David Chuss, PhD
Professor and Chair of Physics
David Chuss, PhD, has worked at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and studies astronomical polarimetry and magnetic fields.
Areas of Expertise (5)
- Astrophysical Magnetic Fields
- Cosmology
- Astronomical Polarimetry
- Galactic Center
- Star Formation
Biography
David Chuss develops instrumentation to study the polarization of long wavelength light from astrophysical phenomenon to learn about the universe. He has worked on projects exploring the cosmic microwave background, which is thermal radiation from the beginning of the universe. Most recently, he led a team that developed a new camera for NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy that measures the polarization of radiation from clouds, which unveils the magnetic fields that can affect the star formation process. Prior to coming to Villanova, Chuss worked as an astrophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
Education (3)
- Northwestern University: Ph.D.
- The Pennsylvania State University: M.S.
- Villanova University: B.S.
Select Accomplishments (4)
Links (1)
Select Media Appearances (5)
Dazzling New Milky Way Map Shows How Magnetism Shapes Our Galaxy
Scientific American
6/25/2024
But a new map of the galactic center and its magnetic field offers scientists an unprecedentedly detailed look into the forces that powered our galaxy’s emergence. Researchers around the world spent four years gathering and combining telescope data that show how interstellar dust across 500 light-years of the Milky Way’s center interacts with the galaxy’s magnetic field.* The resulting map is the first to depict the field with such clarity at this resolution, says the project’s principal investigator, Villanova University physicist David T. Chuss. Chuss and his team studied space dust using the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, a NASA telescope that tracked infrared light while mounted in an aircraft flown at 45,000 feet. Magnetic fields cause light waves emitted by dust to orient in particular ways, giving that light a property called polarization—so measuring the polarization can reveal nearby magnetism. Villanova physicist Dylan Paré and his colleagues converted the telescope’s data into segments suitable for visual representation, and Kaitlyn Karpovich, then an undergraduate student, crafted the colorful background using additional telescopes’ data on dust temperature and dispersion.
The Magnetic Heart of the Milky Way
The New York Times
4/19/2024
About seven stars are born each year in the Milky Way, our home galaxy. They come from dust and to dust they eventually return. Now, a celestial image, an Impressionistic swirl of color in the center of the Milky Way, represents a first step toward understanding the role of those magnetic fields in the cycle of stellar death and rebirth. The image was produced by David Chuss, a physicist at Villanova University and an international team of astronomers. The project is known as FIREPLACE, for Far-InfraRed Polarimetric Large Area CMZ Exploration. The team’s map reveals previously invisible details in a stretch of the central Milky Way 500 light-years wide.
New Map Reveals Complicated Magnetics of Milky Way’s Inner Core
Forbes
3/18/2024
An international Villanova University-led team, funded in part by NASA, used the far infrared telescope aboard NASA and the German Aerospace Center’s now decommissioned SOFIA airborne observatory on nine flights in 2020 and 2021. From there, the team took far infrared observations of the galaxy’s dusty inner regions. The galactic center is a unique part of our galaxy, the densities are higher, the velocities are faster, and the magnetic fields there are doing things that we don't see in other regions, says team leader David Chuss, chairman of Villanova University’s physics dept. in Pennsylvania.
Scientists reveal never-before-seen map of the Milky Way's central engine
Space.com
3/15/2024
"The center of the Milky Way and most of the space between stars is filled with a lot of dust, and this is important for our galaxy's life cycle," David Chuss, research team leader and a physics professor at Villanova University, told Space.com. "What we looked at was light emitted from these cool dust grains produced by heavy elements forged in stars and dispersed when those stars die and explode."
Searching for a tiny signal from the very beginning of the universe
WHYY
8/4/2016
The air is thin on Cerro Toco Mountain, high up in the Atacama Desert in Chile, and breathing can be a bit of a challenge. But all is forgotten with a look at the stunning night sky. “It’s incredibly beautiful, there’s very little light pollution at all,” says Villanova University astrophysicist David Chuss. “You can see the Milky Way, it’s a very beautiful experience.”
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