The Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian

The Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian

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Joseph Michail

Center for Astrophysics

NSF AAPF Postdoctoral Fellow

Joseph Michail

joseph.michail@cfa.harvard.edu

About

Michail is an NSF postdoc at the CfA studying different aspects of Sgr A*, including multiwavelength and polarimetric properties of its hourly-timescale flares and long-term radio and submillimeter variability. A member of the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration, he primarily works with the Multiwavelength Working Group, leading radio coverage for EHT's Sgr A* campaigns using the VLA and VLBA. He has expertise in data calibration and analysis techniques across the electromagnetic spectrum, from radio to X-rays. His other research interests include star formation, magnetic fields permeating the Milky Way Galaxy, dust grain alignment and properties, and long-term/archival studies of AGN and their variability.

Villanova University (BS, 2019), Northwestern University (MS/Ph.D., 2024)

Telescopes and Instruments

Chandra

The Chandra X-ray Observatory is NASA’s flagship X-ray observatory, providing essential data on everything from the environment surrounding newborn stars to the emissions from hot plasma inside galaxy clusters. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO), as part of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, manages Chandra’s day-to-day operations, providing spacecraft control, observation planning, and data processing for astronomers. Chandra is one of NASA’s orbiting Great Observatories, along with the Hubble.

Visit the Chandra Website

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

Event Horizon Telescope (EHT)

Black holes are found in the centers of most galaxies, where they can influence star formation and the distribution of atoms in the environment surrounding them. However, direct observation of a black hole is difficult because it is so small relative to their masses. Founded by Shep Doeleman at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) captured the first image ever taken of a black hole: specifically, the ring of light produced by matter just as it falls into the black hole at the center of the nearby galaxy M87. The EHT is a virtual observatory consisting of telescopes spanning the planet, from Greenland to the South Pole. The international collaboration operating the EHT includes observatories affiliated with the Center for Astrophysics: the CfA’s Submillimeter Array (SMA) and the Greenland Telescope.

Visit the EHT Website

SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy)

Earth’s atmosphere protects us from harmful radiation, but it also blocks a lot of light useful for astronomy. For that reason, NASA and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) built the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) to fly aboard a modified commercial aircraft capable of flying above 99% of the light-blocking atmosphere. SOFIA is a powerful, general-purpose infrared observatory used to study the birth of new stars, planetary nebulas and supernova remnants, the atmospheres of Solar System objects, and many more. The American portion of SOFIA management is handled by the Universities Space Research Association (USRA), a private educational corporation consisting of over 100 institutions, including the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian.

Visit the SOFIA 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