CAREER: A Systematic Kinematic Survey of Young Milky Way Clusters

该奖项将使Kevin Covey博士能够执行年轻星云星团红外巡天（IN-SYNC），这是对附近星团中数千颗年轻恒星的均匀，多时期径向速度调查。IN-SYNC使用来自阿帕奇点天文台银河演化实验（APOGEE）的数据，以及浸没光栅红外光谱仪（IGRINS），以回答三个问题：1）星星集群是如何形成的？2)在年轻星团中密近双星的频率是多少？3)前主序星分光双星的详细恒星性质是什么？PI还将通过洛厄尔业余研究计划（LARI）吸引公民科学家来整合他的研究和教育计划。他最初将与业余天文学家合作，监测可变的年轻恒星，这将为同行评审的出版物提供有价值的数据。Covey博士随后将通过将LARI参与者与洛厄尔天文台的机器人望远镜数据直接连接来扩展他的计划。由于星星团是宝贵的天体物理实验室，这项工作将为银河系的化学演化和星星形成历史提供独特的示踪剂，并使恒星演化模型能够进行严格的测试。通过LARI倡议，这项工作还将提高公众的科学素养，并为新一代的公民科学项目提供信息。

This award will allow Dr. Kevin Covey to perform the INfrared Survey of Young Nebulous Clusters (IN-SYNC), which is a homogeneous, multi-epoch radial velocity survey of thousands of young stars in nearby clusters. IN-SYNC uses data from the Apachee Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE), as well as the Immersion Grating INfrared Spectrometer (IGRINS), in order to answer three questions:1) How do star clusters form? 2) What is the frequency of close binaries in young clusters?3) What are the detailed stellar properties of pre-main sequence spectroscopic binaries?The PI will also integrate his research and education programs by engaging citizen scientists through the Lowell Amateur Research Initiative (LARI). He will initially work with amateur astronomers to monitor variable young stars, which will provide valuable data for peer-reviewed publications. Dr. Covey will subsequently expand his program by directly connecting LARI participants to data from the robotic telescopes from Lowell Observatory.Since star clusters are invaluable astrophysical laboratories, this work will provide unique tracers of the Milky Way's chemical evolution and star formation history, as well as enable stringent tests of stellar evolution models. Through the LARI initiative, this work will also result in increased public scientific literacy, as well as inform a new generation of citizen-science projects.