Stellar Populations and Evolution
AMNH postdoctoral fellow Sebastien Lepine and Shara continue cataloguing the 1,000,000 stars closest to the Sun. Some of the oldest, faintest and most metal-poor stars known have already been detected. Working with AMNH graduate student Akimi Fujita, Mac Low has also investigated how the ionizing radiation and supernova explosions from the first galaxies in the Universe escape into the surrounding intergalactic medium, perhaps preventing the formation of nearby galaxies.
Shara also detected several hundred erupting novae in the giant elliptical galaxy M87 in the Virgo galaxy cluster. The presence of extremely luminous novae in this ancient galaxy is quite unexpected, and he and AMNH Hubble postdoctoral fellow Jarrod Hurley are carrying out extensive stellar poulation simulations to determine the progenitors of these novae.
Shara and colleagues will carry out a narrowband imaging survey of much of the Milky Way Galaxy in 2004 and 2005, to locate the expected 2,000 pre-supernova Wolf Rayet stars scattered across our Galaxy. Detailed planning of the optimal observing strategy, including simulations of various imaging filters, is underway.
Last modified 2004-09-02 14:06
