Joseph L. Hora

Astronomer

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Research Activities

Instrumentation Projects:

• IRAC - Project Scientist for the InfraRed Array Camera for the Spitzer Space Telescope (2003 - 2020)
• MIRSI (Mid-InfraRed Spectrometer and Imager): now at the NASA IRTF
• NIRI camera, Gemini telescope
• IRCS - Infrared Camera and Spectrograph, Subaru telescope
• KSPEC - K-band spectrograph
• QUIRC - QUick InfraRed Camera
• MIRAC - Mid-InfraRed Array Camera

Astronomical Research

My active research is in several areas, including star formation, the physics of the emission from the black hole at the center of our galaxy, and IR observations of near-earth objects.

• Interstellar Ices

  I am currently a part of the Interstellar Ices investigation for the SPHEREx mission (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the universe, Epoch of Reionization and ices Explorer), a MIDEX-class mission that will perform the first all-sky spectral survey at wavelengths from 0.75 - 5 µm. Launch is anticipated in 2025. See this paper for a description of the mission.

  
  

• Massive Star Formation

  Several of my current projects are related to the study of massive star formation in the Cygnus-X region. I led a team that performed a Spitzer Legacy Survey during the cyogenic Spitzer mission, and we performed a survey with Herschel as well as several other investigations of the massive star formation in this region. See some of the images below that resulted from this project.

  
  In a related project called Star Formation in the Outer Galaxy (with Elaine Winston and Volker Tolls), we are exploring the differences in star formation activity in the lower density and lower metallicity regions at larger distances from the Galactic Center. Another project called Origin and Evolution of Rich Clusters (performed with Gözde Saral) focused on the high mass star forming regions W49, W43, and W51.
  
  

• Infrared/X-ray/submm Observations of the Galactic Center Black Hole

  Our team is studying the emission mechanisms at work in the Galactic center black hole (Sgr A*) by monitoring the source in up to 24-hour periods in the infrared with Spitzer, X-ray with Chandra, and submm at ALMA and the SMA. See our project web page for details and the current status. A couple press releases are in the table below.

  
  

• Near Earth Object (NEO) Observations with Spitzer

  I am part of a team that studied NEOs with IRAC. We can more accurately estimate the object's size and its surface properties with infrared observations. See our NEO Survey project web site for more details and access to our database.

  
  

2017 August 21 Solar Eclipse

See some photos of the eclipse and plans for a solar telescope to safely view the sun and eclipses.

2024 April 8 Solar Eclipse

See some photos of the eclipse from Brockport, NY (spoiler: clouded out).

Click on images below for examples of results:

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More information:

• CV - available upon request at address below
• Publications ORCID: 0000-0002-5599-4650
• Preprints
• ADS Library of publications

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Contact Information

• Email:

  jhora(at)cfa(dot)harvard(dot)edu
  
  

• Address:

  Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian
  60 Garden Street, MS-65
  Cambridge, MA 02138-1516
  USA
  
  

• Phones:

  office: (617)496-7548
  Fax: (617)495-7490
  

  
  
  

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Last updated: Monday, 15-Apr-2024 10:53:41 EDT