A Radio Astronomy Perspective: How Stars Form

w/ Samuel Fielder

abstract

Do you ever wonder what’s hidden behind those dark clouds you see in pictures of Nebula? Do you want to know why we need the coldest gas to form stars? The transition from gas clouds to stellar cores is a complex but quick journey, and untangling the complexity of star formation is a developing and active science pillar in astronomy today.

In this talk, I will explore these questions and many more that deal with the stages prior to main-sequence stars. Radio astronomy, specifically, has been fundamental in the way we study star forming regions, allowing us to see deep into the center of these clouds, otherwise hidden to our own eyes. With a little bit of history, and lots of fun visuals, you will get to learn about the processes that go into making a star, just like our own.

bio

Sam is a 2nd year MSc student based at the University of Victoria, with his supervisor Helen Kirk based on Observatory Hill at the HIA. Sam studies the birth of stars through the complicated science of Radio Astronomy. His current project involves studying objects known as starless cores, in the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex, to help explain the complicated picture that is the theory of star formation.