Surrey astrophysicist. Understanding the formation history of our Milky Way through dynamics and chemistry. Talk about papers on the Starxiv.
Payel Das
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GSE possibly happened further back in time than we initially thought!
I really enjoyed this paper! Who knew that the craters that formed early on eject material that can reform craters later and cause an asymmetry in crater distribution across the Moon's surface.
Pulsars can measure the gravitational force directly! So the more we find, the better we can understand whether an intermediate mass black hole exists at the heart of Omega Centauri.
Another great use of machine learning for classification in astronomy.
Fun as ever chatting about papers with Michelle. We happened to say lots of odd things this time too. Like claiming that one of the papers was published in A&E. We'll be saving bloopers for a special episode soon!
It's kind of cool that we're starting to get detailed age and metallicity profiles for galaxies at redshift 1!
Michelle discussed a very cool possible candidate for a primordial black hole. Tune into this week's @starxiv.bsky.social podcast to find out more!
We learned a lot of things here. Apparently galaxies can be banana shaped and UV emission can be dominated by nebulae emission rather than star formation.
I mean it’s a few billion years in the future, but can’t help but think about the possibility of a collision between the Milky Way and Andromeda: spoilers - LMC gets engulfed but M33 stays intact!
Check out our latest episode! At the end of a tiring week, definitely one of my favourite things is to curl up with the coolest research from the last few weeks!
Payel Das
Payel Das
Payel Das
Payel Das
Payel Das
Payel Das
Payel Das
Payel Das
Payel Das
Payel Das
Nicole’s first paper pins down the Milky Way’s last major merger, GSE, to ~11.2 Gyr ago by combining stellar ages, globular clusters, and kinematics. It links the event to a starburst, “Tainá”, and even ties Omega Centauri to the same progenitor. arxiv.org/abs/2604.14502 ☄️🔭
Michelle also discussed a new hunt for pulsars in Omega Centauri, the unique Milky Way star cluster that is likely the nucleus of a galaxy that has been stripped away. This search found one new pulsar and investigated the pulsar population. Check it out! arxiv.org/abs/2603.21845 ☄️ 🔭
Payel's first paper discussed a new theory to explain the difference in the distribution of craters across the moon. Find out more at arxiv.org/pdf/2605.09884 ☄️🔭
The StarXiv ✨ podcast
New episode incoming! Tune in now to hear Michelle and Payel discuss planet eating stars, UV bright galaxies at high redshift, binary black holes, pulsars in Omega Centauri and the fate of the Galaxy. Link is below, and its available wherever you get your podcasts. ☄️ 🔭 starxiv.com/2026/03/30/b...
Michelle's final paper reopened the debate on whether and how the Milky Way and Andromeda will merge. With updated proper motions for the main players (M31, M33 and the LMC), they found that these two spirals will likely collide in ~6 Gyr time. ☄️ 🔭 arxiv.org/abs/2603.22863
Payel's second paper uses detailed observations from JWST and HST to derive age and metallicity profiles in redshift-one galaxies and better constrain the balance between evolutionary processes driving disk growth. Find out more at arxiv.org/pdf/2605.15327 ☄️🔭
Michelle discusses the detection of Phoebe, a possible primordial black hole (PBH) in the Milky Way halo. Using DECam and microlensing, this object was found and the paper describes how they come to the conclusion that it is a likely PBH. Tune in to discover more! arxiv.org/abs/2605.19375 🔭 ☄️
In her second paper, Michelle discusses a machine learning technique to classify groups of galaxies that are falling in to clusters. If we can study these in detail, we can learn about the impact of the cluster on these galaxies before they fall in. Tune in for more! arxiv.org/abs/2605.14930 🔭 ☄️
Start the bank holiday right with our latest episode of @starxiv.bsky.social ! Despite the post below, it's actually an episode with me and @payeldas.bsky.social chatting about the moon, primordial black holes, pre processing in clusters and how spiral galaxies grow 🔭🧪☄️
The StarXiv ✨ podcast
Michelle discussed the banana and the blueberry: a UV bright, banana shaped galaxy at redshift ~ 5 that seems dominated by nebulae emission. And, it's compact, blue companion that may be a Population III source! Find out more in the episode. arxiv.org/abs/2603.13471 ☄️ 🔭
The StarXiv ✨ podcast
The StarXiv ✨ podcast
The StarXiv ✨ podcast
The StarXiv ✨ podcast
The StarXiv ✨ podcast
The StarXiv ✨ podcast
The StarXiv ✨ podcast
Michelle Collins
starxiv.com
Episode 37 – Lunar craters, primordial black holes & growing galaxies
In this episode, Michelle and Nicole explore primordial magnetic fields, the memory of Galactic mergers, and the origins of Venus's carbon dioxide atmosphere. They also examine how Galactic stars can help predict extragalactic…
In this episode, Michelle and Nicole explore primordial magnetic fields, the memory of Galactic mergers, and the origins of Venus's carbon dioxide atmosphere. They also examine how Galactic stars can help predict extragalactic abundances. Listeners can access the episode on various platforms, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
