Astrophysics Research
Current Research
Let's Talk Star Clusters:
Investigating Properties of Star Clusters
Research Mentor: Dr. Lada
Department of Astronomy within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
A photo of LkH alpha 101 from 2MASS.
My research currently investigates the properties of the distribution of stellar masses in the embedded star cluster, LkH alpha 101 (LkHα 101). I chose the specific embedded star cluster, LkH alpha 101, due to it not being well known and having minimal amounts of research surrounding it, therefore I have plenty of room for my research to adapt.
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My responsibilities for this project consist of independent article research, programming, and meeting with my mentor to discuss questions and give updates every Wednesday.
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So far as of 1/25, I have dedicated around 12 hours since the first week of January.
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Embedded star clusters originate from giant molecular clouds (GMC) and reveal the earliest evidence of stellar evolution. Embedded clusters account for 70-90% of all clusters star formation within GMCs and furthermore are the youngest, most basic unit of star formation. In comparison to other star clusters, embedded star clusters contain an abundance of stars with varying masses all formed around a similar time frame. This makes these clusters extremely important to laboratories for not only understanding how stars form but also their early evolution of the most principal properties of galactic formation. Properties such as mass, star membership distribution, size, and circumstellar disk formation can be determined by an analysis of existing observations of embedded star clusters. This means that researching embedded star clusters can provide answers to how and why stars evolved as they did.
4/14/24:
During the research and data analysis of LKHalpha101, my research mentor deemed this cluster's data to difficult to differentiate as my first cluster. The
Presented on the left is a histogram illustrating distances in parsecs derived from arcseconds of parallax measurements. The histogram displays several peaks, suggesting the potential presence of distinct centers within this cluster, possibly indicating the existence of multiple star clusters rather than a singular one. Determining this with certainty would require more in-depth analysis beyond my current experience.
Given this development, Dr. Lada provided a new star cluster to follow the same procedures and investigation. NGC2264, a well-known cluster, contains two distinct regions densely populated with stars. Utilizing spectroscopic findings from published papers, I am now able to determine the cluster's radius and distance with greater efficiency with the support of identified sources documented already.
On the left displays the Northern Data (left) and Southern Data (right) of NGC2264. Both convey that the distance of the cluster's center is most likely around ~750 parsecs.