Hawai`i Astronomer Wins Canadian Award
Hawai`i Astronomer Wins Canadian Award
Recently, East Asian Observatory/James Clerk Maxwell Telescope astronomer Dr. Alex Tetarenko was awarded the 2019 J. S. Plaskett Medal by the Canadian Astronomical Society (CASCA).
Dr. Tetarenko was awarded the medal for her doctoral thesis on the physics of relativistic jets in X-ray binaries, as revealed by radio, millimeter (mm), and sub-millimeter (sub-mm) observations. Dr. Tetarenko obtained her doctorate at the University of Alberta, and is now a 2018 East Asian Observatory Fellow working in Hilo.
Dr. Tetarenko was awarded the medal for her exceptional skills both as an observer and in the physical interpretation of complex observational data. Specifically she is a leading expert in mm/sub-mm observations of black hole X-ray binaries. Recently, the journal Naturepublished Dr. Tetarenko’s paper on the rapidly spinning black hole in the Galactic binary system V404 Cygni. Dr. Tetarenko and her team used the Very Long Baseline Array (part of which is located on Maunakea) to observe this stellar mass black hole eject rapidly rotating high-speed clouds of plasma (known as jets), which are thought to be driven by the effects of Einstein’s theory of general relativity.
On being awarded the 2019 J. S. Plaskett Medal, Dr. Tetarenko said “I am honored and humbled by the award, and grateful to be included among the list of awesome Canadian astronomers who have come before me”. On living and working in Hawaiʻi, Dr. Tetarenko said “I absolutely love being based in Hawaiʻi. Not only is Hawaiʻi one of the foremost centres of astronomy in the world, where I have access to world class telescopes and all the support and resources I need for my research, but it is also a beautiful island with a rich culture, that provides a very welcome escape from harsh Canadian winters.”
