Stars, dust and gas: the life cycle of galaxies

物质的生命周期描述了星系的演化。星际介质中的云坍塌会导致恒星的形成。这将银河系的大部分气藏锁定在恒星中。在它们生命的末期，恒星会以超新星的形式或通过极端的风将它们的大部分气体喷射回太空--我们的太阳会做后者。喷射物含有核燃烧的产物，并用碳和氧等元素浓缩气体。它们还会产生固体颗粒，称为尘埃。喷出物成为下一代恒星形成的一部分，改变了这些恒星的外观和演化。这种物质循环被称为银河系生态。尘埃也会融入物质的循环中，并在恒星形成过程中启动行星的形成。在我们的太阳系中，已经发现了一些尘埃颗粒，它们可以追溯到太阳系的形成。它们的组成可以作为指纹来识别它们形成的垂死恒星的类型。我们利用e-Merlin、ALMA、VLT和JCMT等望远镜研究物质的生命周期：恒星的形成、死亡和行星系统的形成。我们将确定哪些恒星的死亡导致了我们太阳系的形成。

The life cycle of matter describes the evolution of a galaxy. Collapsing clouds in the interstellar medium leads to star formation. This locks much of the gas reservoir of the galaxy away, in stars. At the end of their life, stars eject much of their gas back into space, either as a supernova, or through an extreme wind - our Sun will do the latter. The ejecta contain the products of nuclear burning and enrich the gas with elements such as carbon and oxygen. They also produce solid particles, called dust. The ejecta become part of the next generation of star formation, changing the appearance and evolution of these stars. This cycle of matter has been called the ecology of a galaxy. The dust also becomes incorporated in the cycle of matter and in the star formation, initiate the formation of planets. In our solar system, some dust grains have been found which date from the formation of the solar system. Their composition can be used as a fingerprint to identify the type of dying star from which they formed. We study this life cycle of matter: the formation of stars, their death, and the formation of planetary systems, making use of telescopes such as e-Merlin, ALMA, the VLT and the JCMT. We will idenitfy the type of stars from whose death gave rise to our solar system.