CIERA

Missing wind from Milky Way’s giant black hole finally found Astronomers may have glimpsed a long-predicted wind of gas blowing out from Sagittarius A*

A decades-old mystery may be solved—CIERA's Elena Murchikova & Mark Gorski found signs of a long-sought plasma wind from the Milky Way’s black hole using ALMA data. A major step in understanding our galaxy’s heart. 🖤🌌
Read more: bit.ly/4mPZ0fr
#CIERA #Astrophysics

CIERA Hosts First Posydon School, Training the Next Generation of Binary Star Modelers Last month, an international group of astronomers gathered for the inaugural POSYDON School, an intensive training program dedicated to POSYDON, a groundbreaking software developed by the Center for I...

Last month, @CIERA_NU hosted the first-ever POSYDON School—training 55 scientists from around the world in modeling binary stars & black hole mergers using the cutting-edge POSYDON software.
Read the story: bit.ly/46HDPHE
#GravitationalWaves #OpenScience #SkAIInstitute

Former CIERA Postdoctoral Researcher Ore Gottlieb honored as finalist of the 2025 Blavatnik Regional Awards for Young Scientists Ore Gottlieb, PhD, a former CIERA postdoctoral researcher, will be honored today as a Finalist of the 2025 Blavatnik Regional Awards for Young Scientists. The Blavatnik Awards honor outstanding postdo...

Congrats to Dr. Ore Gottlieb, former @NUCIERA postdoc & 2025 #BlavatnikAwards Finalist! Honored for paradigm-shifting work on neutron star mergers. Ore is a Flatiron Fellow & joins @MITPhysics in 2026. bit.ly/46W1eUC #Astrophysics #BlavatnikAwards #FlatironInstitute

Piramon Kumnurdmanee Awarded Quad Fellowship On August 4, CIERA graduate student Piramon Kumnurdmanee was selected by the Institute of International Education (IIE) as one of 37 Quad Fellowship recipients out of nearly 2,000 applicants from Aust...

Congratulations to CIERA graduate student Piramon Kumnurdmanee, who has been named one of just 37 The Quad Fellowship recipients — selected from nearly 2,000 applicants across Australia, Japan, Southeast Asia, and the U.S.! bit.ly/48SdwQd
#QuadFellowship #Astrophysics

We're thrilled to host Harvard physicist Chris Stubbs for our SOLD OUT Annual Public Lecture tonight! 🌌 Catch the livestream: ciera.northwestern.edu/ciera-livest...
Stubbs helped shape the Rubin Observatory + leads cutting-edge gravity research! 🚀 #astronomy #cosmology #gravitation #particlephysics

In November 1887, Northwestern’s astronomy journey began with the Dearborn Telescope.

135+ years later, @nuciera.bsky.social leads one of the top 10 astronomy programs in the nation.

🔭 Explore the rich history:
sites.northwestern.edu/highlightsof...

#CIERA #Northwestern #Astronomy #SpaceScience

TONIGHT at 9 PM at Dearborn Observatory: Divjyot Singh (graduate student) will talk about the solar eclipse and give a gravitational waves demo, followed by Ethan Ro (undergraduate) presenting on the Search for (extraterrestrial) Life. Stay for telescope viewing!

Astrophysicists worldwide are gathering at the first POSYDON School at SkAI to dive into POSYDON v2—a cutting-edge binary population synthesis code. This 4-day workshop helps researchers integrate POSYDON into their work. Learn more: posydon.org

#astrophysics #astronomy #CIERA #SkAI #POSYDON

New CIERA PhD student Dean Kousiounelos was the focus of a story by his alma mater Lake Forest College. Dean blends art & science to explore binary stars + gravitational waves. Read the story: bit.ly/4pHsUoS
#NSFGRFP #CIERA #Astrophysics

Where are all the black holes?
CIERA’s Dr. Lena Murchikova is featured in the Sept. issue of BBC Sky at Night Magazine for her work on detecting isolated black holes in our galaxy.
Read more 👉 bit.ly/4nV7sen
#Astrophysics #BlackHoles #CIERA

Gravitational-wave detection verifies Stephen Hawking’s theorem Nearly a decade has passed since an international team of scientists, including Northwestern University astrophysicists, first detected gravitational waves — a historic discovery that confirmed Albert...

Gravitational-wave scientists — including
@NorthwesternU
astrophysicists — have verified Stephen Hawking’s black hole area theorem for the first time! A decade after the first detection, LIGO captured its clearest signal yet. bit.ly/4nwWStt
#BlackHoles #Hawking #LIGO

Congrats to CIERA PhD students Gideon McFarland and Nathalie Jones who have been awarded the 2025–2026 Board of Visitors Graduate Research Fellowships! 🎉We can’t wait to see how they continue shaping the future of astrophysics. bit.ly/3VieEVC

🪐 Astronomy fans: In 3 weeks, Harvard’s Dr. Chris Stubbs headlines CIERA’s 2025 Public Lecture! Learn how Rubin Observatory’s massive data stream will unlock dark matter, dark energy & more. Don’t miss it! 🌌 Register: bit.ly/46vQw8J
#astronomy #darkmatter

Over 80 leading researchers reunited at @NorthwesternU to celebrate 15 years of CIERA at the #Fellows15 Conference!

