...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
Prize winning paper!
Chloe Cheng was one of the two winners of the 2023-2024 WCA Student Paper Prize. Here, she summarizes her prize-winning paper for us.
One year later: tracking the evolution of a black hole
After sharing the world’s first images of a black hole with the world in 2019, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) team recently released a follow-up to the 2024 paper reporting on the results from the 2018 observations of M87* entitled “The persistent shadow of the supermassive black hole of M87”.
WCA Public Outreach: 2023-24 Highlights
Take a look back at the best bits of the WCA's public outreach program across the 2023-24 academic year, from the Astro-Bubble to the solar eclipse!
Events
Astroseminar - Steffani Grondin
Steffani Grondin is a final-year PhD candidate in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on the evolution of compact object binaries and the common envelope phase, using star clusters as laboratories to study binary evolution. Steffani is also the main developer of Corespray, a Python package that efficiently simulates dynamical interactions in star clusters. Her software has provided new insights into a variety of Milky Way science cases, including hypervelocity stars, stellar streams and the composition of the Galactic halo.
Astronomy on Tap (Marie-Joëlle Gingras and Kiana Salehi)
Join usat Astronomy on Tap as researchers Marie-Joëlle Gingras (University of Waterloo) explores how these cosmic titans influence the Milky Way. Then, Kiana Salehi (Perimeter Institute) will dive into a weird mystery of black holes and tackle a burning question: do black holes have hair? (No, not the kind you’re thinking of — but don’t worry if you have no idea what that means. Come find out!)
Astroseminar - Tobias Geron
Tobias Geron finished his PhD in Astrophysics at the University of Oxford, UK, and he recently started as a Rubin fellow at the University of Toronto. Tobias spends his time between studying bars in galaxies and developing software to study transients with the upcoming Vera C. Rubin Observatory.