Massive Stars
Academic staff: Professor Paul Crowther
Postdoctoral researchers: Dr Joachim Bestenlehner
PhD students: Thaer Alkousa
Honorary Professor: Professor Andy Pollock
Massive stars
Massive stars play a leading role in the ecology of galaxies via their radiative, chemical and mechanical feedback, although their evolutionary pathways remain unclear. We are interested in the evolution of the most massive stars in the universe from the main-sequence to late evolutionary stages (red supergiants, Wolf-Rayet stars).
We exploit X-ray, ultraviolet, optical and infrared datasets of massive stars from ground- (VLT) and space-based observatories (HST, Chandra, Spitzer) in combination with state-of-the-art analysis tools, stellar atmosphere computations and stellar structure calculations.
Current PhD opportunities in this topic
No projects are offered in this topic this year. PhD opportunities are available in the other astronomy subgroups though.
Research Excellence Framework 2021
We have been rated 1st in the UK in terms of the quality of our research. In the latest REF, 100 per cent of research and impact from our department has been classed as world-leading or internationally excellent.