Chandra X-Ray Observatory (photo courtesy of NASA)
Sam Miller
On Sunday evening, Jan. 11, the SaddleBrooke Skygazers Astronomy Club will present Dr. Mathieu Renzo, assistant professor, University of Arizona’s Steward Observatory. The program presentation will be at the DesertView Theater, 39900 S. Clubhouse Drive, at 7 p.m. Dr Renzo’s presentation will focus on massive binary stars and the resulting core-collapse supernovae.
Mathieu Renzo’s interest in astronomy comes from the wide range of physical processes occurring in an astronomical context. He focuses on stellar physics and, in particular, massive stars, binary evolution, and explosions. His interests include stellar kinematics (runaway, “walkaway,” and hyper-velocity stars), core-collapse and (pulsational) pair-instability supernovae, nuclear astrophysics, X-ray binaries, time-domain, and gravitational-wave astronomy. He mainly uses analytical and numerical simulations to understand massive star evolution, their explosions, and how they interact in binary systems. He uses both detailed stellar structure and evolution models (e.g., with MESA) and rapid population synthesis (e.g., with Binary C or COSMIC), possibly coupled with galactic dynamics with Cogsworth. He also simulates the light coming from explosions (e.g., with SNEC) and is learning to run multidimensional hydrodynamic simulations (with ATHENA++).
Dr. Renzo studied at the University of Pisa for his bachelor’s and master’s degrees, then he moved to Amsterdam for his PhD to work with Selma de Mink. In 2017 he spent one semester as a Kalvi Institute for Theoretical Physics graduate fellow at UC Santa Barbara and completed his PhD in 2019. After that, he moved to New York City where he spent four years between the Center for Computational Astrophysics of the Flatiron Institute and Columbia University.
The SaddleBrooke Skygazers Astronomy Club meets monthly (and typically) on the second Sunday evening at 7 p.m. at the DesertView Theater. The winter/spring Star Parties are scheduled on Wednesday, Jan. 21; Thursday, Feb. 19; and Tuesday, March 17, at the softball field parking lot. The public is welcome to both meetings and Star Parties. Club and Star Party information can be obtained by reviewing our website at sbazsky.xakt.me or by emailing Sam Miller at twoyosemite@gmail.com.