Postdoctoral Fellowship: AAPF: Interstellar Comets and the New Insights to Planet Formation They Provide

Darryl Seligman被授予NSF天文学和天体物理学奖学金，在康奈尔大学开展研究和教育计划。塞利格曼将进行研究，以最大限度地提高新发现的星际彗星群的科学回报。这项研究的结果将揭示行星形成过程在整个星系中如何变化的新见解。对于该项目的教育部分，塞利格曼将开发教育材料，以帮助识别媒体中的错误信息，使用星际物体的人工起源的案例研究来激发更紧迫的问题，如气候变化和全球流行病。即将到来的鲁宾天文台时空遗产巡天（LSST）将每年探测1-3个星际物体。这些物体中的一个子集将显示出适合于详细地面和天基后续观测特征描述的轨迹。有了这个动机，塞利格曼将确定预期的星际彗星速度（跟踪银河系年龄）和成分（跟踪形成位置）的基础上，他们的原始系统和形成位置在其原行星盘。塞利格曼将预测来自星际彗星类似物的挥发物富集的系外行星大气成分特征，这将告知我们对短周期系外行星挥发物输送的理解。最后，塞利格曼将计算LSST将发现的星际物体的探测率和人口统计，这些星际物体将成为详细的地面和空间后续测量的合适目标。该研究奖的部分资金来自Charles Simonyi向NSF天文学部门的慷慨捐赠。该项目包括对Vera C. Rubin Observatory's Legacy Survey of Space and Time.该奖项反映了NSF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。

Darryl Seligman is awarded an NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Fellowship to carry out a program of research and education at Cornell University. Seligman will conduct research to maximize the scientific return from the newly discovered population of interstellar comets. Results from this study will reveal new insights into how the planet formation process varies throughout the galaxy. For the educational component of this project, Seligman will develop educational materials to help identify misinformation in media, using the case study of artificial origins of interstellar objects to motivate more pressing matters such as climate change and the global pandemic.The forthcoming Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) will detect 1-3 interstellar objects every year. A subset of these objects will exhibit trajectories amenable to detailed ground and space-based follow-up observational characterization. With this motivation, Seligman will identify expected interstellar comet velocities (which trace galactic age) and compositions (which trace formation location) based on their original systems and formation locations within their protoplanetary disks. Seligman will predict exoplanet atmospheric compositional signatures of volatile enrichment from interstellar comet analogues which will inform our understanding of volatile delivery to short period exoplanets. Finally, Seligman will calculate detection rates and population statistics for interstellar objects that the LSST will discover that will be suitable targets for detailed ground and space based follow-up measurements. This research award is partially funded by a generous gift from Charles Simonyi to the NSF Astronomy division. The project includes significant contributions to Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s Legacy Survey of Space and Time.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.