Astronomy & Astrophysics

The 245th meeting of the American Astronomical Society, held January 12-16, 2025 in National Harbor, Maryland, made history as the largest astronomy meeting ever convened. Nearly 3,700 astronomers, exhibitors, educators, and journalists attended, and nearly 500 undergraduate and graduate students from around the country competed in the Chambliss poster competition.

Meghan Sedberry, a UNC Asheville Math major and Astronomy minor, was one of 20 undergraduate students honored with a Chambliss Astronomy Achievement Award for her research presentation at the meeting. Sedberry’s poster presented initial results from a new survey of absorption lines tracing the gaseous halos of distant galaxies, which were detected in an analysis of nearly 13,000 quasar spectra from the Early Data Release of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) Survey. Sedberry’s work compiling and refining this catalog of gas clouds in ~30,000 distant galaxies will enable a better understanding of how gas cycles shape galaxy evolution across billions of years of cosmic history.

Sedberry’s research has been carried out in collaboration with UNC Asheville astronomer Prof. Britt Lundgren and recent UNC Asheville graduate Solomon McDonald (B.S. Computer Science 2023), who presented initial results from the DESI quasar analysis at the 244th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Madison, Wisconsin in June 2024.

UNC Asheville Physics major and Astronomy minor Will Kinley also presented a poster at AAS 245 on his research modeling coronal mass ejections in extrasolar systems. This work can provide insight into the habitability of exoplanets in systems with active stars. Kinley was recently awarded a prestigious 2024-2025 North Carolina Space Grant Undergraduate Research Scholarship and has undertaken this research with UNC Asheville astronomer Prof. Christene Lynch.

Two recent UNC Asheville alumni could also be found presenting research in National Harbor. Sam Creech (B.S. Physics/Math/Astronomy ’20), now a PhD candidate at the University of Utah, presented her research using space telescopes to quantify the contributions of active galactic nuclei to the cosmic X-ray background. Creech was recently awarded a 2024 NASA FINESST Graduate Fellowship to support this work, undertaken in collaboration with Prof. Dan Wik at the University of Utah and Dr. Francesca Civano, a Physics of the Cosmos chief scientist at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Daniel Fistos (B.S. Physics/Math/Astronomy ’24) presented his post-baccalaureate research using Hubble Space Telescope observations to correlate the dark matter mass of galaxy clusters with observations of intracluster light. Fistos’ research has been undertaken at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, with STScI Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Amanda Pagul.

The meeting also featured a talk by Dr. Zack Hutchens, who recently joined the faculty at UNC Asheville as a Postdoctoral Research and Teaching Fellow. Hutchens presented his thesis work, studying the gas in galaxy groups, which he completed in 2024 at UNC Chapel Hill with advisor Prof. Sheila Kannappan.

A great time was had by all, and we hope to continue to grow our annual UNC Asheville astronomers group lunch at future AAS meetings!

A new grant is enabling a global team of scientists access to hundreds of hours of observing time with the James Webb Space Telescope. The grant’s primary investigator for the U.S. team, UNC Asheville Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy David Wake, is leading the way in this single largest project to ever take place using Webb, through a process called pure parallel observation. The data will provide detailed observations for an unprecedented number of galaxies in the distant universe. Dr. Zackary Hutchens, who recently joined the faculty at UNC Asheville as a postdoctoral Research and Teaching Fellow, is contributing to the scientific analysis. As the project progresses, UNC Asheville students will have the opportunity to become involved, as well, giving them the chance to use exciting new data in their research. 

Read more about the project here.

Out of the only 13 available statewide, two North Carolina Space Grants were awarded to UNC Asheville students. Abigail Grulick and Riley McBride are recipients of these competitive awards that come with an $8,000 scholarship to support their astronomy-related undergraduate research.

Abby Grulick, and her mentor Dr. Christene Lynch.

NC Space Grant is a state-wide network of higher-education institutions, industries, government entities, educational programs and nonprofit partners that, in partnership with NASA, work collaboratively to promote, develop and support space-related STEM research, education and public outreach throughout the state.  

Riley McBride, and his mentor Dr. David Wake.

Read more about Abby and Riley and their astronomy research in UNC Asheville’s Stories.

During the summer of 2023, UNC Asheville students Ava Tomkins, Phoebe Gittis, and Josh Ward completed undergraduate research at the birthplace of modern astrophysics: Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, Wisconsin, home to the largest refracting telescope in the world and about 180,000 archival photographic glass plates taken by astronomers around the turn of the 20th century.

