A globular cluster is a spheroidal conglomeration of stars that is bound together by gravity,with a higher concentration of stars towards their centers. They can contain anywhere from tens of thousands to many millions of member stars,all orbiting in a stable,compact formation. Globular clusters are similar in form to dwarf spheroidal galaxies,and the distinction between the two is not always clear. Their name is derived from Latin globulus. Globular clusters are occasionally known simply as "globulars".
A planetary nebula is a type of emission nebula consisting of an expanding,glowing shell of ionized gas ejected from red giant stars late in their lives.
In 1944,Walter Baade categorized groups of stars within the Milky Way into stellar populations. In the abstract of the article by Baade,he recognizes that Jan Oort originally conceived this type of classification in 1926.
Astrophysics is a science that employs the methods and principles of physics and chemistry in the study of astronomical objects and phenomena. As one of the founders of the discipline,James Keeler,said,Astrophysics "seeks to ascertain the nature of the heavenly bodies,rather than their positions or motions in space–what they are,rather than where they are." Among the subjects studied are the Sun,other stars,galaxies,extrasolar planets,the interstellar medium and the cosmic microwave background. Emissions from these objects are examined across all parts of the electromagnetic spectrum,and the properties examined include luminosity,density,temperature,and chemical composition. Because astrophysics is a very broad subject,astrophysicists apply concepts and methods from many disciplines of physics,including classical mechanics,electromagnetism,statistical mechanics,thermodynamics,quantum mechanics,relativity,nuclear and particle physics,and atomic and molecular physics.
In astronomy,metallicity is the abundance of elements present in an object that are heavier than hydrogen and helium. Most of the normal currently detectable matter in the universe is either hydrogen or helium,and astronomers use the word "metals" as convenient shorthand for "all elements except hydrogen and helium". This word-use is distinct from the conventional chemical or physical definition of a metal as an electrically conducting solid. Stars and nebulae with relatively high abundances of heavier elements are called "metal-rich" in astrophysical terms,even though many of those elements are nonmetals in chemistry.
The Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) is located near the summit of Mauna Kea mountain on Hawaii's Big Island at an altitude of 4,204 meters,part of the Mauna Kea Observatory. Operational since 1979,the telescope is a Prime Focus/Cassegrain configuration with a usable aperture diameter of 3.58 metres (11.7 ft).
The Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fibre Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST),also known as the Guo Shoujing Telescope after the 13th-century Chinese astronomer,is a meridian reflecting Schmidt telescope,located in Xinglong Station,Hebei Province,China. Undertaken by the Chinese Academy of Sciences,the telescope is planned to conduct a 5-year spectroscopic survey of 10 million Milky Way stars,as well as millions of galaxies. The project's budget is RMB 235 million yuan.
RAVE is a multi-fiber spectroscopic astronomical survey of stars in the Milky Way using the 1.2-metre UK Schmidt Telescope of the Australian Astronomical Observatory (AAO). The RAVE collaboration consists of researchers from over 20 institutions around the world and is coordinated by the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP).
Catherine Heymans is a British astrophysicist,the Astronomer Royal for Scotland,and a professor at the University of Edinburgh based at the Royal Observatory,Edinburgh.
Alice Eve Shapley is a professor at the University of California,Los Angeles (UCLA) in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. She was one of the discoverers of the spiral galaxy BX442. Through her time at University of California,Los Angeles (UCLA) she has taught Nature of the Universe,Black Holes and Cosmic Catastrophes,Cosmology:Our Changing Concepts of the Universe,Galaxies,Scientific Writing,AGNs,Galaxies,*and* Writing,and The Formation and Evolution of Galaxies and the IGM. Shapley has committed herself to over a two decades of research and publication in the interest of physics and astronomy.
The SLUGGS survey is an astronomical survey of 25 nearby early-type galaxies. This survey uses a combination of imaging from Subaru/Suprime-Cam and spectroscopy from Keck/DEIMOS to investigate the chemo-dynamical properties of both the diffuse starlight and the globular cluster systems of the target galaxies. Pilot data for the survey was obtained in 2006 and data acquisition was completed in 2017.
Laura Ferrarese is a researcher in space science at the National Research Council of Canada. Her primary work has been performed using data from the Hubble Space Telescope and the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope.
Sara Ellison is an Astronomy Professor at University of Victoria. Her work involves observational extragalactic astronomy,galaxy mergers and evolution,galactic chemistry and active galactic nuclei.
Sidney Carne Wolff is an American astrophysicist,researcher,public educator,and author. She is the first woman in the United States to head a major observatory,and she provided significant contributions to the construction of six telescopes. Wolff served as Director of the Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) and the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO). She is a member of the International Astronomical Union's Division G:Stars and Stellar Physics.
The Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer (MSE) is a collaborative project by a new and enlarged partnership to revitalize the Canada-France-Hawai‘i Telescope (CFHT) observatory through replacing the existing 1970-vintage optical telescope with a modern segmented-mirror telescope and dedicated science instrumentation,while substantially re-using the existing Maunakea summit building and facility. At the highest level the objectives of MSE are to enhance scientific research and education for the partner communities. MSE will use an 11.25 meter aperture telescope and dedicated multiobject fibre spectroscopy instrumentation to perform survey science observations,collecting spectra from more than 4,000 astronomical targets simultaneously.
Claudia Maraston is a Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Portsmouth. She designs models for the calculation of spectro-photometric evolution of stellar populations. She is the winner of the 2018 Royal Astronomical Society Eddington Medal.
Kristine Spekkens is a Canadian astronomer,and is a professor at the Royal Military College of Canada and Queen's University. She is the Canadian Science Director for the Square Kilometre Array.
Louise Olivia Violet Edwards is a Canadian astronomer and associate professor of physics at California Polytechnic State University,and is one of the first Black Canadians to receive a PhD in astronomy. In 2002,she was pictured on a Canadian stamp.
Jonathan (Joss) Bland-Hawthorn is a British-Australian astrophysicist. He is a Laureate professor of physics at the University of Sydney,and director of the Sydney Institute for Astronomy.
