Simulating Planetesimal Formation in the Kuiper Belt and Beyond
Rixin Li, University of Arizona
A critical step in planet formation is to build super-km-sized planetesimals in protoplanetary disks. The origin and demographics of planetesimals are crucial to understanding the Solar System, circumstellar disks, and exoplanets. I will overview the current status of planetesimal formation theory. Specifically, I will present our recent simulations of planetesimal formation by the streaming instability, a mechanism to aerodynamically concentrate pebbles in protoplanetary disks. I will then discuss the connections between our numerical models and recent astronomical observations and Solar System explorations. I will explain why all planetesimals likely formed as binaries.
ASTR 598
Farhan Hasan and Oana Vesa
ASTR 598
Ali Hyder and Matt Varakian
Revealing reionization with the thermal history of the intergalactic medium
Elisa Boera, SISSA Trieste
ASTR 598
Minje Boem
Join us for the inaugural Las Cruces chapter of Astronomy on Tap! Join local astronomers from the NMSU Astronomy Department for a night of fun, accessible space-related presentations, games, and prizes.
Please RSVP on the Bosque Brewing website if you’re planning on attending!
https://www.bosquebrewing.com/bosque-brewing-events
Join us for the second round of Astronomy on Tap: Las Cruces! Join local astronomers from the NMSU Astronomy Department for a night of fun, accessible space-related presentations, games, and prizes.
You can access the Facebook event and RSVP here: https://www.facebook.com/events/2827115720734964/
H-Band Spectroscopy of Exotic, Massive Stars
Drew Chojnowski, NMSU
We report on spectroscopy of exotic B-type emission line (Be) stars and chemically peculiar (CP) stars in the near-infrared (NIR) H-band, using data provided by the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment, one of the sub-surveys of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Between 2011-2020, SDSS/APOGEE has observed more than a million stars in the Milky Way Galaxy (MW), with roughly 10% of the targets being hot, blue stars that serve as telluric absorption standard stars (TSS). The TSS are selected mostly on the basis of having blue raw J-K color indices with no preference for any particular spectral type that might be known from optical spectroscopy. This targeting strategy has led to the TSS being a mixed bag, with those observed in the MW Halo typically being F-type stars that are only slightly more massive than the Sun, and with those observed in the MW Disk and Bulge being OBA-type stars of a few up to 20 times the mass of the Sun. While the vast majority of the TSS are superficially normal main sequence stars, the inclusion of large numbers of Be and CP stars has serendipitously resulted in the largest ever homogeneous spectroscopic surveys of these stellar classes, both of which present observational anomalies that remain very poorly understand despite more than a hundred years of research. Prior to SDSS/APOGEE, the H-band spectra of Be and CP stars had only been discussed in a handful of studies, all of which used small numbers of spectra of considerably lower resolution than the R=22,500 of the APOGEE instruments. The material presented in this thesis therefore represents the first ever detailed studies of Be and CP stars in the H-band, while also greatly expanding the known samples through discovery of many hundreds of new examples.