Lada, Charles
Senior Astrophysicist
Star and planet formation; dense molecular clouds; bipolar molecular outflows; protoplanetary disks, extremely young star clusters; interstellar medium; infrared and millimeter-wave observational astronomy.
Background And Education
Education And Training
- B.A., Boston University
- Ph.D., Harvard University
Awards And Honors
- Smithsonian Scholarly Studies Award, conferred by Smithsonian Scholarly Studies Awards, 2019
Research And Grants
Investigator On
Publications
Selected Publications
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Article
- Cahlon, Shlomo, Zucker, Catherine, Goodman, Alyssa, Lada, Charles, and Alves, João. 2024. "A Parsec-scale Catalog of Molecular Clouds in the Solar Neighborhood Based on 3D Dust Mapping: Implications for the Mass-Size Relation." The Astrophysical Journal, 961 153. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad0cf8. 2024
- Dame, T. M. and Lada, Charles J. 2023. "A Complete HCN Survey of the Perseus Molecular Cloud." The Astrophysical Journal, 944 197. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/acb438. 2023
- Forbrich, Jan, Lada, Charles J., Pety, Jérôme, and Petitpas, Glen. 2023. "Tracing dense gas in six resolved GMCs of the Andromeda Galaxy." Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 525 5565–8550. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stad2600. 2023
- Forbrich, Jan, Lada, Charles J., Pety, Jérôme, and Petitpas, Glen. 2023. "Tracing dense gas in six resolved GMCs of the Andromeda Galaxy." Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 525 5565–5574; 8550. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stad2600. 2023
- Meingast, Stefan, Alves, João, Bouy, Hervé, Petr-Gotzens, Monika G., Fürnkranz, Verena, Großschedl, Josefa E., Hernandez, David, Rottensteiner, Alena, Arnaboldi, Magda, Ascenso, Joana, Bayo, Amelia, Brändli, Erik, Brown, Anthony G. A., Forbrich, Jan, Goodman, Alyssa, Hacar, Alvaro, Hasenberger, Birgit, Köhler, Rainer, Kubiak, Karolina, Kuhn, Michael, Lada, Charles, Leschinski, Kieran, Lombardi, Marco, Mardones, Diego, Mascetti, Laura et al. 2023. "VISIONS: the VISTA Star Formation Atlas. I. Survey overview." Astronomy and Astrophysics, 673. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202245771. 2023
- Lewis, John Arban, Lada, Charles J., and Dame, T. M. 2022. "Systematic Investigation of Dust and Gaseous CO in 12 Nearby Molecular Clouds." The Astrophysical Journal, 931 9. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ac5d58. 2022
- Lewis, John Arban, Lada, Charles J., Bieging, John, Kazarians, Anoush, Alves, João, and Lombardi, Marco. 2021. "Probing the Cold Deep Depths of the California Molecular Cloud: The Icy Relationship between CO and Dust." The Astrophysical Journal, 908 76. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/abc41f. 2021
- Grasser, Natalie, Ratzenböck, Sebastian, Alves, João, Großschedl, Josefa, Meingast, Stefan, Zucker, Catherine, Hacar, Alvaro, Lada, Charles, Goodman, Alyssa, Lombardi, Marco, Forbes, John C., Bomze, Immanuel M., and Möller, Torsten. 2021. "The ρ Ophiuchi region revisited with Gaia EDR3. Two young populations, new members, and old impostors." Astronomy and Astrophysics, 652 A2. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202140438. 2021
- Forbrich, Jan, Lada, Charles J., Viaene, Sébastien, and Petitpas, Glen. 2020. "Erratum: "First Resolved Dust Continuum Measurements of Individual Giant Molecular Clouds in the Andromeda Galaxy" (2020, ApJ, 890, 42)." The Astrophysical Journal, 900 196. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/abb371. 2020
- Forbrich, Jan, Lada, Charles J., Viaene, Sébastien, and Petitpas, Glen. 2020. "First Resolved Dust Continuum Measurements of Individual Giant Molecular Clouds in the Andromeda Galaxy." The Astrophysical Journal, 890 42. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab68de. 2020
