Star Formation in Dark Nebulae

James Haber

Need

• Help increase knowledge of star formation

• View parts of the universe previously obscured by dark nebulae

Spooky Star Forming Regionhttp://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap041101.html

Introduction

• Nebula are clouds of ionized hydrogen gas

• Large regions of star formation

Orion Nebulahttp://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap060119.html

Star Formation

http://coolwiki.ipac.caltech.edu/index.php/Studying_Young_Stars

Introduction

• Dark nebula are similar to reflection nebula

• Can only be seen due to the fact that they block out light

Horsehead Nebulahttp://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap030713.html

Taurus-Auriga Dark Cloudhttp://www.usm.uni-muenchen.de/ys/iras_images.html

Literature Review

• Red and Nebulous Objects in Dark Clouds

• Search for protostars and T Tauri stars previously missed by Herbig and Rao

Literature Review

• An optical survey to look for star formation in Lynds Dark Clouds

• Ratio of Class 0 to Class I protostars was found to be about 1:1, very different from previous 1:10 ratio

Purpose

The purpose of my project is to study star formation in dark nebulae using color-color plots and spectral energy distribution charts to classify and identify young stars.

Methodology

Bibliography• ESA/Hubble Information Centre. "Hubble spots a celestial bauble." ScienceDaily, 15 Dec.

2010. Web. 1 May 2011. • NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "The Art of Making Stars." ScienceDaily, 4 Apr. 2011.

Web. 1 May 2011.• Chandra X-ray Center. "New evidence on origin of supernovas." ScienceDaily, 27 Apr.

2011. Web. 1 May 2011.• Hillenbrand, Lynne. "On the Stellar Population and Star-Forming History of the Orion

Nebula Cluster." The Astronomical Journal 113.5 (1997).• "Secrets of a Dark Cloud." ESO. 2 July 1999. Web. 05 May 2011.

<http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso9934/>.• Francesco, James, Michiel R. Hogerheijde, and William J. Welch. "ABUNDANCES OF

MOLECULAR SPECIES IN BARNARD 68." The Astronomical Journal 124 (2002): 2749-755.• Visser, Anja E., and John S. Richer. "COMPLETION OF A SCUBA SURVEY OF LYNDS DARK

CLOUDS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR LOW-MASS STAR FORMATION." The Astronomical Journal 124 (2002): 2756-78

• Seeds, Michael A. "Three Kinds of Nebulae." Foundations of Astronomy. Australia: Thomson Brooks/Cole, 2008. 198-99.

• "Lynds Clouds." CoolWiki. Web. 03 June 2011. <http://coolwiki.ipac.caltech.edu/index.php/Main_Page>.

What is the problem?

Knowledge Base Lit Review(Check this)

What is the hypothesis

This

Does this answer

Dependent variableUp or down? Which?

Why?How do we know?

MethodDoes the methodActually test the hypothesis?