Detection of Hα Stellar Emission
Location
CSU
Student's Major
Physics and Astronomy
Student's College
Science, Engineering and Technology
Mentor's Name
Steve Kipp
Mentor's Department
Physics and Astronomy
Mentor's College
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Description
Stars consist of enormous masses of hydrogen and helium that generate energy through nuclear fusion. Stars vary in mass from 0-type, 100 times as massive as the sun, to M dwarfs, only a fraction of the sun's mass. Newly formed M-dwarf stars tend to emit intense radiation at 6563A, called Hα emission. We propose to search for young M-dwarf stars by taking advantage of the strong Ha emission. Our immediate goal is to determine how faint a star can be observed with the CCD system at Andreas Observatory using two filters, one centered at Hα and one decentered by lOOA. Calculations of the limiting magnitude of our system will be compared with observatories.
Detection of Hα Stellar Emission
CSU
Stars consist of enormous masses of hydrogen and helium that generate energy through nuclear fusion. Stars vary in mass from 0-type, 100 times as massive as the sun, to M dwarfs, only a fraction of the sun's mass. Newly formed M-dwarf stars tend to emit intense radiation at 6563A, called Hα emission. We propose to search for young M-dwarf stars by taking advantage of the strong Ha emission. Our immediate goal is to determine how faint a star can be observed with the CCD system at Andreas Observatory using two filters, one centered at Hα and one decentered by lOOA. Calculations of the limiting magnitude of our system will be compared with observatories.