- Lada, Charles J. and Dame, Thomas M. 2020. "The Mass-Size Relation and the Constancy of GMC Surface Densities in the Milky Way." The Astrophysical Journal, 898 3. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab9bfb. 2020
- Großschedl, Josefa Elisabeth, Alves, João, Teixeira, Paula S., Bouy, Hervé, Forbrich, Jan, Lada, Charles J., Meingast, Stefan, Hacar, Álvaro, Ascenso, Joana, Ackerl, Christine, Hasenberger, Birgit, Köhler, Rainer, Kubiak, Karolina, Larreina, Irati, Linhardt, Lorenz, Lombardi, Marco, and Möller, Torsten. 2019. "VISION - Vienna survey in Orion. III. Young stellar objects in Orion A." Astronomy and Astrophysics, 622 A149. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201832577. 2019
- Mendigutía, I., Lada, Charles J., and Oudmaijer, R. D. 2018. "A global correlation linking young stars, clouds, and galaxies. Towards a unified view of star formation." Astronomy and Astrophysics, 618 A119. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201833166. 2018
- Faesi, Christopher M., Lada, Charles J., and Forbrich, Jan. 2018. "The ALMA View of GMCs in NGC 300: Physical Properties and Scaling Relations at 10 pc Resolution." The Astrophysical Journal, 857 19. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aaad60. 2018
- Lada, Charles J., Lewis, John A., Lombardi, Marco, and Alves, João. 2017. "HP2 survey. III. The California Molecular Cloud: A sleeping giant revisited." Astronomy and Astrophysics, 606 A100. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201731221. 2017
- Alves, João, Lombardi, Marco, and Lada, Charles J. 2017. "The shapes of column density PDFs. The importance of the last closed contour." Astronomy and Astrophysics, 606 L2. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201731436. 2017
- Imara, Nia, Lada, Charles, Lewis, John, Bieging, John H., Kong, Shuo, Lombardi, Marco, and Alves, Joao. 2017. "X Marks the Spot: Nexus of Filaments, Cores, and Outflows in a Young Star-forming Region." The Astrophysical Journal, 840 119. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aa6d74. 2017
- Zari, Eleonora, Lombardi, Marco, Alves, João, Lada, Charles J., and Bouy, Hervé. 2016. "Herschel-Planck dust optical depth and column density maps. II. Perseus." Astronomy and Astrophysics, 587 A106. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201526597. 2016
- Lewis, John Arban and Lada, Charles J. 2016. "Protostars at Low Extinction in Orion A." The Astrophysical Journal, 825 91. https://doi.org/10.3847/0004-637X/825/2/91. 2016
- Faesi, Christopher M., Lada, Charles J., and Forbrich, Jan. 2016. "Resolving Giant Molecular Clouds in NGC 300: A First Look with the Submillimeter Array." The Astrophysical Journal, 821 125. https://doi.org/10.3847/0004-637X/821/2/125. 2016
- Meingast, Stefan, Alves, João, Mardones, Diego, Teixeira, Paula Stella, Lombardi, Marco, Großschedl, Josefa, Ascenso, Joana, Bouy, Herve, Forbrich, Jan, Goodman, Alyssa A., Hacar, Alvaro, Hasenberger, Birgit, Kainulainen, Jouni, Kubiak, Karolina, Lada, Charles, Lada, Elizabeth, Moitinho, André, Petr-Gotzens, Monika, Rodrigues, Lara, and Román-Zúñiga, Carlos G. 2016. "VISION - Vienna survey in Orion. I. VISTA Orion A Survey." Astronomy and Astrophysics, 587 A153. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201527160. 2016
- Lombardi, Marco, Alves, João, and Lada, Charles J. 2015. "Molecular clouds have power-law probability distribution functions." Astronomy and Astrophysics, 576 L1. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201525650. 2015
