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Sanhueza Lab
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A lab that uses radio telescopes to observe how massive stars are born.
AboutAbout the lab
Peering into the birthplaces of massive stars with radio waves.
The Sanhueza Lab studies how massive stars, which are far heavier than the Sun, are born.
Massive stars end their lives in supernova explosions that scatter heavy elements throughout the universe.
Using radio interferometers such as ALMA and the VLA as its main tools, the lab observes clumps of gas at the stage before stars form.
In an international team, the lab investigates everything from the role of magnetic fields and how binary stars form to the mechanisms that determine stellar mass.
Key terms
- Massive star
- A star many times more massive than the Sun. It ends its life in a supernova explosion, leaving behind a neutron star or a black hole.
- Radio interferometer
- An observing instrument that combines the signals from multiple antennas placed far apart, so that together they work like one giant telescope.
- Initial mass function
- A distribution showing how many stars of each mass exist among newly born stars.
ResearchResearch themes
The lab observes how massive stars are born using radio interferometers such as ALMA and the VLA. It runs several international observing projects, covering everything from the stage before stars form to magnetic fields, binary stars, disks, and chemical composition.
*Illustrative imageThe Earliest Stage of Star Formation
ASHES is a project that uses ALMA to observe gas clumps inside infrared dark clouds, which appear dark in infrared light, to determine what the very first stage of massive star formation looks like.
*Illustrative imageThe Role of Magnetic Fields in Star Formation
MagMaR is a project that uses ALMA to detect polarized radio emission from dust and map the structure of magnetic fields in regions where massive stars are forming.
*Illustrative imageBinaries, Accretion Disks, and Inflowing Gas
Using ALMA's high resolution, the lab investigates how common accretion disks are around massive stars, how gas is supplied to them, and how binary stars form.
*Illustrative imageHow Stellar Mass Is Determined
ALMA-IMF is a large international project that investigates the origin of the initial mass function, the distribution of masses of newly born stars, by examining the mass distribution of the cores from which stars form.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Sanhueza Lab consist of faculty members, researchers, and master's and undergraduate students.As of 2026
- Associate ProfessorSANHUEZA PatricioPublications ↗
- Project Assistant ProfessorQiuyi Luo
VoicesStudent voices
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RelatedLabs similar to Sanhueza Lab
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Izumi LabFaculty of Science, Department of AstronomyRadio astronomy; active galactic nucleiThe information on this page is compiled by the LabLog team from the lab's public information and interviews. For corrections or removal requests, please contact LabLog, not the lab.
Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “ALMA view of the star-forming region AFGL 5142 (eso2001b)” ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), Rivilla et al. / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- The Earliest Stage of Star Formation: “Infrared Dark Cloud (IRDC) in the W40 region” NASA/Spitzer / Public domain (cropped)
- The Role of Magnetic Fields in Star Formation: “Herschel’s view of the Taurus molecular cloud ESA384012” European Space Agency / CC BY-SA 3.0 igo (cropped)
- Binaries, Accretion Disks, and Inflowing Gas: “ALMA image of the circumstellar disk AB Aurigae” ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/Tang et al. / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- How Stellar Mass Is Determined: “Grand star-forming region R136 in NGC 2070 (infrared, captured by the Hubble Space Telescope)” NASA, ESA, F. Paresce (INAF-IASF), R. O'Connell (University of Virginia) / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Egusa Lab): “M83 - Southern Pinwheel” (Credit) ESO / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Kashikawa Lab): “Subaru Telescope. Mauna Kea Summit ( )” Robert Linsdell / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Kohno Lab): “ALMA antennas on Chajnantor (malin-dsc0027)” ESO/C. Malin / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Izumi Lab): “Artist’s impression of the active galactic nucleus of Messier 77 (eso2203d)” ESO/M. Kornmesser and L. Calçada / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
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