Gravitational waves, black holes, exoplanets & more — plus a community that continues to shape the future of astrophysics.
🔗 bit.ly/4pmzwsA
#CIERA15 #Astrophysics #GravitationalWaves

Astronomer Evenings tonight at 9 PM! Join us at Dearborn Observatory for a talk on “Simulating and Photographing the Universe” by graduate student Imran Sultan, followed by telescope viewing.

🚀 Day 1 of CIERA Fellows @ 15 kicks off today at @NorthwesternU!
We’re celebrating 15 years of CIERA with alumni, postdocs & friends from across the U.S. & Canada. Talks, connections & inspiration await!

#CIERAat15 #CIERAFellows15 #AstronomyCommunity

CIERA’s 2025 REU program welcomed 13 incredible undergrads this summer to Northwestern for 9 weeks of immersive astrophysics research—gravitational waves, dark matter, planetary science & more.
They leave with skills, friendships & inspiration that’ll last a lifetime. bit.ly/4mBMVuX

🚨 Our discovery of the brightest fast radio burst ever, RBFLOAT, made headlines at CNN! 📰✨ See how CIERA scientists helped trace this cosmic flash with extraordinary precision.
🔗https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/26/science/brightest-fast-radio-burst
#FRB #Astronomy #CIERA

Yesterday we celebrated Kari A. Frank as she begins a new chapter. For 8 years, Kari has shaped CIERA with her leadership, kindness, and vision. We're deeply grateful—and excited for the lucky organization that gets her next. Thank you, Kari! 💜 #Leadership #Farewell

What Lies Beneath The Outer Layers Of A Star? Astronomers found a supernova whose lighter outer layers had been stripped away, revealing an inner shell rich in silicon and sulfur.

What’s inside a dying star? 🌟
CIERA’s Steve Schulze joined Science Friday to talk about supernova 2021yfj — a star stripped down to its silicon & sulfur-rich core.
Published in Nature, featured on NPR.
🎧 Listen here: bit.ly/4mzzHyQ
#Supernova #CIERA #Astronomy

CIERA scientists have precisely traced one of the brightest fast radio bursts (FRBs) ever — “Root Beer FLOAT” to a spiral arm just 130M light-years away, accurate within 42 light-years! A huge leap in solving the FRB mystery. 🌌✨ #Astronomy #CHIME

🔗 bit.ly/4lI9Fbx

First-of-its-kind supernova reveals inner workings of a dying star An international team of scientists, led by Northwestern University astrophysicists, has detected a never-before-seen type of exploding star, or supernova, that is rich with silicon, sulfur and argon....

A cosmic first! CIERA researchers discovered a never-before-seen supernova, SN2021yfj — stripped to its core and rich in silicon, sulfur & argon. A rare find that reshapes how we understand stellar death. 🌟

bit.ly/3JpVYQQ

#Supernova #Astrophysics #SN2021yfj #CIERA

Please join us for our annual public lecture featuring Harvard astrophysicist Chris Stubbs for a behind-the-scenes look at the newly launched Rubin Observatory, the largest digital camera ever made! Register @ bit.ly/46vQw8J #astromony #astrophysics #cosmos #northwestern #CIERA #milkyway

🚀 REACH 2025 just wrapped an incredible summer at Northwestern’s CIERA, where 51 high school students from across the country dove into astrophysics research—no prior coding or astronomy experience required. bit.ly/4mjoIJP
#STEMEducation Astronomy #REACH2025

Code/Astro 2025: Building Software Skills for the Future of Astronomy From August 4–8, the Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA) at Northwestern University hosted the sixth annual Code/Astro Workshop. Designed to train astronomers...

Over 110 astronomers joined the 6th annual Code/Astro Workshop at @CIERA_NU (Aug 4–8), led by Jason Wang & Sarah Blunt. A week of open-source training, collaboration & reproducibility—thanks to the Heising-Simons Foundation! 🌌🔭 bit.ly/47xR8ee

There's a new doctor in the house - Nycole Wenner, CIERA's latest astronomy PhD! Congratulations, Nycole! We know you will do great things!

🚀 Tickets are live!
Join us for CIERA’s Annual Public Lecture with Harvard astrophysicist Prof. Christopher Stubbs.
Explore dark matter, dark energy & the Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s cosmic discoveries.
🎟️ Free & open to all — RSVP now! bit.ly/46vQw8J

Teachers Up Their Astronomy Game at CIERA This Summer CIERA’s Research Experiences for Teachers program inspires new classroom approaches through hands-on astronomy research Every summer, teachers across Chicago seek meaningful professional development ...

This summer, four Chicago-area educators took their teaching to new heights through Northwestern's CIERA Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) program. Read about their experiences @ bit.ly/4ohTggr #STEMeducation #TeacherLeadership #Astronomy #CIERA #RET #NextGenScience

This Friday’s CIERA Astronomer Evening has been cancelled due to room renovations at Dearborn Observatory.
However, the telescope will remain open for public viewing from 10:00–11:00 PM.
We look forward to welcoming you to a future event under the stars!

Registration is officially live for NASA Space Apps Chicago