Read more about their experience in the latest UNC Asheville Stories.

Jan 15. 2023:

After a multi-year hiatus due to pandemic travel restrictions, students and faculty from UNCA’s Department of Physics and Astronomy happily returned this month to the largest annual US-based astronomy conference: the Winter Meeting of the American Astronomical Society, which was held January 8-12, 2023 in Seattle, Washington.

UNCA seniors Delaney Carlton (Physics) and Abdullah Sayed (Physics/Math/Astronomy) presented interactive posters describing the results of their undergraduate research. Each of their projects leveraged the vast astronomical dataset of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey to explore different outstanding questions in galaxy evolution and cosmology.

Delaney and Abdullah also attended the AAS graduate school fair and listened to a variety of plenary talks delivered by world experts on topics ranging from space telescopes to exoplanets to supermassive black holes. There was even time left over to collect loads of free NASA stickers and posters from the exhibit hall and explore a bit of downtown Seattle!

On the faculty side, Prof. Britt Lundgren also gave a contributed talk about ESCIP (Enhancing Science Courses by Integrating Python): a new collaboration aiming to improve the development and use of educational Python notebooks in Physics, Astronomy, and Chemistry.

All of our team’s research is ongoing, so check back soon for more updates!

Acknowledgements:

This conference travel was made possible with support from UNCA’s Undergraduate Research Program office, donations supporting the Brian Dennison Award for Undergraduate Research, funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF 18-575 #2107727), and from the Research Corporation for Science Advancement (CS Award #26868).

By Samantha Creech (UNC Asheville Physics major, Astronomy minor)

Over the summer, I had the opportunity to participate in a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. This university’s prestigious astronomy department offers a broad range of research topics, and while I was there, I was granted the opportunity to work on a project for IceCube. IceCube is a telescope located in the south pole. Buried two kilometers deep in the Antarctic ice, it’s optimized to detect neutrinos, which are some of the smallest, most elusive particles that we know of. These tiny particles give us a way to observe high energy phenomena– supernovae, active supermassive black holes, and even the big bang– in a type of detail that light can’t provide. During my time at UW Madison, I was testing one of the parts that might be used to improve the efficiency of future neutrino detectors. I mostly worked in an optics lab, taking data from various tests and comparing it to computer simulations. 

Beyond research, I spent much of my time exploring the area. I learned how to windsurf on Lake Mendota, shopped in the country’s largest farmer’s market each Saturday, camped in a nearby state park, and spent evenings on UW Madison’s iconic terrace with the other REU students. My cohort quickly grew into a tight-knit community, and we look forward to reuniting at the American Astronomical Society conference this January. While there, I’ll be presenting a poster on my summer project, hearing talks on the forefront of astronomy, and networking in preparation for graduate school. I can’t emphasize the impact that this program has had on me, and I look forward to seeing how it plays out in my career.

Tiffany Shreves (UNCA Computer Science major / Astronomy minor) spent the summer as a software engineering intern at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, working with the Goddard Earth Sciences Data Information Services Center (GES DISC). She used Python to make a visualization and geospatial mapping tool for Level-2 earth science satellite data, and made Jupyter Notebook resources to accompany online How-To guides on data acquisition, analysis, and visualization on the GES DISC website.

If you’re interested to know more about what it’s like to work at NASA, look for Tiffany (who is one of our Lookout Observatory docents) at the next public stargaze, Friday September 20th!

– Darren Stroupe, UNC Asheville Physics major

This summer I had the great privilege of participating in the DAWN-IRES (International Research Experience for Students) Scholar Program.  I conducted research at The Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN)* in Copenhagen at the Niels Bohr Institute, where the early Universe and first galaxies are studied through observation, theory and simulation.  My research focused on classifying the quality of redshift fits using low-resolution grism spectra and machine learning classification models.  The work was intense but gave me insight into many different areas of knowledge (e.g. the high-redshift universe, emission lines, telescope instrumentation, statistics) and provided me with new tools and sharpened skills that I will use throughout my career (e.g. GRIZLI, EAZY, Python, machine learning).  My mentor, Dr. Gabe Brammer (who developed GRIZLI and EAZY) provided strong guidance and generated a flood of knowledge every time we met about the project.  He and the rest of the staff and students at DAWN are at the forefront of their field and set a high bar for caliber of research.  It was humbling to be welcomed by them.

