Northwestern astrophysicist Wen-fai Fong will receive the 2024 Lancelot M. Berkeley–New York Community Trust Prize for Meritorious Work in Astronomy. She is recognized for her leadership of foundational work that is greatly advancing our understanding of explosive astrophysical transients and...
New artificial intelligence tool removes humans from entire search, discovery process A fully automated process, including a brand-new artificial intelligence (AI) tool, has successfully detected, identified and classified its first supernova. Developed by an international collaboration led by Northwestern University, the new...
Intense flashes of light, not mass, resolve the puzzle of impossible brightness When scientists viewed the James Webb Space Telescope’s (JWST) first images of the universe’s earliest galaxies, they were shocked. The young galaxies appeared too bright, too massive and too...
New finding might explain why quasars flare and fade so quickly A new Northwestern University-led study is changing the way astrophysicists understand the eating habits of supermassive black holes. While previous researchers have hypothesized that black holes eat slowly, new simulations indicate...
First large-scale numerical simulation of black hole-neutron star merger matches puzzling observations Last year, Northwestern University researchers reported new observational evidence that long gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) can result from the merger of a neutron star with another compact object (either another neutron 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 planet 12...
Northwestern University astrophysicists are part of an international team of scientists using advanced simulation tools that has predicted the existence of merging massive, 30 solar mass black hole binaries in Milky Way-like galaxies, challenging previous theories. The team, which includes Northwestern’s Vicky...
While searching for the origins of a powerful gamma-ray burst (GRB), an international team of astrophysicists may have stumbled upon a new way to destroy a star. Although most GRBs originate from exploding massive stars or neutron-star mergers, the researchers concluded...
In a new Northwestern University-led study, astrophysicists crunched 12.5 years of data from 45 dead stars (called pulsars) to set the best limits yet on the gravitational wave signatures emitted from pairs of monster black holes. Knowing these limits will...
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...
