The Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian
The Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian
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Sara Issaoun

Center for Astrophysics
NASA Einstein Fellow
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Sara Issaoun
sara.issaoun@cfa.harvard.edu

About

Sara is an observational astronomer and a member of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration. Her research centers around the collection, calibration, and imaging of millimeter-wave radio observations of supermassive black holes. Supermassive black holes generate the highest energy processes in the known Universe, ejecting jets of plasma affecting galaxy environments on large scales, but their dynamics and emission mechanisms remain shrouded in mystery. She makes use of global networks of radio-telescopes to image and study the immediate surroundings of the supermassive black holes at the centers of our Galaxy and the galaxy M87. Sara aims to expand millimeter-wave radio imaging capabilities and forge strong connections between the first images of supermassive black hole shadows and physics probed by partner facilities across the electromagnetic spectrum. Multi-wavelength constraints on black hole accretion flow properties will critically inform the scientific interpretation of images of black hole shadows, our understanding of jet-launching mechanisms, black hole spin measurements, and, ultimately, precision tests of General Relativity.

PhD, Astrophysics, Radboud University (2021),  MSc, Physics and Astronomy, Radboud University (2017), BSc, Physics, McGill University (2015)

Telescopes and Instruments

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
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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
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