Eric Schlegel, Ph.D.

The Vaughan Family Endowed Professorship in Physics

Professor, Physics and Astronomy

Eric Schlegel holds the Vaughan Family Professorship in Physics at UTSA. His areas of specialization are the astrophysics of interacting binary stars, supernovae, and the x-ray emission of spiral galaxies. 

His group investigates a variety of astrophysical problems, such as studying X-rays emitted by supernovae, and the diffuse X-ray emission present in face-on spiral galaxies that may or may not correspond to regions of massive star formation. Increasingly, members of the group are working on MHD simulations of the jet launching region of blazars and the radiative emission sites of neutron stars. 

Schlegel made international headlines in 2016 after a team of researchers he led discovered a powerful galactic blast produced by a giant black hole about 26 million light years from Earth. The black hole is the nearest supermassive black hole to Earth that is currently undergoing such violent outbursts. Schlegel’s team used NASA’s Earth-orbiting Chandra X-ray Observatory to find the black hole blast in the famous Messier 51 system of galaxies. The system contains a large spiral galaxy, NGC 5194, colliding with a smaller companion galaxy, NGC 5195. 

Schlegel earned two Bachelor of Science degrees in Astronomy and Atmospheric Science from the State University of New York-Albany, then earned a master’s degree and PhD in Astronomy from Indiana University, Bloomington.