Following the Big Bang the Universe was homogeneous in matter, energy and barren of chemistry. It is the stars which, through their life and death, built up the periodic table. Astronomers have now identified several classes of cosmic explosions of which supernovae constitute the largest group. The Palomar Transient Factory was an innovative 2-telescope, and its successor, the Zwicky Transient ...
Ultra-Diffuse Galaxies (UDGs) represent an extraordinary class of galaxies with effective radii comparable to the Milky Way yet stellar masses only 1/100 to 1/1000 of our Galaxy. Found in a variety of cosmic environments—from galaxy clusters and groups to large-scale filaments and cosmic voids—their origins remain a subject of intense debate, positioning them at the forefront of extragalactic...
GJ1214b is the archetype low-density sub-Neptune orbiting around a M-dwarf. The bulk composition of GJ1214b is of great interest to explore its origin; however, previous studies suffered from a degeneracy between a rocky core with a hydrogen-rich envelope or an icy core with a water-rich envelope. To break the degeneracy, atmospheric observations had been conducted for over a decade; however, t...
I will discuss the role of non-thermal pressure support as a major source of the difference between the hydrostatic and the total ``true'' halo mass in galaxy clusters. I will present new models and methods to constrain the non-thermal pressure, highlighting the role of the next generation of X-ray observatories, like XRISM and NewAthena, in constructing a consistent picture of the formation an...
The discovery of thousands of exoplanets in our galaxy has unveiled an extraordinary diversity in planetary compositions and properties, challenging conventional theories of planet formation and evolution. These observations have spurred the development of new theoretical models that incorporate additional physical processes to bridge the gap between theory and data. Informed by recent high-pre...