| |||
 |
 |
 |
Interval (sec):
1
3
10
15
30
60
|
NMSU astronomer James McAteer and his collaborators are working tirelessly to warn and protect the Earth from fiery solar flares which could devastate our technological infrastructure. Learn more about their efforts from a recent article in New Scientist magazine.
 |
Please join us at the campus observatory at 7:00pm on Friday, January 27 for a guided tour of the night sky. Professor Nicole Vogt will present a short astronomical film, aided by graduate students Kenza Arraki, Kyle Degrave, and Kyle Uckert. Sky viewing through telescopes will include the crescent Moon, the planets Venus, Mars, and Jupiter, and Orion the Hunter and the Gemini Twins (Castor and Pollux). Children are particularly welcome!
Congratulations to graduate students Candace Grey, winner of the 2011 Pegasus Award for excellence in teaching, and to Michael Kirk, who was recently awarded the 2011 Zia Award for excellence in research. Joining them are the 2011 winners of the Murrell Award for outstanding research or professional development, Ryan Hamilton and Paul Strycker, and Liz Klimek, winner of the 2011 Rappaport Award for outstanding public service.
Graduate students Adam McKay and Greg Taylor have been selected to receive NMSU Graduate Research Enhancement Grants (GREG Awards), five-year research grants to support their observational and instrumental PhD projects.
Adam is analyzing spectra of Comet 103P/Hartley 2, a recent target of the NASA EPOXI mission, taken as it passed closer to and further from the Sun (see two leftmost panels below). Observations will be made with the ARCES echelle spectrograph on the ARC 3.5-m telescope at Apache Point Observatory. An analysis of the comet's oxygen emission over a range of heliocentric distances will provide insight into the identity of the oxygen's parent molecules, and thus the chemical conditions in the protosolar nebula out of which comets formed.
 |
 |
 |
 |
Greg will be developing an adaptive optics system to improve images taken of the solar limb (see two rightmost panels above). He will study the evolution and eruption of solar filaments, a vital aspect to understanding solar storms and space weather.
Congratulations to James Stockton, who defended his PhD thesis on Pamela: Results on Electron and Positron Spectra in Cosmic Rays in November of 2011!
Bravo to Mike Sussman, who completed his PhD thesis on Modeling Seasonal Change on Uranus with the EPIC GCM in August of 2011! Mike will continue his work modeling planetary atmospheres as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Louisville, working with Tim Dowling.
Three cheers for Paul Strycker, who on May 5 presented his PhD thesis research project on Studies of Jovian Atmospheric Structure and Coloring Agents using Hyperspectral Imaging. This fall, Paul will take up a position as a Lecturer at the University of Wisconsin, in Platteville.