- Forbrich, Jan, Lada, Charles J., Lombardi, Marco, Román-Zúñiga, Carlos, and Alves, João. 2015. "Smoke in the Pipe Nebula: dust emission and grain growth in the starless core FeSt 1-457." Astronomy and Astrophysics, 580 A114. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201425375. 2015
- Kong, S., Lada, Charles J., Lada, E. A., Román-Zúñiga, C., Bieging, J. H., Lombardi, M., Forbrich, J., and Alves, J. F. 2015. "The Relationship between the Dust and Gas-Phase CO across the California Molecular Cloud." The Astrophysical Journal, 805 58. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/805/1/58. 2015
- Alves, João, Lombardi, Marco, and Lada, Charles J. 2014. "2MASS wide-field extinction maps. V. Corona Australis." Astronomy and Astrophysics, 565 18. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201322159. 2014
- Lombardi, Marco, Bouy, Hervé, Alves, João, and Lada, Charles J. 2014. "Herschel-Planck dust optical-depth and column-density maps (Corrigendum). I. Method description and results for Orion." Astronomy and Astrophysics, 568 1. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201323293e. 2014
- Lombardi, Marco, Bouy, Hervé, Alves, João, and Lada, Charles J. 2014. "Herschel-Planck dust optical-depth and column-density maps. I. Method description and results for Orion." Astronomy and Astrophysics, 566 45. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201323293. 2014
- Faesi, Christopher M., Lada, Charles J., Forbrich, Jan, Menten, Karl M., and Bouy, Hervé. 2014. "Molecular Cloud-scale Star Formation in NGC 300." The Astrophysical Journal, 789 81. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/789/1/81. 2014
- Forbrich, Jan, Öberg, Karin, Lada, Charles J., Lombardi, Marco, Hacar, Alvaro, Alves, João, and Rathborne, Jill M. 2014. "Some like it cold: molecular emission and effective dust temperatures of dense cores in the Pipe Nebula." Astronomy and Astrophysics, 568 27. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201423913. 2014
- Lombardi, Marco, Lada, Charles J., and Alves, João. 2013. "Fitting density models to observational data. The local Schmidt law in molecular clouds." Astronomy and Astrophysics, 559 90. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201321827. 2013
- Mariñas, Naibí, Lada, Elizabeth A., Teixeira, Paula S., and Lada, Charles J. 2013. "Near-infrared Imaging and Spectroscopic Survey of the Southern Region of the Young Open Cluster NGC 2264." The Astrophysical Journal, 772 81. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/772/2/81. 2013
- Lada, Charles J., Lombardi, Marco, Roman-Zuniga, Carlos, Forbrich, Jan, and Alves, João F. 2013. "Schmidt's Conjecture and Star Formation in Molecular Clouds." The Astrophysical Journal, 778 133. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/778/2/133. 2013
- Ascenso, J., Lada, Charles J., Alves, J., Román-Zúñiga, C. G., and Lombardi, M. 2013. "The mid-infrared extinction law in the darkest cores of the Pipe Nebula." Astronomy and Astrophysics, 549 135. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201220658. 2013
- Beaumont, Christopher N., Goodman, Alyssa A., Alves, João F., Lombardi, Marco, Román-Zúñiga, Carlos G., Kauffmann, Jens, and Lada, Charles J. 2012. "A simple perspective on the mass-area relationship in molecular clouds." Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 423 2579–2586. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2012.21061.x. 2012
- Teixeira, P. S., Lada, Charles J., Marengo, M., and Lada, E. A. 2012. "Spitzer observations of NGC 2264: the nature of the disk population." Astronomy and Astrophysics, 540 83. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201015326. 2012
- Lada, Charles J., Forbrich, Jan, Lombardi, Marco, and Alves, João F. 2012. "Star Formation Rates in Molecular Clouds and the Nature of the Extragalactic Scaling Relations." The Astrophysical Journal, 745, (2). https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/745/2/190. 2012