DAWN also scheduled talks by astronomers and astrophysicists from around the world on subjects ranging from gravitational lensing to galaxy formation and simulations, with Q&A sessions shared by the speakers and the Scholar cohort.  Astrophysicist Dr. Joseph Silk, namesake of Silk Damping and author of The Big Bang – a book that was very influential in igniting my interest in astronomy – gave one of the talks, which afforded me the honor of meeting him and shaking his hand. 

We were also treated to a trip by ferry to the island of Hven, where Tycho Brahe made the arcminute-precision measurements of the positions of astronomical objects that led to Kepler’s three laws of planetary motion that, in turn, helped lay the foundation for Newton’s theory of universal gravitation.  The museum there housed some of his instruments and writings, as well as artifacts from the now long-gone observatories. 

With the workday finished, I could ruminate on the latest obstacle in my research while exploring Copenhagen by foot, bicycle (also provided by DAWN), boat, bus or train.  The Viking settlement-turned-European capital city offers a lifetime’s-worth of cultural, architectural and historical riches to enjoy: the 17^th century fortifications that were repurposed as lush parks and gardens that form a ring around the inner city; the many museums that include the National Gallery of Denmark, the National Museum, the Workers Museum and Design Museum Danmark; the free-to-the-public pipe organ concerts in many of the city’s cathedrals; the canals that could be traversed by boat for a different perspective of the buildings and palaces that span centuries in age and design, or simply enjoyed by sitting upon their banks with a cold beverage.  I found no way to avoid having a great experience.

While I was unfortunately unable to visit the Niels Bohr Archive, his presence loomed large, nonetheless.  I would often, on my walks, find myself at a historical landmark or some tribute to Bohr – or Brahe – reminding me of the deep legacy of physics and astronomy to which I hope to contribute.  I cannot fully express my gratitude to Dr. Kate Whitaker and the DAWN-IRES organizers, Dr. Brammer and the DAWN staff and students, and Drs. Britt Lundgren and David Wake at the UNC Asheville Department of Physics and Astronomy for the encouragement, support, skills and knowledge they have gifted me over the course of this experience.  With this experience, I feel confident I can contribute to and share in the legacy of those who came before and those who continue to extend the realm of knowledge in physics and astronomy.

* The DAWN center is funded by the Danish National Research Foundation (DNRF).

In the week before the start of the spring semester, five UNCA astronomers headed to Seattle, Washington for the 2019 Winter Meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS).

Physics major Makennah Bristow presented a poster at AAS for her second year in a row, this time describing her new research with Dr. David Wake on satellite galaxies in the SDSS-IV MaNGA Survey. During the meeting, Makennah’s exoplanet research from her 2017 summer internship at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center also made the news!

Physics major Darren Stroupe also attended AAS for his second year. This time, his research was accepted for a talk session, in which he presented his latest results on the dust properties of galaxies in the UltraVISTA survey that are associated with Mg II absorption in quasar spectra from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS).  Over the past year Darren’s research has been supported by a North Carolina Space Grant scholarship, and he will be presenting more of his work at the upcoming NC Space Grant SPACE Symposium April 4-5, 2019 in Raleigh, NC.

Physics majors Callie Clontz and Samantha Creech attended AAS for the first time this year and both presented posters describing their work using observations from the Hubble Space Telescope.  Callie presented measurements of the H-alpha luminosity-dependent clustering of galaxies at 0.7<z<1.5 in the 3D-HST Survey — a project mentored by Dr. Wake.  Samantha presented measurements of the azimuthal distribution of cold metal-rich gas around galaxies at z~1, showing support for a model in which large-scale star formation driven winds extend to great distances (~80 kiloparsecs) around galaxies at early times.

 

UNCA Assistant Professor Britt Lundgren, who serves as a Co-Chair of Education and Public Outreach for the SDSS-IV survey, helped to organize a giveaway of retired spectroscopic plug plates from the first three generations of the SDSS survey.  (The plates are accompanied by SDSS-related astronomy education resources, and since they also make gorgeous coffee tables and wall art, they were the meeting’s most popular swag!) Britt also led SDSS-related activities with groups of local high school students as part of an annual outreach event organized by the AAS.

 

 

 

Everyone is now back in Asheville and using the weekend to recharge for the start of the spring semester!