The Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian

The Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian

Support Our Science

Ian Stephens

Center for Astrophysics

SAO Postdoctoral Fellow

Ian Stephens

ian.stephens@cfa.harvard.edu

About

I am an SAO Postdoctoral Fellow working in the Radio and Geoastronomy Division. My focus is on star and disk formation. At the CfA, I am co-leading one of the largest surveys ever done with the Submillimeter Array. This survey, called MASSES, used the SMA to observe all protostars within the Perseus molecular cloud. I also study polarized emission from circumstellar disks, the role of magnetic fields in star formation, and high-mass star formation in the Galaxy and the Large Magellanic Cloud.

Telescopes and Instruments

Spitzer Space Telescope

Infrared light is the key to studying a wide range of astronomical systems, including newborn stars and planets, dust in distant galaxies, and material swirling around black holes. The Spitzer Space Telescope was NASA’s orbiting infrared observatory, and part of NASA’s Great Observatories program, along with the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Hubble Space Telescope. Scientists and engineers at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian led the design, testing, and construction of the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC). The Spitzer Space Telescope was launched in 2003 and retired in 2020.

Visit the Spitzer Space Telescope IRAC Page

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