Globular Clusters as Probes of Galaxy Formation and Evolution

ast - 0302095 -罗德,KatherineDr。罗德获得了美国国家科学基金会天文学和天体物理学博士后奖学金，在耶鲁大学和卫斯理大学开展研究和教育项目。她将阐述理解星系如何形成的基本问题。特别是，她将通过观察球状星团（GCs）来解决椭圆星系的形成问题。GCs充当星系形成历史的探测器。它们的重元素含量、空间分布和运动学为了解星系形成时的状况提供了重要线索。罗德博士已经调查了椭圆星系和螺旋星系周围的大量GC系统样本。凭借她的奖学金，她将获得这些gc的光谱，以测量它们的运动学，重元素含量和年龄。这些数据将进一步限制巨大星系的形成方式。她还将把她的宽视场光学图像与天基x射线数据进行比较，以探索普通星系中离散源的gc和x射线发射之间的联系。除了她的研究，罗德博士还将开发实验室练习，目标是天文学本科课程中的非科学专业学生，包括使用小型望远镜和电荷耦合器件（CCD）相机进行观测。这些实验室将为学生提供使用现代天文学工具的第一手经验。经过测试和改进后，这些实验室将通过一个网站向社区发布，并在美国天文学会的一次会议上展示。＊＊＊

AST-0302095Rhode, KatherineDr. Rhode is awarded an NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship to carry out a program of research and education at Yale and Wesleyan Universities. She will address the fundamental problem of understanding how galaxies form. In particular, she will address the formation of elliptical galaxies through observations of globular star clusters (GCs). The GCs act as probes of the formation history of galaxies. Their heavy element content, spatial distributions, and kinematics provide important clues to the conditions present in a galaxy at the time of their formation. Dr. Rhode has already surveyed a large sample of GC systems around both elliptical and spiral galaxies. With her fellowship, she will obtain spectroscopy of these GCs to measure their kinematics, heavy element content, and ages. These data will provide further constraints on how giant galaxies are formed. She will also compare her wide-field optical images with space-based X-ray data to explore the connection between GCs and X-ray emission from discrete sources in normal galaxies. In addition to her research, Dr. Rhode will develop laboratory exercises, aimed at non-science-majors in undergraduate astronomy courses, that involve observing with a small telescope and Charge Coupled Device (CCD) cameras. These labs will provide students first-hand experience with the tools used in modern astronomy. After being tested and refined, the labs will be disseminated to the community via a web site and presented at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society. ***