Interstellar Medium* Group (ISM*@ST)

a portion of the Andromeda galaxy (M31)
HST image of a portion of M31. Credits: NASA, ESA, J. Dalcanton, B.F. Williams, and L.C. Johnson (University of Washington), the PHAT team, and R. Gendler

The Interstellar Medium* Group at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) is a collaboration between STScI research staff, associated external collaborators, and the students and postdocs with whom they work. We meet weekly, pool resources and expertise, and collaborate on research projects. We focus on interstellar, circumstellar, and circumgalactic media, mainly in nearby galaxies. But our interests are diverse and we often use stars and stellar populations in our analyses; hence the *. 

The overall focus of the ISM*@ST group is the study of nearby galaxies (including the Milky Way) as laboratories for the physical processes of the ISM, star formation, stellar feedback, and galaxy evolution. We are broad in our approach: we use wavelengths from radio to ultraviolet, spectroscopy and imaging, bayesian inference and deep learning, targeted observations and archival studies.

Website: ismstar.space

Leads: Martha Boyer, Karoline Gilbert, Karl Gordon, Claire MurrayJoshua Peek, Julia Roman-Duval, Erik Tollerud

Research Topics:

  • Local Group Galaxies
  • Interstellar Medium
  • Dust
  • Diffuse interstellar bands
  • Interstellar atomic gas
  • High-velocity clouds
  • Interstellar dust
  • Interstellar dynamics
  • H1 line emission
  • Interstellar filaments
  • Interstellar magnetic fields
  • Interstellar phases
  • Interstellar dust extinction
  • Quasar absorption line spectroscopy
  • Intergalactic medium
  • Galaxy formation
  • Galaxy kinematics
  • Galaxy accretion
  • Radio astronomy
  • Intergalactic dust clouds
  • Star Formation, Histories, and Evolution
  • Resolved Stellar Populations
  • Astrochemistry, Chemical Abundances
  • Interstellar Medium Phases
  • Molecular Clouds
  • Interstellar Medium turbulence
  • Milky Way
  • Nearby Galaxies
  • UV, IR, mm-radio Astronomy
  • Galaxy Formation and Evolution
  • Cosmology


Related Missions & Instruments: HSTJWST, Spitzer, Herschel, ALMA, Arecibo, Keck

Related Programs: METAL, PHAT, SMIDGE, LUVIT, Scylla, KINGFISH, HERITAGE, SAGE-LMC, SAGE-SMC, SAGE-Spec

Selected Publications: ISM*@ST Publications by Author