- Tappe, A., Forbrich, J., Martín, S., Yuan, Y., and Lada, Charles J. 2012. "The Anatomy of the Young Protostellar Outflow HH 211." The Astrophysical Journal, 751 9. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/751/1/9. 2012
- Ascenso, J., Lombardi, M., Lada, Charles J., and Alves, J. 2012. "The extinction law from photometric data: linear regression methods." Astronomy and Astrophysics, 540 139. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201118355. 2012
- Lombardi, M., Alves, J., and Lada, Charles J. 2011. "2MASS wide field extinction maps. IV. The Orion, Monoceros R2, Rosette, and Canis Major star forming regions." Astronomy and Astrophysics, 535. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201116915. 2011
- Chiar, J. E., Pendleton, Y. J., Allamandola, L. J., Boogert, A. C. A., Ennico, K., Greene, T. P., Geballe, T. R., Keane, J. V., Lada, Charles J., Mason, R. E., Roellig, T. L., Sandford, S. A., Tielens, A. G. G. M., Werner, M. W., Whittet, D. C. B., Decin, L., and Eriksson, K. 2011. "Ices in the Quiescent IC 5146 Dense Cloud." The Astrophysical Journal, 731, (1) 9. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/731/1/9. 2011
- Lombardi, M., Lada, Charles J., and Alves, J. 2010. "2MASS wide field extinction maps. III. The Taurus, Perseus, and California cloud complexes." Astronomy and Astrophysics, 512 67. 2010
- Román-Zúñiga, Carlos G., Alves, João F., Lada, Charles J., and Lombardi, Marco. 2010. "Deep Near-infrared Survey of the Pipe Nebula. II. Data, Methods, and Dust Extinction Maps." The Astrophysical Journal, 725 2232–2250. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/725/2/2232. 2010
- Forbrich, Jan, Tappe, Achim, Robitaille, Thomas, Muench, August A., Teixeira, Paula S., Lada, Elizabeth A., Stolte, Andrea, and Lada, Charles J. 2010. "Disentangling Protostellar Evolutionary Stages in Clustered Environments Using Spitzer-IRS Spectra and Comprehensive Spectral Energy Distribution Modeling." The Astrophysical Journal, 716 1453–1477. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/716/2/1453. 2010
- Lombardi, M., Alves, J., and Lada, Charles J. 2010. "Larson's third law and the universality of molecular cloud structure." Astronomy and Astrophysics, 519 L7. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201015282. 2010
- Forbrich, Jan, Posselt, Bettina, Covey, Kevin R., and Lada, Charles J. 2010. "Nothing to Hide: An X-ray Survey for Young Stellar Objects in the Pipe Nebula." The Astrophysical Journal, 719 691–699. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/719/1/691. 2010
- Lada, Charles J., Lombardi, Marco, and Alves, João F. 2010. "On the Star Formation Rates in Molecular Clouds." The Astrophysical Journal, 724 687–693. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/724/1/687. 2010
- Covey, Kevin R., Lada, Charles J., Román-Zúñiga, C., Muench, August A., Forbrich, J., and Ascenso, J. 2010. "The Age, Stellar Content, and Star Formation Timescale of the B59 Dense Core." The Astrophysical Journal, 722 971–988. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/722/2/971. 2010
- Forbrich, Jan, Lada, Charles J., Muench, August A., Alves, João F., and Lombardi, Marco. 2009. "A Spitzer Census of Star Formation Activity in the Pipe Nebula." The Astrophysical Journal, 704 292–305. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/704/1/292. 2009
- Rathborne, J. M., Lada, Charles J., Muench, August A., Alves, João F., Kainulainen, J., and Lombardi, M. 2009. "Dense Cores in The Pipe Nebula: An Improved Core Mass Function." The Astrophysical Journal, 699 742–753. 2009
