Near-field Cosmology @ UW

Nora Shipp

Assistant Professor of Astronomy

University of Washington

What is dark matter and how does it govern the evolution and assembly of galaxies? My research addresses these questions using the Milky Way as a dark matter laboratory. Through stellar streams — the tidal debris of disrupting satellites and star clusters — my group connects observations from large surveys to cosmological and idealized simulations to measure the distribution and particle properties of dark matter.

Near-field cosmology Galactic dynamics Stellar streams Surveys & simulations
Research Group Publications CV
Stellar stream simulation
Contact

PAB C325
University of Washington, Seattle
nshipp@uw.edu

Recent Publications View all →
[1]
"Forecasting Dark Matter Subhalo Constraints from Stellar Streams using Implicit Likelihood Inference"
Nguyen, Pei, Li, Shipp et al.  ·  2026  ·  arXiv:2512.07960
[2]
"Auriga Streams III: the mass-metallicity relation does not rule out tidal mass-loss in Local Group satellites"
Riley, Bieri, Deason, Shipp et al.  ·  2026  ·  arXiv:2509.06859
[3]
"The DECam Field of Streams: a deep view of the Milky Way halo"
Ferguson & Shipp  ·  2025  ·  arXiv:2506.05469
News
Feb 2026
Arpit Arora is one of 16 UW postdocs funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. UW News →
Dec 2025
Peter Ferguson is featured in a Haverford College profile on alumni contributions to the Vera C. Rubin Observatory and LSST. Haverford →
Jul 2025
Arpit Arora talks to NPR's Short Wave about whether the Milky Way and Andromeda will collide. NPR →
May 2025
Faculty spotlight interview with Nora Shipp in the UW Astronomy newsletter. UW Astronomy →
Feb 2025
Nora Shipp and collaborators receive a Scialog Collaborative Innovation Award for Early Science with LSST. RCSA →