A member of the faculty since 2005, Prof. Stanek is an observational astrophysicist working on massive stars, supernovae, gamma-ray bursts, and the cosmological distance scale. Among his research accomplishments, Prof. Stanek and collaborators showed conclusively that gamma-ray bursts are directly linked to the deaths of massive stars and pioneered the use of red clump stars as a distance indicator in the Galaxy and beyond. An overarching theme of Prof. Stanek’s work is a focus on time-domain astronomy, variability, and transients. With Prof. Kochanek and other collaborators, he is leading the ASAS-SN project to discover supernovae in the local universe using a dedicated all-sky automated survey. Prof. Stanek was named a University Distinguished Scholar in 2018, and he shared the 2020 AAS Beatrice M. Tinsley Prize with Prof. Chris Kochanek for their work on ASAS-SN.
All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae: Big Science with Small Telescopes
April 20, 2023
When: April 20, 2023 3:30PM
Where:
LCO Downstairs Conference Room
Krzysztof Stanek
The Ohio State University
Until just a few years ago, only human eyes monitored the entire night sky. We changed that with our``All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae'' (ASAS-SN), which automatically surveys the entire visible sky every night, for the first time in human history. ASAS-SN is discovering large numbers of bright transients, including supernovae, quasar flares, tidal disruption events, Galactic novae, and variable stars, that in turn trigger additional observations across the electromagnetic spectrum and beyond.
I will discuss some of the most interesting ASAS-SN discoveries, as well as the various ways in which we make the data public. The scientific value and public utility of ASAS-SN data are growing rapidly, and I will discuss the plans for that to continue and expand in the future.
Krzysztof Stanek