The LMC as a Massive Star Formation Laboratory

莱斯利·鲁尼博士（伊利诺伊大学厄巴纳-香槟分校）将通过探测大麦哲伦星云（LMC）中244颗大质量原恒星的新样本的基本特性，填补在理解大质量恒星如何形成方面的一个关键观测空白。这是已知距离（约50千秒差距）内最大的大质量年轻恒星物体样本。在LMC中研究大质量原恒星的优势在于，研究这些天体可以避免研究银河系大质量年轻恒星天体所固有的许多问题，这些天体数量少，距离约束差，通常在视线上存在混乱，前景有很高的消光。这些优势将使我们能够首次详细研究大质量原恒星样本及其形成的环境，并在0.01秒差距的尺度上探测红外特性，在0.1秒差距的尺度上探测分子气体。大质量恒星在它们相对较短的生命的各个阶段都在星系演化中扮演着重要的角色，它们是在其他星系中唯一看到的恒星形成模式。鲁尼博士和他的团队从斯皮策太空望远镜的观测中获得了一个新的、独特的大质量原恒星样本。这项工作将调查这些大质量原恒星，以了解大质量原恒星是如何进化的，以及这种进化如何影响它们的环境。本项目的研究目标将推动我们对大质量恒星形成和星团形成的认识，同时将项目融入到教学、培训和学习的推动中。鲁尼博士将在伊利诺斯大学天文学本科课程的重大复兴和与天文学研究所的新合作伙伴关系的基础上开展天文学实验室实验，指导学生了解这项研究的概念。天文学研究所在伊利诺斯州运营着三台机器人控制的望远镜。这些演习将向公众开放。最后，两名研究生和一名本科生将参与这个研究项目，发挥关键作用。

Dr. Leslie Looney (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) will fill a crucial observational gap in the understanding of how massive stars form by probing fundamental properties of a new sample of 244 massive protostars in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). This is the largest sample of massive young stellar objects at a well-known distance (about 50 kiloparsecs). The advantage of investigating massive protostars in the LMC is that the objects can be studied without many of the problems inherent in the study of Galactic high-mass young stellar objects, which are small in numbers, have poorly constrained distances, generally suffer from confusion along the line of sight and have high foreground extinction. These benefits will allow the first detailed study of a sample of massive protostars and the environment in which they form at a uniform distance, probing the infrared properties on size scales of 0.01 parsec and molecular gas on size scales of 0.1 parsec.Massive stars play a fundamental role in galactic evolution at all stages of their relatively short lives, and they are the only mode of star formation seen in other galaxies. Dr. Looney and his team have a new and unique sample of massive protostars from Spitzer Space Telescope observations. This work will survey these massive protostars to understand how massive protostars evolve and how that evolution affects their environment. The research goals in this project will push our understanding of massive star formation and cluster formation while integrating the project into the promotion of teaching, training, and learning. Dr. Looney will build upon a major revitalization of the astronomy undergraduate curriculum at the University of Illinois and a new partnership with the Astronomical Research Institute, which operates three robotically controlled telescopes in Illinois, to develop astronomical laboratory experiments that will guide students through the concepts of this research. These exercises will be made available to the general public. Finally, two graduate students, as well as one undergraduate student, will be involved in this research project, playing pivotal roles.