The LMC as a Massive Star Formation Laboratory

Leslie Looney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性质，填补了解大质量恒星如何形成的关键观测空白。这是已知距离（约50千秒差距）的大质量年轻恒星天体的最大样本。在大麦哲伦星系中研究大质量原恒星的优势在于，可以在没有银河系高质量年轻恒星天体研究中固有的许多问题的情况下研究这些天体，这些天体数量少，距离限制不好，通常沿着视线沿着会出现混乱，并且前景消光很高。这些好处将允许首次详细研究大质量原恒星样本及其在均匀距离形成的环境，探测0.01秒差距尺度上的红外特性和0.1秒差距尺度上的分子气体。大质量恒星在其相对较短的生命的所有阶段都在银河系演化中发挥着重要作用，它们是其他星系中唯一的星星形成模式。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的原恒星，以了解大质量的原恒星如何演变，以及这种演变如何影响它们的环境。 这个项目的研究目标将推动我们对大质量星星形成和星团形成的理解，同时将该项目融入教学，培训和学习的促进中。Looney博士将在伊利诺伊大学天文学本科课程的重大振兴以及与天文研究所的新伙伴关系的基础上，该研究所在伊利诺伊州运营着三台机器人控制的望远镜，以开发天文实验室实验，指导学生通过这项研究的概念。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本研究项目，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.