RUI: Observational Studies of Supernova Remnants

超新星在天文学中很重要，因为它们是恒星演化的关键阶段，也因为它们为星际气体提供能量和丰富的化学元素，新一代恒星就是从这些气体中形成的。要理解其中的物理机制，就需要了解超新星在从爆炸最初的光辉逐渐消失到离起源很远的地方残余的微弱结和细丝之后是如何进化的。首席研究员（PI）将继续进行光谱调查，以发现主要在麦哲伦星云和外部星系M33中的超新星遗迹，以寻找新的遗迹。他还将用带电耦合器件（CCD）探测器和适合离子发射线的滤光片拍摄已知残余物的“照片”，以分析残余物的化学丰度、运动和热特性。PI在过去已经率先让本科生参与这些运动学图像的研究。这一提议有望提供双重目的，既能阐明超新星爆炸几个世纪后的演变，又能指导学生从多次曝光图像中提取信息的技术。

Supernovae are important in astronomy both because they are a key phase in the evolution of stars and because they produce energy and enriched chemical elements to the interstellar gas from which new generations of stars form. To understand the physical mechanism involved requires a knowledge of how supernova evolve after they fade from the initial brilliance of their explosions to faint knots and filaments of their remnants at large distances from their origins. The Principal Investigator (PI) will continue a spectroscopic survey to discovery of supernova remnants primarily in the Magellanic Clouds and the external galaxy M33 to find new remnants. He will also take "photographs" of known remnants with a charged coupled device (CCD) detector combined with filters appropriate to emission lines of ions that permit an analysis of the remnant's chemical abundances, motions, and thermal characteristics. The PI has taken a lead in the past in involving undergraduates in the studies of these kinematic images. This proposal is expected to provide a dual purpose, both in elucidating the evolution of supernovae centuries after their explosions and in the instruction of students in the techniques of extracting information from multiple exposure images.