Friday, October 02, 2026

New and exciting activities in the
McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences

Recent News from McDonnell Center Fellows

MCSS Graduate Students Present Research at Astrophysics Conference in Italy

MCSS graduate students Seth Larner and Jing Xue presented their research at The Many Tones of Accretion: To the Memory of Tomaso Belloni, a conference held September 7–11 in Cefalù, Sicily, focused on high-energy astrophysics and the study of compact objects such as black holes, neutron stars and active galactic nuclei.

Larner gave a contributed talk, “Evolution in concert: Spectral-timing correlation of variability components in Cyg X-1,” describing research he conducted with MCSS Associate Director Mike Nowak that uses X-ray variability to investigate how matter accretes onto the stellar-mass black hole system Cygnus X-1.

Xue presented a poster, “Assessing the Effects of Comptonization on Black Hole Spin Estimates for LMC X-1,” based on research she conducted with Nowak using X-ray spectral models to study the spin of the stellar-mass black hole LMC X-1, located in the Large Magellanic Cloud.

Recent Publications by McDonnell Center Fellows

Wadiasingh, Z., Hu, K., et al. (2026). Magnetar Fireballs and short bursts: curved spacetime lensing, quantum electrodynamical effects, spectra, polarization, and impulse responses. The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, 286(2), 55. 

Borah, P., Dev, P. B., & Ghoshal, A. (2026). Primordial magnetogenesis and Gravitational Waves from ALP-assisted phase transition. Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, 2026(09), 118. 

MCSS Fellows in the News

Mercury Has Wrinkles That Show It’s Shrinking. 
Now, Scientists Say the Planet Has Shriveled Far More Than Previously Thought
Paul Byrne | Smithsonian Magazine

Nonlinear Quantum Matter for AI Imaging and Computing Conference 

Bringing together researchers at the intersection of quantum materials, nonlinear optics, AI, computational imaging, sensing, and emerging computing hardware
TODAY, Friday, October 2 - Saturday, October 3
Umrath Lounge

The Galactic Annihilation Line Explorer (GALE) Balloon-borne Mission to Study 511-keV Annihilation Emission Morphology in the Inner Galaxy

Astrophysics & Space Sciences Seminar
Makoto Sasaki
Goddard Space Flight Center
TODAY, Friday, October  2
9:00am, Compton 241

Candidate for a Fractional Topological Insulator

Physics Colloquium
Xiaoyang Zhu
Columbia University
Wednesday, October 7
3:00pm, Compton 340

Mapping the Global Seafloor Using Satellites and Ships 

EEPS Colloquium
David Sandwell
Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Thursday, October 8
11:30am, Rudolph 301

Effect of Solar Wind Electrons on Stimulating the Oxidation and Hydroxylation of Lunar Materials-I AND Experimental Constraints on Mg-Suite Source Depth through Extrusive Materials

EEPS Brown Bag
Copland Yang & Stephanie Zhang
WashU
Friday, October 9
Noon, Rudolph 301

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Interim Director: William McKinnon
Associate Director: Michael Nowak
Assistants to the Director: Vickie Gee and Beth Sparks
Communications Specialist: Alison Verbeck

Compiled and edited by Alison Verbeck. Have news to share? Please send it along!

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