Auriane joined Professor Hlavacek-Larrondo’s research group in the summer of 2022, while completing her bachelor’s degree in Physics at the Université de Montréal. There, she completed a research internship dedicated to mapping the filamentary nebula surrounding NGC 1275 – the central galaxy of the Perseus cluster – using SN1 and SN2 data from the SITELLE instrument on the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. Then, during the winter of 2023, she undertook an internship at the Canadian Space Agency, within the atmospheric science team of the Sun-Earth System Science division. She worked on the SCISAT Earth observation mission, conducting a detailed literature review of the mission’s most significant discoveries, as well as analyzing O3 data at the North and South Poles.

Subsequently, Auriane completed a second internship in Professor Hlavacek-Larrondo’s group in the summer of 2023, this time focusing on NGC 5813, the central galaxy of a galaxy subgroup. Once again, her objective was to map the filamentary nebula residing in the cluster, now using SITELLE observations with the SN3 filter. This project also applied a neural network technique to reconstruct each component of the cluster’s background and diffuse emission, allowing for more precise subtraction from the final results.

In September 2024, Auriane began her master’s studies, co-supervised by Professor Tracy Webb at McGill, focusing on the first deep Chandra X-ray observations of the SpARCS J1051+58 cluster. Located at a redshift of approximately z ~ 1, this cluster is suspected of hosting a region with a very high rate of star formation. Her goal will be to determine whether there is localized X-ray emission associated with this star-forming region, and to assess whether the cluster qualifies as a “cool-core cluster,” which would favor such intense star formation.

In parallel to her academic pursuits, Auriane is a member of the Canadian Armed Forces, serving as a Cadet Instructor Cadre officer and working as an expedition instructor during the summers (mountain biking, river canoeing, and trekking). She is also passionate about aviation and is currently completing her private pilot’s license at the Cargair Flight Academy in St-Hubert. In addition, she acts as the Université de Montréal’s ambassador to Aéro Montréal, Quebec’s aerospace cluster, where her role involves promoting aerospace careers to younger generations and representing Canada’s emerging aerospace talent. Finally, she actively delivers outreach presentations on black holes and astrophysics research to various organizations, high schools, and CEGEPs.

Contact Information : auriane.thilloy@umontreal.ca