Astronomy and astrophysics
The
group explores, through astronomical observations and
theory, a range of astronomical phenomena. For example,
observations of a close pair of stars provides detailed
information to feed into theoretical models for the structure
and evolution of stars. As another example, and as sketched
in the accompanying picture, theoretical work is underway
studying stellar prominences. These are cool dense clouds
trapped in magnetic pockets within the 10 million degree
plasma of a star's corona. Theoretical studies here at
St Andrews are showing for the first time how their continual
formation and ejection can help to slow down rapidly spinning
younger stars.
Mankind
has long had a desire to learn more about the heavens.
But many distant astronomical objects appear only as point
sources of light, even with the largest telescopes on
Earth or in orbit. However, by observing how the spectrum
of such sources changes with time, much can be learned
about their structure. The picture shows what systems
known as Cataclysmic Binaries would look like up close.
Hot gas is being pulled by gravity from the large red
star onto a tiny, collapsed stellar object in the centre
of the glowing white disc. Using similar techniques, we
are also looking at stellar magnetic activity, T-Tauri
stars and active galaxies.
A
major highlight of the group's work has been the study
of planets orbiting stars other than our sun. In 2006
the group played a major role in finding the most earth-like
planet yet detected. This rocky planet was detected using
gravitational lensing. Later in the year, two more exoplanets
were found, this time using robotic telescopes looking
for a slight dip in a star's brightness as one of its
planets partially obscures light from that star.
Further information on the astronomy and astrophysics research within the school is available from the astronomy group.
Last
updated BDS 8.07
