Advancement (RCSA) Scialog awards! Their team, "Not So Heavy Metal: An Enhanced Rate of SLSNe at Cosmic Noon", will study super luminous supernovae that took place when the Universe was only a quarter of its current age. This period of cosmic history was full of galaxy growth spurts and rapid star formation, an ideal environment to study these rare SLSNe.

Using NASA's JWST, a team led by Prof. Farhad Yusef-Zadeh has found that the accretion disk surrounding Sagittarius A* (the black hole at the center of our Milky Way) is constantly emitting flares of light. The study, which was published today, involved the the longest, most detailed glimpse yet of the supermassive black hole that our galaxy surrounds.

Congratulations to CIERA Prof. Jason Wang and postdoctoral alum Dr. Daniel Anglés-Alcázar on receiving prestigious Sloan Research Fellowships (Alfred P. Sloan Foundation)! The award recognizes the creativity, innovation, and research accomplishments of early-career researchers

"Access to the Giant Magellan Telescope will allow our researchers to conduct cutting-edge studies in nearly all aspects of astronomy and astrophysics," said CIERA Director Vicky Kalogera in a recent interview with La Tercera. "The GMT will advance astronomy on all scales, from the most distant galaxies and the early moments of the universe to the study of stars, galaxies, and exoplanets. However, the 'holy grail' of this telescope is the discovery of an Earth-sized planet located near its host star in a habitable zone where conditions for life may exist."

A cosmic love story? In a new study, CIERA graduate student Fulya K?ro?lu discovers that binary black holes formed in crowded star clusters align their spins - in a seemingly choreographed dance - before merging together. Learn more at: bit.ly/cieravalentine ??: Jamie Lombardi / Allegheny College