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About the Post-Starburst Galaxies Research Group

Central region of the HST image of NGC 7252
NGC 7252, a nearby post-starburst galaxy that has recently undergone a merger (Credit: NASA, ESA)

The Post-Starburst (PSB) Galaxies group at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) is a collaboration between staff scientists, postdocs and graduate students at STScI and Johns Hopkins University. The focus of this research group is to study the formation and evolution of galaxies with an emphasis on why star formation shuts down in galaxies. While this is our primary focus, our interests are diverse and our research spans many topics in galaxy evolution including AGNs, galaxy environments, and how the nature of star formation quenching changes as a function of redshift. 

We are involved in a wide range of observational programs using the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), and ground based telescopes such as Gemini, the Very Large Telescope (VLT), the Jansky Very Large Array (VLA), and the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA), to understand the morphologies, environments, stellar populations and gas contents of quenching galaxies from high to low redshift (0<z<4).

Leads: Kate Rowlands, Katey Alatalo, Andreea Petric

Students and Postdocs: Justin Otter, Maya Skarbinski, Pallavi Patil, Isaac Moskowitz, Lauren Dysarz

STScI and JHU Members: Tim Heckman, Adam Smercina, Kirsten Larson, Stacey Alberts, Maria Jesus Jimenez Donaire

Former Students: Liza Sazonova, Yuanze Luo

Research Topics:

  • Galaxy Formation and Evolution
  • Galaxy Outflows
  • Star Formation, Histories, and Evolution
  • Galaxy Structure
  • Galaxy Kinematics
  • High-Redshift Galaxies
  • AGN and Quasars

Related Missions & Instruments: HST, JWST, VLT, ALMA, VLA, IRAM, Gemini

Related Programs: SPOGs, UKIDSS UDS