New simulations show that a white dwarf torn apart by an intermediate-mass black hole can detonate into a thermonuclear supernova. This explosion resembles those from double-white-dwarf mergers, but its brightness and spectra vary dramatically depending on viewing angle.
The study, recently published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, was led by CITA Postdoctoral Fellow Pavan Vynatheya and…
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When Black Holes Shred White Dwarfs, the Result Can Be a Lopsided Supernova
New Simulations Reveal Telltale Differences Between Stars Born of Collisions and Stars Born of Mergers
Magnetohydrodynamic modelling shows that colliding and merging stars produce distinct “fingerprints,” offering a new way to trace the violent origins of unusual stars such as blue stragglers.
A study published recently in The Astrophysical Journal provides the most detailed comparison yet of what happens when two stars collide versus when two stars in a binary system merge together — two…
Incoming U of T professor Sara Seager named Eddie Goldenberg Distinguished Research Chair in Planetary and Molecular Sensing Technologies
By Cynthia Macdonald, A&S News
Internationally renowned astrophysicist and planetary scientist Sara Seager will officially join the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (CITA) at the University of Toronto on October 1 as North Star Distinguished Professor. This honour accompanies another of significance: she has been named the Eddie Goldenberg Research Chair in Planetary and…
CITA Researcher Helps Distinguish Black Holes from a Type of Boson Star in New Gravitational Wave Study
Are all merging compact objects that produce gravitational waves black holes, or are some of them highly convincing imposters?
A new study published on August 14, 2026 in the prestigious journal Physical Review Letters has brought scientists one step closer to answering this fundamental question. Co-led by Dr. Aditya Vijaykumar, a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Canadian Institute for…
CITA marks 40th anniversary with global gathering at the University of Toronto.
Originally published by A&S News.
The Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (CITA) marked its 40th anniversary at the University of Toronto at the end of May, bringing together astrophysicists from around the world for a three-day conference celebrating four decades of research, training and collaboration.
More than 160 participants attended in person, with hundreds mor…
50 Years of Exploring the Cosmos: The Incredible Legacy of Dick Bond
How do you map out the entire universe? For University of Toronto astrophysicist Dick Bond, you do it with five decades of passion, groundbreaking math, and a healthy dose of curiosity.
A fascinating new feature by the University of Toronto looks back at Bond’s legendary 50-year career—and his massive role in putting Canada on the global astrophysics map.
If you’ve ever heard the terms…
Supercomputer Reveals How Exploding Stars “Stir” the Galaxy from the Bottom Up
New research performed on the Trillium/SciNet Supercomputer at the University of Toronto reveals a fundamentally different mechanism by which exploding stars shape the turbulent structure of our galaxy. The study, authored by Dr. James Beattie, postdoctoral fellow at the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (CITA), was accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
How a Cosmic Cloud Becomes a Solar System: Scientists Discover the “EnDTranZ” Missing Link
Shantanu Basu, Interim Director of the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, is part of an international team that has revealed, for the first time, how infalling gas from star-forming cores gradually transitions into planet-forming disks. The study, led by Indrani Das from Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, combines numerical simulations with observations…
New Study Finds Evidence of Cosmic Explosions with Missing Black Holes
CITA researchers Maya Fishbach, Amanda Farah and Aditya Vijaykumar are part of an international team that has uncovered evidence of a rare form of exploding star, shedding light on one of the most cataclysmic events in the Universe. Their study, published in Nature today, confirms that black holes with masses larger than 45 times the mass of the sun are the result of previous black hole mergers,…
Astronomers pave the way in the search for supermassive black hole binaries in the hearts of galaxies
A team of astronomers including CITA postdoctoral fellow Aretaios Lalakos and CITA Professor Richard Bond, has bolstered the evidence for the existence of one of the most remarkable, yet elusive, phenomena in the universe: pairs of supermassive black holes (SMBH) in orbit around each other in the centres of galaxies.
Their research, recently published in the journal Astronomy &am…
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