The LMC as a Massive Star Formation Laboratory

美国伊利诺伊大学厄巴纳-香槟分校的Leslie Looney博士将通过探测大麦哲伦星云(LMC)中244颗大质量原恒星的基本性质，填补大质量恒星形成过程中的一个重要观测空白。这是已知距离(约50千帕秒)的最大质量年轻恒星天体样本。在LMC中研究大质量原恒星的优势在于，可以研究这些天体，而不会出现银河系大质量年轻恒星物体研究中固有的许多问题，这些年轻恒星物体数量较少，距离限制较差，通常在视线上存在混乱，前景消失率很高。这些好处将使人们能够首次详细研究大质量原恒星的样本以及它们在均匀距离下形成的环境，探测0.01秒尺度的红外特性和0.1秒尺度的分子气体。巨型恒星在其相对短暂生命的所有阶段在星系演化中发挥着重要作用，它们是其他星系中唯一的恒星形成模式。鲁尼博士和他的团队从斯皮策太空望远镜观测到了一个新的、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，以及这种进化是如何影响它们的环境的。该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理解，同时将该项目整合到促进教学、培训和学习中。鲁尼博士将推进伊利诺伊大学天文学本科课程的重大复兴，并与天文研究所建立新的合作伙伴关系。天文研究所在伊利诺伊州运营着三台由机器人控制的望远镜，他将开发天文实验室实验，指导学生理解这项研究的概念。这些活动将向公众开放。最后，两名研究生和一名本科生将参与这一研究项目，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.