Galactic Archeology: Using Stars to Map the Structure and Evolution of the Milky Way

Dr. Christian Aganze earned his doctorate in physics from UC-San Diego in June 2023. Aganze is a galactic archaeologist. His research identifies brown dwarfs -cryptic celestial objects sometimes called “failed stars” because their temperatures and pressures did not become high enough to sustain hydrogen fusion and create stars. At Stanford, he hopes to identify brown dwarfs and low-mass stars (known as ultracool dwarfs) deep in the Milky Way using archival data from space-based missions and ground-based surveys (e.g., the James Webb Space Telescope and the Vera C. Rubin Observatory). Using this data, he will make predictions about the Milky Way’s structure and star formation history over time.