- Román-Zúñiga, Carlos G., Lada, Charles J., and Alves, João F. 2009. "High Resolution Near-Infrared Survey of the Pipe Nebula. I. A Deep Infrared Extinction Map of Barnard 59." The Astrophysical Journal, 704 183–195. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/704/1/183. 2009
- Teixeira, Paula S., Lada, Charles J., Wood, Kenneth, Robitaille, Thomas P., and Luhman, Kevin L. 2009. "Infrared Spectrograph Characterization of a Debris Disk Around an M-Type Star in NGC 2547." The Astrophysical Journal, 700 454–459. 2009
- Lada, Charles J., Lombardi, Marco, and Alves, João F. 2009. "The California Molecular Cloud." The Astrophysical Journal, 703 52–59. 2009
- Rathborne, J. M., Lada, Charles J., Walsh, W., Saul, M., and Butner, H. M. 2009. "The Dense Ring in the Coalsack: The Merging of Two Subsonic Flows?" The Astrophysical Journal, 690 1659–1671. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/690/2/1659. 2009
- Currie, Thayne, Lada, Charles J., Plavchan, Peter, Robitaille, Thomas P., Irwin, Jonathan, and Kenyon, Scott J. 2009. "The Last Gasp of Gas Giant Planet Formation: A Spitzer Study of the 5 Myr Old Cluster NGC 2362." The Astrophysical Journal, 698 1–27. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/698/1/1. 2009
- Kainulainen, J., Lada, Charles J., Rathborne, J. M., and Alves, João F. 2009. "The fidelity of the core mass functions derived from dust column density data." Astronomy and Astrophysics, 497 399–407. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/200810987. 2009
- Lombardi, M., Lada, Charles J., and Alves, J. 2008. "2MASS wide field extinction maps. II. The Ophiuchus and the Lupus cloud complexes." Astronomy and Astrophysics, 489 143–156. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:200810070. 2008
- Tappe, A., Lada, Charles J., Black, J. H., and Muench, August A. 2008. "Discovery of Superthermal Hydroxyl (OH) in the HH 211 Outflow." The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 680 L117–L120. 2008
- Lombardi, M., Lada, Charles J., and Alves, J. 2008. "Hipparcos distance estimates of the Ophiuchus and the Lupus cloud complexes." Astronomy and Astrophysics, 480 785–792. 2008
- Teixeira, P. S., McCoey, C., Fich, M., and Lada, Charles J. 2008. "Spitzer imaging of the jet driving the NGC2264G outflow." Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 384 71–76. 2008
- Rathborne, J. M., Lada, Charles J., Muench, August A., Alves, João F., and Lombardi, M. 2008. "The Nature of the Dense Core Population in the Pipe Nebula: A Survey of NH3, CCS, and HC5N Molecular Line Emission." The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, 174 396–425. 2008
- Lada, Charles J., Muench, August A., Rathborne, J., Alves, João F., and Lombardi, M. 2008. "The Nature of the Dense Core Population in the Pipe Nebula: Thermal Cores Under Pressure." The Astrophysical Journal, 672 410–422. 2008
- Muench, August A., Lada, Charles J., Rathborne, Jill M., Alves, João F., and Lombardi, M. 2007. "The Nature of the Dense Core Population in the Pipe Nebula: Core and Cloud Kinematics from C18O Observations." The Astrophysical Journal, 671 1820–1831. 2007
- Maret, Sébastien, Bergin, Edwin A., and Lada, Charles J. 2007. "Using Chemistry to Unveil the Kinematics of Starless Cores: Complex Radial Motions in Barnard 68." The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 670 L25–L28. 2007
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Conference Paper
- Mariñas, Naibí, Lada, Elizabeth A., Teixeira, Paula S., Lada, Charles J., Booth, Mark, Matthews, Brenda C., and Graham, James R. 2014. "Circumstellar Disks in Very Young Embedded Clusters." from IAU Symposium. 299, 165–166. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1743921313008223. 2014
Contact
Location
- Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory Academic Department