In a recent survey of young, blue star clusters in the neighboring Andromeda galaxy (M31), astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have found new clues into stellar birth in our neighboring galaxy.
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2015/02/image/a/
The technical term is called the Initial Mass Function (IMF). Nailing down its parameters is fundamental to interpreting the light from distant galaxies and understanding the formation history of stars in our universe.
Measuring the IMF was the primary driver behind Hubble’s ambitious panoramic survey of our neighboring galaxy, called the Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury (PHAT) program. Nearly 8,000 images of 117 million stars in the galaxy’s disk were obtained from viewing Andromeda in near-ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared wavelengths.
The PHAT Survey as given astronomers unprecedented views of stellar clusters allowing them to better quantify the percentages of stars by type in star clusters.
Please join +Tony Darnell Dr.+Carol Christian and +Scott Lewis to learn what the heck an IMF is and discuss the results of this important survey with Dr. Dan Weisz from the University of Washington and Dr. Anil Seth of the University of Utah.
#Space #astronomy #starbirth #hubble #galaxies #cosmology