...where the Universe is our laboratory.
The Waterloo Centre for Astrophysics (WCA) looks to the cosmos to solve the greatest mysteries of the universe. Here, world-class researchers and students come together in an atmosphere of curiosity, creativity and collaboration; exploring our cosmic origin to truly understand the physical processes at work in the Universe. From black holes to cosmology, we aim to understand what lies beyond the Earth. The possibilities for new discovery are limitless.
News
Incoming WCA Professor Awarded 100 Hours of JWST Cycle 4 Time to Investigate Lava Worlds
Lisa Dang, an incoming Assistant Professor at the University of Waterloo, has been awarded 100 hours of JWST observing time in Cycle 4 for her program, "Surveying Hellish Worlds: Lava Planets as Time Capsules of Thermal Evolution."
Evidence mounting that dark energy evolves over time
New results from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) collaboration use the largest 3D map of our universe ever made to track dark energy’s influence over the past 11 billion years. Researchers see hints that dark energy, widely thought to be a “cosmological constant,” might be evolving over time in unexpected ways.
On the same day, DESI has released the largest 3D map of the Universe to date to the public.
Euclid dazzles with new data and images
The first batch of survey data released by the Euclid mission gives us a glimpse into hundreds of thousands of galaxies reaching back 10.5 billion light years - and it's only the beginning.
Events
Astroseminar - Raphael Errani
Raphael is a post doc at Carnegie Mellon University, working on the the clustering properties of dark matter on galactic scales, with a particular focus on the tidal evolution of dwarf spheroidal galaxies. He builds dynamical models to contrast observational data against competing theories of dark matter.
Astroseminar - Danielle Leonard
"Measuring and modelling galaxy intrinsic alignment"
Dr Danielle Leonard is a Lecturer at the School of Mathematics, Statistics and Physics at Newcastle University. Their research focuses on late-time observational cosmology, particularly weak lensing and photometric galaxy clustering. They work both on understanding systematic effects which impact weak gravitational lensing measurements such as intrinsic alignment and photometric redshift uncertainties, and on methods for best constraining beyond-standard cosmological models with observational data.
Astronomy on Tap (James Morawetz and Sofia Chiarenza)
Join us at Astronomy on Tap to hear about baryon acoustic oscillations, dark energy, and the new results coming from the DESI collaboration, from WCA researchers James Morawetz and Sofia Chiarenza!