The astronomy and astrophysics research group at York is active in a wide variety of scientific projects. Click on each professor's photo to visit their home page, their name to visit their departmental profile, or their research picture to learn more about their research.

Norbert Bartel

Distinguished Research Professor Norbert Bartel studies compact, celestial sources of radio waves such as supernovae, pulsars and black holes.  His group has made movies of supernovae to study the immediate aftermath of the explosion of a massive star.  He also worked with the NASA/Stanford Gravity Probe B space mission to measure the proper motion of the mission's guide star relative to distant quasars.  The mission determined the change in direction of the spin of ultra-precise gyroscopes relative to this guide star and confirmed two predictions of general relativity about the curvature of space-time.

Michael De Robertis

Professor Michael De Robertis studies the details underlying activity in galactic nuclei involving the accretion of gas onto supermassive black holes.  He and his students concentrate on lower luminosity active galaxies called Seyfert galaxies.  He also is interested in aspects of Galactic structure, particularly M dwarf stars.

Patrick Hall

Associate Professor Patrick Hall studies the luminous active galactic nuclei known as quasars, which are created when gas spiralling into supermassive black holes at the centres of galaxies heats up and gives off enough light to outshine the rest of the galaxy.  By modelling winds launched by quasars, he aims to understand exactly how quasars power their tremendous outpourings of radiative and kinetic energy. 

Ray Jayawardhana

Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Science Ray Jayawardhana investigates the origins and diversity of planetary systems, studies the formation and evolution of brown dwarfs and stars, and endeavours to detect and characterize exoplanets. 

Matthew Johnson

Professor Matthew Johnson's goal in research is to understand the fundamental laws of nature through their impact on cosmology. He is primarily a theorist, dabbling in cosmology, field theory, string theory, and gravitation. He is actively engaged in research on cosmic inflation, eternal inflation, topological defects, and models of dark energy. He also designs data analysis algorithms to confront fundamental theory with observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation. Here is a sampling of the questions that drive his research: How big is the universe? What might lie beyond our observable universe, and how could we confirm or disprove various proposals? What role do the extra dimensions predicted by string theory play in cosmology? What is the fundamental nature of space-time singularities? Are there new ways of looking at cosmological datasets that could be useful when confronting theories with data? Can computer simulations of the very early universe shed light on it's possible initial conditions and evolution?

Marshall McCall

 Professor Marshall McCall studies the organization and evolution of normal galaxies, large and small, in the nearby universe.  Insights into the mechanisms driving evolution are gained by utilizing gaseous nebulae to probe chemical compositions.  How galaxies are arranged locally gives a unique 3-D perspective relevant to the development of structure on large scales.

Adam Muzzin

Assistant Professor Adam Muzzin focusses on the evolution of galaxies and galaxy clusters in the very distant universe (1 < z < 7).  This work is primarily observational, using both large surveys as well as targeted followup observations at various wavelengths.   Due to the finite travel time of light, observing such distant galaxies gives us an opportunity to study the earliest phases of galaxy formation when their assembly phase was most rapid.

Observatory Co-ordinator

Paul Delaney

Senior Lecturer Paul Delaney enlists undergraduate students at York to use the telescopes of the York University Observatory for studies of near-Earth asteroids, eclipsing binary stars, and variable stars.  For example, monitoring changes in the periods of highly variable SX Phoenicius stars over several years improves our understanding of stellar evolution.  York University Observatory is also used for educational and public outreach purposes, including small-group tours and on-line public viewing.