Department of Physics and Astronomy


Artist’s impression of the planet Beta Pictoris b orbiting its star.

Watch an exoplanet’s 17-year journey around its star

Longest time-lapse footage of an exoplanet to date was assembled from real data

A Northwestern University astrophysicist has created the longest time-lapse video of an exoplanet to date.

Constructed from real data, the footage shows Beta Pictoris b — a …





Ore Gottlieb/CIERA/Northwestern University

Dying stars’ cocoons could be new source of gravitational waves

For the first time ever, the researchers have used state-of-the-art simulations to show that these cocoons can emit gravitational waves. And, unlike gamma-ray burst jets, cocoons’ gravitational waves should be within the frequency band that the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory …