Ann Hornschemeier is an American astronomer specializing in X-ray emission from X-ray binary populations. [1] She is the Chief Scientist for the Physics of the Cosmos program at NASA. [1]
She chairs the NuSTAR Starburst and Local Group science working group, which observes seven nearby galaxies [1] and uses high-energy X-rays to search for and take pictures of the densest, hottest and most energetic regions in the universe. [2] At NASA, Hornschemeier researches high energy astrophysics and cosmology. [1] She is involved in future research missions, including the ESA Athena mission due to launch in 2028. [1] Hornschemeier is also an adjunct faculty member at Johns Hopkins University. [3]
Hornschemeier specializes in studies of x-ray emission from x-ray binary populations, [4] both in the local universe and at cosmologically interesting distances (z > 0.1). This work is carried out using surveys by space-based x-ray, UV and infrared observatories, alongside ground-based telescopes. She is also the Chief Scientist for the Physics of the Cosmos (PCOS) programme, [1] NASA's high energy astrophysics and cosmology programme, and is also heavily involved in future missions as a research scientist at NASA, including co-chairing a science panel for the ESA Athena mission due for launch in 2028. [4]
Hornschemeier is heavily involved in future missions, serving as the NASA Deputy Study Scientist for the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) mission, a space-based gravitational wave mission led by the European Space Agency. She works with the Study Scientist and NASA HQ on NASA's scientific and technical contributions to LISA.
Hornschemeier gained a Ph.D. in Astronomy and Astrophysics in 2002 [5] from Pennsylvania State University; she has a Master of Science in astronomy in Astrophysics [1] also from Pennsylvania State University. She graduated from her Bachelor of Science in physics and mathematics [1] magna cum laude, from Drake University (Des Moines, Iowa).
In 2007, she won the American Astronomical Society's Annie Jump Cannon Award, which recognizes women for their outstanding research in astronomy, for her X-ray investigations of distant galaxies. [6] NASA awarded her the Early Career Achievement Medal in 2012, recognising outstanding early career achievement in science, leadership and service. [7] In 2016, she was elected Fellow of the American Physical Society. [5]
Hornschemeier's brother is the artist, author, and director Paul Hornschemeier.
The following outline is provided as an overview and topical guide to space science:
Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, galaxies, and comets. Relevant phenomena include supernova explosions, gamma ray bursts, quasars, blazars, pulsars, and cosmic microwave background radiation. More generally, astronomy studies everything that originates beyond Earth's atmosphere. Cosmology is a branch of astronomy that studies the universe as a whole.
Astrophysics is a science that employs the methods and principles of physics and chemistry in the study of astronomical objects and phenomena. As one of the founders of the discipline said, Astrophysics "seeks to ascertain the nature of the heavenly bodies, rather than their positions or motions in space–what they are, rather than where they are." Among the subjects studied are the Sun, other stars, galaxies, extrasolar planets, the interstellar medium and the cosmic microwave background. Emissions from these objects are examined across all parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, and the properties examined include luminosity, density, temperature, and chemical composition. Because astrophysics is a very broad subject, astrophysicists apply concepts and methods from many disciplines of physics, including classical mechanics, electromagnetism, statistical mechanics, thermodynamics, quantum mechanics, relativity, nuclear and particle physics, and atomic and molecular physics.
Rashid Alievich Sunyaev is a German, Soviet, and Russian astrophysicist of Tatar descent. He got his MS degree from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) in 1966. He became a professor at MIPT in 1974. Sunyaev was the head of the High Energy Astrophysics Department of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and has been chief scientist of the Academy's Space Research Institute since 1992. He has also been a director of the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Garching, Germany since 1996, and Maureen and John Hendricks Distinguished Visiting Professor in the School of Natural Sciences at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton since 2010.
The Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics is a Max Planck Institute, located in Garching, near Munich, Germany. In 1991 the Max Planck Institute for Physics and Astrophysics split up into the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, the Max Planck Institute for Physics and the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics. The Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics was founded as sub-institute in 1963. The scientific activities of the institute are mostly devoted to astrophysics with telescopes orbiting in space. A large amount of the resources are spent for studying black holes in the galaxy and in the remote universe.
The Advanced Satellite for Cosmology and Astrophysics was the fourth cosmic X-ray astronomy mission by JAXA, and the second for which the United States provided part of the scientific payload. The satellite was successfully launched on 20 February 1993. The first eight months of the ASCA mission were devoted to performance verification. Having established the quality of performance of all ASCA's instruments, the spacecraft provided science observations for the remainder of the mission. In this phase the observing program was open to astronomers based at Japanese and U.S. institutions, as well as those located in member states of the European Space Agency.
Cornelis A. "Neil" Gehrels was an American astrophysicist specializing in the field of gamma-ray astronomy. He was Chief of the Astroparticle Physics Laboratory at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) from 1995 until his death, and was best known for his work developing the field from early balloon instruments to today's space observatories such as the NASA Swift mission, for which he was the Principal investigator. He was leading the WFIRST wide-field infrared telescope forward toward a launch in the mid-2020s. He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Advanced Telescope for High-ENergy Astrophysics (Athena) is an X-ray observatory mission selected by European Space Agency (ESA) within its Cosmic Vision program to address the Hot and Energetic Universe scientific theme. Athena will operate in the energy range of 0.2–12 keV and will offer spectroscopic and imaging capabilities exceeding those of currently operating X-ray astronomy satellites – e.g. the Chandra X-ray Observatory and XMM-Newton – by at least one order of magnitude on several parameter spaces simultaneously.
Patrizia Caraveo is an Italian astrophysicist.
Vassiliki Kalogera is a Greek astrophysicist. She is a professor at Northwestern University and the Director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA). She is a leading member of the LIGO Collaboration that observed gravitational waves in 2015.
The X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission, formerly the X-ray Astronomy Recovery Mission (XARM), is an X-ray astronomy satellite of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to provide breakthroughs in the study of structure formation of the universe, outflows from galaxy nuclei, and dark matter. As the only international X-ray observatory project of its period, XRISM will function as a next generation space telescope in the X-ray astronomy field, similar to how the James Webb Space Telescope, Fermi Space Telescope, and the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) Observatory are placed in their respective fields. The mission is a stopgap for avoiding a potential observation period gap between X-ray telescopes of the present and those of the future. Without XRISM, a blank period in X-ray astronomy may arise in the early 2020s due to the loss of Hitomi. During its formulation, XRISM/XARM was also known as the "ASTRO-H Successor" or "ASTRO-H2".
Lynn Cominsky is an American astrophysicist and educator. She is currently the Chair of Astronomy and Physics at Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park, California, as well as the Project Director for the NASA Education and Public Outreach Group.
Cosmic Vision is the third campaign of space science and space exploration missions in the Science Programme of the European Space Agency (ESA). Formulated in 2005 as Cosmic Vision: Space Science for Europe 2015–2025, the campaign succeeded the Horizon 2000 Plus campaign and envisioned a number of missions in the fields of astronomy and solar system exploration beyond 2015. Ten missions across four funding categories are planned to be launched under Cosmic Vision, with the first being CHEOPS in December 2019. A mission to the Galilean moons (JUICE), the first deep space mission with an opportunistic target, and one of the first gravitational-wave space observatories (LISA), are planned for launch as part of the Cosmic Vision campaign.
Eleonora Troja is an Italian astrophysicist. In 2017 she led the discovery of X-ray emission from the gravitational wave source GW170817. She is an associate research scientist at University of Maryland, College Park and Goddard Space Flight Center.
Rita M. Sambruna is an Italian-American astrophysicist and is the Deputy Director of the Astrophysics Science Division at National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Goddard Space Flight Center. Sambruna held the Clare Boothe Luce Professorship in Physics and Astronomy at George Mason University.
Dr. Alexey Vikhlinin is a Russian-American astrophysicist notable for achievements in the astrophysics of high energy phenomenon, namely galaxy cluster cosmology and the design of space-based X-ray observatories. He is currently a Senior Astrophysicist and Deputy Associate Director of the High Energy Astrophysics Division at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, part of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He is the Science and Technology Definition Team (STDT) Community Co-Chair for the Lynx X-ray Observatory, a NASA-funded Large Mission Concept Study under consideration by the 2020 Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics.
Nanda Rea is a scientific researcher in the field of astrophysics, currently based in Barcelona, Spain working as a staff scientist for the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas and Institut d'Estudis Espacials de Catalunya.
Filippo Frontera is an Italian astrophysicist and professor, who deals with astronomical investigations on celestial gamma-rays.