skip to main content
Caltech

Astronomy Colloquium

Wednesday, March 2, 2016
4:00pm to 5:00pm
Add to Cal
Cahill, Hameetman Auditorium
Stars In Motion: Impact in Star Formation, Compact Objects, and Galactic Centers
Jessica Lu, U. Hawaii,

High-precision infrared astrometry has enabled unique experiments in many fields of astronomy, especially the study of the disk and center of our Galaxy. I will present results from our astrometric experiements to (1) test theories of star formation and the universality of the initial mass function, (2) search for free-floating stellar mass black holes using astrometric microlensing, and (3) study the dynamics and origin of young stars around the supermassive black hole at the Galactic Center. I will also discuss adaptive optics (AO) development efforts that improve astrometric precisions and expand AO to larger fields of view needed for sparse field astrometry.

For more information, please contact Althea E. Keith by phone at 626-395-4973 or by email at [email protected].