We are thrilled to announce that Dr. Pieter van Dokkum, one of the world’s most visionary astrophysicists, will join @NorthwesternU as a new member of CIERA beginning 1/1/27! He brings innovations like the Dragonfly Telephoto Array & MOTHRA telescope. bit.ly/3JIjkl9 #astrophysics #research

Congratulations Nico Bers on receiving an Honorable Mention for the 2025 USRA Distinguished Undergraduate Awards! Nico conducted research in CIERA Director Vicky Kalogera’s group with mentor Sylvia Biscoveanu. 🔗 tinyurl.com/8j2664ht

Don’t miss Astronomer Evenings this Friday, November 7! Our fall/winter hours go into effect this week so we'll kick things off at 8pm. Talks: How the Elements Are Made by Caroline von Raesfeld (PhD student) Exploring the Universe with Virtual Galaxies by Elizabeth Moné (Grad student)

Tomorrow’s the day! Submit your Brinson Prize Fellowship application by Nov 6 at 6 PM (ET).CIERA | Northwestern is also accepting applications for other fellowships and associate positions: ciera.northwestern.edu/opportunities #Postdoc #Astrophysics #CIERA #Northwestern #STEMCareers #AstronomyJobs

🚀 250+ students. 1 mission: Solve real-world problems using NASA data. @CIERA_NU helped host #SpaceAppsChicago—the biggest U.S. chapter of NASA’s global hackathon! 💻🌍 Huge thanks to all the CIERA mentors who inspired the next gen of scientists! 💫 tinyurl.com/4t967bxp

🎉 Huge congratulations to Prof. Giles Novak of @CIERA_NU on being named a 2025 @APSphysics Fellow! Honored for pioneering work in submillimeter polarimetry, star formation, and outstanding mentorship. A well-deserved recognition! 🌟 🔗https://tinyurl.com/y5ef2cfk #Astrophysics

Apply Now for Prestigious Postdoctoral Opportunities at CIERA!
 Join a leading-edge, interdisciplinary astrophysics research community at Northwestern University.
 Learn more and apply: bit.ly/48W5PbL

🚀 350+ filled Ryan Auditorium for CIERA’s Annual Public Lecture! Harvard’s Chris Stubbs spoke on the groundbreaking Vera C. Rubin Observatory, now imaging the sky with a 3,200MP camera. A thrilling glimpse into the future of astrophysics! 🌌 #RubinObs #CIERA #DarkEnergy bit.ly/46RrUaa

🚀@NorthwesternU postdoc George Paul Winstone and collaborators have been awarded a subcontract under NASA’s NIAC Phase II program for the TFINER project — a bold new concept to power deep-space missions using thin-film nuclear materials. 🔗 bit.ly/4nJ3gyq #NASA

CIERA is Now Accepting Applications for 3 Prestigious Postdoctoral Opportunities! Join a vibrant, interdisciplinary research community working at the forefront of astrophysics. Learn more and apply: bit.ly/48W5PbL #Postdoc #Astrophysics #AstronomyJobs

🚨 BREAKTHROUGH ASTRONOMY ALERT! CIERA's Charlie Kilpatrick and Aswin Suresh have used the James Webb Space Telescope to spot something never seen before: The reddest, dustiest red supergiant star ever caught right before it exploded. bit.ly/4o6nuBV

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

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

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

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 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’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

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

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

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

🚀 Calling all space enthusiasts, coders, and innovators! CIERA is partnering with 1871 to host the NASA Space Apps Challenge Chicago — the world’s largest hackathon — on October 4–5, 2025 at 111 N Canal Street. 📅 Registration opens July 17. www.spaceappschallenge.org

PhD in planetary science, astro, or physics (2024–2026)? Launch your independent research career with the 51 Pegasi b Fellowship! Northwestern is a host—join top researchers, access elite telescopes, & receive up to $450K over 3 years. bit.ly/4nEmSnX #Astrophysics

🚨 There's still time to apply! 🚨 CIERA is searching for our next Director of Operations — a key leadership role at the heart of our mission. If this sounds like you, we’d love to hear from you. 🔗https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/30089

A major clue in the mystery of Fast X-ray Transients (FXTs) 🔍💥 An int'l team led by @NorthwesternU & @uniofleicester finds FXTs may come from trapped jets in dying stars — bridging FXTs, GRBs & supernovae. Details: bit.ly/4kwtRfL #Astrophysics #CIERA #JWST

Big congrats to CIERA PhD students Miguel Ceja, Nathalie Korhonen Cuestas & Dean Kousiounelos on winning 2025 NSF GRFPs! Their work spans quantum sensors, galaxy evolution & gravitational waves. bit.ly/3IaeWdJ #Astrophysics #CIERA #STEM #NSF

Ciera's Summer Astronomy Program is in full swing! HS teachers are diving into Python, astronomy, and cutting-edge research with CIERA's Emma Kaufman & Dr. Bryan Scott—gearing up to bring it all back to their classrooms. 🌌🔭 👉 ciera.northwestern.edu/programs/ret/ #RET #STEM #Astronomy #Physics

The Giant Magellan Telescope has entered its final design phase! As a founding partner, Northwestern University will help lead this historic effort to explore Earth-like planets, black holes & more with AI + astrophysics. tinyurl.com/ycxwd5jk #CIERA #STEM #astrophysics

@skai-institute.bsky.social‬ is hosting Open SkAI 2025 (9/2-5/2025), which will bring together Astro and AI scholars/scientists, postdocs/graduate students & industry partners. The registration deadline is 8/11. Learn more: sites.northwestern.edu/skaiconferen... #astro #AI #conference

Still searching for Friday plans? Join us TONIGHT at Dearborn Observatory for Astronomer Evenings! CIERA’s Postdoctoral Fellow Mark Gorski will be presenting on the “Galaxy Evolution: The Life Story of Island Universes.” Come for the talk, stay for the stars. See you tonight at Dearborn Observatory!