The Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian

The Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian

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Sarah Jeffreson

Center for Astrophysics

ITC Fellow

Sarah Jeffreson

sarah.jeffreson@cfa.harvard.edu

About

Sarah is an ITC Fellow working at the Institute for Theory and Computation at the Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian. She received her PhD from the University of Heidelberg in November 2020. The over-arching goal of her research is to understand the cycle of star formation across the wide variety of galactic environments in our Universe. To this end, Sarah uses a combination of analytic theory and numerical simulations to study the connection between the large-scale properties of galaxies and the evolution of the molecular gas reservoirs in which stars form.

University of Cambridge (MA, MSci), University of Heidelberg (PhD)

Telescopes and Instruments

Magellan Telescopes

The twin Magellan Telescopes in Chile are each 6.5 meter optical telescopes. These telescopes are both equipped with instruments to take images and spectra of light from a wide variety of astronomical sources, including exoplanet systems, star-forming regions, supernova remnants, and interacting galaxies. The Magellan Telescopes — named Baade and Clay — are hosted at the Las Campanas Observatory and are operated by a consortium of institutions, including the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, Carnegie Institution for Science, University of Arizona, the University of Michigan, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In addition, CfA scientists and engineers provided a wide field f/5 focal system (including secondary mirror and corrective optics), and a powerful astronomical camera for use at the Clay telescope.

Visit the Magellan Telescopes Website

Giant Magellan Telescope

Is Earth unique, or are there other planets with life in the Milky Way? To answer this question and many others, astronomers need larger and more sensitive observatories than anything we currently have. For that reason, the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian is collaborating with a number of other institutions around the world to create the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT), currently under construction in Chile. The GMT will consist of seven large mirrors acting in concert as one giant telescope 80 feet across. That large size provides an unprecedented view of the sky and the ability to detect the chemical composition of exoplanet atmospheres. Like NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, the GMT will be a powerful tool across the field of astronomy, providing insights into the formation of planets, the structure of galaxies, and the evolution of the universe itself.

Visit the GMT Website

The Submillimeter Array - Maunakea, HI

Located near the summit of Maunakea on the Big Island of Hawaii, the Submillimeter Array (SMA) is one of the flagship observatories of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian. The observatory consists of eight radio dishes working together as one telescope, giving astronomers a window on a wide range of astronomical objects and phenomena: planets and comets in our own Solar System; the birth of stars and planets; and the supermassive black holes hidden at the centers of the Milky Way and other galaxies. The SMA is operated jointly by the CfA and the Academia Sinica in Taiwan.

Visit the Submillimeter Array Website