Collaborative Research: RUI: Mass-Loss Rates for OB Stars Driving IR Bowshocks

首席研究员Kobulnicky和Povich将改进对大质量恒星的风驱动质量损失的测量。就像船在水中移动一样，恒星风与星际介质碰撞并产生弓形激波。这些pi将教加州波莫纳理工学院和怀俄明大学的数百名本科生，以及怀俄明兰德高中天文俱乐部的成员如何参与在线动物宇宙-银河系项目。学生将分析红外图像并描述弓形激波的特征。大学生还将参加怀俄明州红外天文台（WIRO）和阿帕奇天文台（APO）的夏季观测项目。该团队将确定400多颗恒星的物理特性。由恒星风导致的主序后质量损失影响了恒星结构、化学物质产量、超新星的光曲线以及致密天体的形成。pi应用恒星风撞击相对于恒星运动的周围星际介质之间的动量通量平衡原理来估计质量损失率。来自斯皮策太空望远镜、宽视场红外巡天探测器（WISE）和赫歇尔空间天文台数据集的大量测量结果将限制红外恒星弓形激波星云的几何形状。与GAIA数据库交叉匹配将得到恒星距离和固有运动。学生将减少和分析用WIRO光谱仪和APO基特峰俄亥俄州立多目标光谱仪（KOSMOS）拍摄的数据。该团队将根据经验得出一个由风驱动的恒星质量损失率的公式，它是恒星温度、重力、自转速度和进化阶段的函数，是以前样本的四倍多。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Principal Investigators (PIs) Kobulnicky and Povich will improve measurements of wind driven mass loss from massive stars. Just like a boat moving through water, a stellar wind collides with the interstellar medium and creates a bowshock. The PIs will teach several hundred undergraduate students at Cal Poly Pomona and the University of Wyoming, and members of the Wyoming Lander high school astronomy club how to participate in the online Zooniverse-Milky Way Project. Students will analyze infrared images and characterize the bow shocks. University students will also participate in a summer observing program at the Wyoming Infrared Observatory (WIRO) and the Apache Observatory (APO). The team will determine the physical properties of over 400 stars.Post-main-sequence mass loss driven by stellar winds effects the stellar structure, chemical yield, the light curve of the supernova, and the formation of a compact object. The PIs apply the principle of momentum flux balance between a stellar wind impinging upon an ambient interstellar medium moving relative to the star to estimate the mass loss rate. The crowd-sourced measurements from archival Spitzer Space Telescope, Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) and Herschel Space Observatory datasets will constrain the geometry of the infrared stellar bow shock nebulae. Cross-matching with the GAIA database will yield stellar distances and proper motions. Students will reduce and analyze the data taken with the WIRO spectrograph and the APO Kitt Peak Ohio State Multi-Object Spectrograph (KOSMOS). The team will produce an empirically based prescription for wind-driven stellar mass-loss rates as a function of stellar temperature, gravity, rotation rate, and evolutionary stage, more than quadrupling previous samples.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.