Precise determination of their chemical and isotopic abundances reveals their age and the conditions under which they were congealed. Microscopic diamonds from beyond the solar system have recently been discovered in fragments of meteorites analyzed in the Enrico Fermi Institute. Gas clouds collapse into molecular clouds, eventually form stars shrouded in dust, and finally shine through the clouds as normal stars. When the stars die, some of their matter returns to space to form more clouds. Research at Chicago covers all phases of this cycle and involves close collaboration between theorists and observers.
Interstellar clouds are monitors of the history of element evolution.
Recent work on abundances has changed our views about how grains of dust must be formed. The mass range of stars that can be detected has been greatly enlarged by new techniques developed at Chicago. Detailed models of stellar evolution near the end of a star's life have given us new understandings of the precursor stages of supernovae, including such dramatic events as novae. Detailed studies of properties of spinning black holes, and the purely mathematical properties of the gravitational field equations, are also active areas of research at Chicago. One of the main areas in which such theoretical studies closely connect to observations is in studies of cosmic magnetic fields, in which Chicago has played a dominant role.