About 18 members of an international astrophysics research collaboration met at the UMBC's South Campus Research and Technology Park and at the Visitor Center of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). The Magnet group studies the X-ray emission of highly magnetized neutron stars in binary systems, which provides us with a laboratory of extreme conditions (strong magnetic fields and gravity) that cannot be studied on Earth. The collaboration includes senior researchers, young postdocs, and students.
The meeting was organized by Dr. Katja Pottschmidt (UMBC & NASA-GSFC). UMBC graduate student Diana Marcu and UMBC undergraduate senior Amy Gottlieb were among the participants, along with researchers from institutions in Germany (IAAT, FAU / Remeis Observatory, AIP), Spain (ESAC), Switzerland (ISDC) and the US (GMU, UCSD, NRL, MIT, Caltech).
Photo courtesy Dr. Peter Kretschmar (ESA-ESAC, Spain)