Thinking Like a Scientist: Dwarf Galaxy Satellite Systems Beyond the Local Group

Prop：AST-0104455 PI：Hurley-Keller，DeniseDr. Hurley-Keller被授予NSF天文学和天体物理学博士后奖学金，在凯斯西储大学（CWRU）开展研究和教育计划。 她将对孤立螺旋星系周围的矮星系卫星系统进行光度测量，这将对盘状星系恒星群及其暗物质晕的演变提供限制。 这项调查将用CWRU Burrell施密特望远镜进行，将比其他孤立系统的研究更暗，并将在这些星系的暗晕中对矮球状体种群进行采样。 通过这次调查，她将能够研究两个主要问题：1）星系的盘/晕/凸起及其卫星系统的属性之间的关系，以及2）矮星系数量对各种冷暗物质模型及其预测的约束。 Hurley-Keller博士还将为非专业学生设计和提供本科课程，让学生在历史和当前天文学问题的背景下，通过较少关注材料内容，更多地关注“像科学家一样思考”来探索科学的过程。 ***

Prop: AST-0104455PI: Hurley-Keller, DeniseDr. Hurley-Keller is awarded an NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship to carry out a program of research and education at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU). She will carry out a photometric survey of dwarf galaxy satellite systems around isolated spiral galaxies, which will provide constraints both on the evolution of disk galaxy stellar populations and their dark matter halos. The survey will be conducted with the CWRU Burrell Schmidt telescope and will reach fainter than other studies of isolated systems and will sample dwarf spheroidal populations throughout the dark halos of these galaxies. With this survey, she will be able to investigate two primary issues: 1) the relationship between the properties of a galaxy's disk/halo/bulge and of its satellite system, and 2) the constraints that numbers of dwarf galaxies place on various cold dark matter models and their predictions. Dr. Hurley-Keller will also design and offer an undergraduate course for non-majors in which students explore the process of science by focusing less on the material content and more on 'thinking like a scientist' in the context of both historical and current astronomical problems. ***