AGN SIG Spotlight Series, 17 Nov 2026

NASA Science · November 4, 2026

Our Spotlight Series highlights recent advances in AGN science, with a strong emphasis on participation from early-career researchers, and includes plenty of time for community discussion following the presentations. The post AGN SIG Spotlight Series, 17 Nov 2026 appeared first on NASA Science .

… Cosmic Origins Community AGN SIG Spotlight Series, 17… About Community Executive Committee Science Groups Conferences Cosmic Pathfinders Early Career Workshops Opportunities Missions Studies News & Events Resources AGN SIG Spotlight Series Active Galactic Nuclei Science Interest Group Our Spotlight Series highlights recent advances in AGN science, with a strong emphasis on participation from early-career researchers, and includes plenty of time for community discussion following the presentations.

Location Virtual

17 November 2026 1:00pm ET / 10:00am PT

AGN SIG

Seminar

Dr. Johannes Buchner (Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics )

I will summarize some recent results enabled by the large AGN samples discovered by eROSITA’s X-ray all-sky survey. Taken within four days, the pilot survey of eROSITA, eFEDS, revealed a diverse sample of over 20000 AGN. SDSS spectroscopy combined with sophisticated modelling techniques gives access to black hole mass estimates. The new multi-wavelength SED analysis code GRAHSP yields unbiased host stellar mass estimates even for luminous AGN. Combining these techniques reveals over-massive black holes (OMBHs) with 10x larger black hole masses than typical Milky-Way-mass galaxies. The discovery of abundant OMBHs at z<1 is at odds with an interpretation of OMBHs as seed remnants and the tight correlations in galaxy evolution simulations. The subsequent 2 years of data taken in the eROSITA all-sky survey also provided a wealth of X-ray data. Rest-frame X-ray spectral stacks of SDSS quasars revealed the soft excess spectrum as a function of black hole mass, Eddington ratio, X-ray to UV luminosity ratio. The future is bright: With 4MOST, SphereX, Euclid and LSST, AGN multiwavelength & spectroscopic surveys enable precision AGN-galaxy co-evolution studies and can reveal unusual modes of AGN accretion.

Dr. Ryan Pfeifle (US Naval Observatory)

Theoretical studies predict that dual AGNs are a critical stage of galaxy merger-driven supermassive black hole growth. Systematic searches for dual AGNs typically target late-stage mergers ( 50 kpc. The diversity in AGN properties and environments identified in this work highlights the importance of multiwavelength selection strategies and analyses in the quest to holistically understand dual AGNs as a population.

Zoom Registration, you will receive connection details by email after registration: