Red supergiants (RSGs) are the helium-fusing descendants of
moderately massive (10-25Mo) stars. As the coldest and largest (in
physical size) members of the massive star population, these
evolved stars serve as ideal "magnifying glasses" for...
Several lines of evidence, both theoretical and observational,
indicate that additional planets in the outer solar system remain
to be discovered. Most recently, attention has been focused on
'Planet Nine',a few Earth mass planet with a moderate...
The observation of mergers of black holes and neutron stars has
established gravitational-wave astronomy as powerful tool to
understand the Universe. After a brief introduction to
gravitational waves and how the detectors work, I will discuss
the...
The cosmic microwave background (CMB) research told us a
remarkable story: the structure we see in our Universe such as
galaxies, stars, planets, and eventually ourselves originated from
tiny quantum fluctuations generated in the early Universe...
The center of the Milky Way hosts the closest supermassive black
hole and nuclear star cluster to the Earth, offering us the
opportunity to study the physics of supermassive black holes and
their environment at a level of detail not possible...
From the first networks of organic reactions in the Hadean to
the molecular complexity of life today, evolution encountered many
hurdles, corresponding to transition points from a proto-metabolism
to polymers, from polymers to networks capable of...
Most of the baryons associated with galaxy halos reside in the
circumgalactic medium. A significant fraction of the mass is at
temperatures well below the halo virial temperature. What holds the
cool CGM up? I will present new measurements of the...
NASA’s GRAIL mission to the Moon was completed in 2012 when both
spacecraft were intentionally “de-orbited” (i.e. crashed) into a
nearside mountainside. This orbital mission measured tiny
variations in the Moon’s gravitational field by continuously...
Until recently the number of "benchmark stars" --- stars having
empirically measured radii, masses, and other properties with the
few-percent accuracy needed to stringently test stellar models ---
was of order 10^1. These crucial stellar benchmarks...
