Date/Time Date(s) - 10/02/20103:20 pm - 4:20 pm
Title: Searching for stellar mass loss with the Spitzer Space Telescope
Speaker: Dr. Pauline Barmby – UWO
Institute: University of Western Ontario
Location: ABB 102
Description:
A star’s mass determines how it lives and dies. Many stars lose substantial fractions of their mass in later life, but exactly how this mass loss occurs and how it depends on stellar properties are not well understood. Thermal radiation from dust in expelled circumstellar and interstellar material peaks at infrared wavelengths, so the infrared is a natural place to look for the effects of mass loss. The Spitzer Space Telescope, launched in 2003, incorporated a number of innovative technologies which made it much more sensitive than any previous infrared telescope. I will describe the Spitzer mission and these innovations, and discuss searches for stellar mass loss in a number of different environments: ancient star clusters and young variable stars in the Milky Way; dwarf galaxy satellites of the Milky Way; and the large, nearby Andromeda galaxy. In some of these locations, evidence for mass loss was lacking, and I will discuss the likely explanations and the future observations that these suggest.