Astrophysics with resolved stellar populations

已解决恒星种群的天体物理学

基本信息

批准号：
6379-2006
负责人：
Richer, Harvey
金额：
$ 3.87万
依托单位：
University of British Columbia
依托单位国家：
加拿大
项目类别：
Discovery Grants Program - Individual
财政年份：
2008
资助国家：
加拿大
起止时间：
2008-01-01 至 2009-12-31
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=389332
关键词：
Astrophysics resolved stellar populations

项目摘要

I am an observational astronomer whose main area of research deals with stars - stellar astronomy. I am interested in stellar systems that can be resolved into individual stars. These comprise individual stars near to us, those in star clusters within our own Galaxy and stars located in nearby galaxies. Because we can see the individual stars in these systems we are able to investigate detailed properties of the systems (such as their ages) much more accurately than if we were dealing with unresolved objects (such as distant galaxies). High quality data on such systems can yield such exciting results as an estimate of the age of the Universe (from the ages of the oldest stars), tell us about planet formation (from the discovery of planets in various clusters), dark matter (from the dynamics within the various systems), and the formation of galaxies (from the distributions of stars in the outer halos of nearby galaxies). All of the above are experiments in which I am currently involved. To investigate these diverse subjects I observe a wide range of objects including nearby stars, open and globular star clusters and the resolved components of our neighbouring galaxies. To accomplish my research goals I use a variety of telescopes particularly the twin 8 metre diameter Gemini Telescopes, the Canada France Hawaii Telescope and the Keck 10 metre Telescope. In addition, I am the largest Canadian user of the Hubble Space Telescope.

我是一名观测天文学家，主要研究领域是恒星——恒星天文学。我对可以分解为单个恒星的恒星系统感兴趣。这些包括靠近我们的单个恒星、我们银河系内星团中的恒星以及位于附近星系中的恒星。因为我们可以看到这些系统中的单个恒星，所以我们能够比处理未解析的物体（例如遥远的星系）更准确地研究系统的详细属性（例如它们的年龄）。此类系统的高质量数据可以产生令人兴奋的结果，例如估计宇宙的年龄（根据最古老恒星的年龄）、告诉我们行星的形成（根据不同星团中的行星的发现）、暗物质（根据各个系统内的动力学）以及星系的形成（来自附近星系外晕中恒星的分布）。以上都是我目前正在参与的实验。为了研究这些不同的主题，我观察了各种各样的物体，包括附近的恒星、开放的球状星团以及我们邻近星系的已解析成分。为了实现我的研究目标，我使用了各种望远镜，特别是双 8 米直径双子座望远镜、加拿大法国夏威夷望远镜和凯克 10 米望远镜。此外，我是哈勃太空望远镜的最大加拿大用户。