Research

My astronomy research was about galaxy formation. Knowledge of how the Universe to be is still evolving. We continue to learn and discover more about how galaxies formed from primodial matter with stars and solar systems and planets and us! The study of the stars is also a study of our own origin story.

PHAT

PHAT: Stellar Populations in Andromeda

The Panchromatic Andromeda Treasury Survey (PHAT; Dalcanton+ 2012) contains over 117 million individual star observations. Each star has six filter photometry covering the ultraviolet to near-infrared wavelengths. The survey covers a third of Andromeda’s disk within 20 kpc. This data set is incredibly rich and allows unprecedented detail for studying galaxy structure.

My research with Anil Seth uses bright red giant branch (RGB) stars to explore Andromeda’s metallicity morphology. The metallicity quantifies the overall chemical enrichment. Looking at how the metals are distributed, and including other information about the galaxy’s structure, we can infer how the galaxy has evolved over time.

spectra

High Resolution Spectroscopy

Galaxies like the Milky Way form in part from canabalizing smaller stellar systems like dwarf galaxies. Disentagling the origins of stars found in the Milky Way today can be complicated. Dynamical and chemical properties of the stars aid in this.

spectra

Astronomy Tools

Here are some tools and resources I have found useful for Astronomy.

Things I did:

  • dsgSPECTRE A tool for measuring equivalent widths and doing manipulations to spectra. Originally written by Chris Sneden, I have made enhancements to make the code more efficient for the user.
  • Astro Junior Researcher Meetings The resources for a series of discussion sessions I and Tim Anderton lead for students just getting involved in research.
  • latbin Python package for binning large data into managable sizes for analysis

Things From Others:

  • astro4astro This website brings together many interesting astronomy blog and informational websites.
  • Astropython Python tips and tricks for astronomers.
  • Astrobetter Tips and Tricks for Professional Astronomers. For fun check out astroworse
  • astrobites A daily astrophysical literature journal written by graduate students in astronomy.