Robert E. Wilson | |
---|---|
Born | January 16, 1937 |
Occupation(s) | Astrophysicist, academic, and author |
Awards | Max Planck-Humboldt Research Award, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation/Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics (1979) |
Academic background | |
Education | PhD |
Alma mater | University of Pennsylvania |
Academic work | |
Institutions | University of Florida |
Robert E. Wilson is an astrophysicist,academic,and author. He is a professor emeritus at the University of Florida (UF). [1]
Wilson's research covers various aspects of astrophysics including stellar models,stellar structure &evolution,and close binary stars. He has co-edited and co-authored books on astrophysical topics,and his research has received awards such as the Humboldt Prize from Germany's Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. [2]
Wilson is a member of the American Astronomical Society, [3] the Royal Astronomical Society the Astronomical Society of the Pacific,the Norristown (PA) Eisenhower High School Hall of Fame,and the International Astronomical Union. [4]
Wilson completed his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in 1963. [5]
Wilson started his career as an assistant professor at Georgetown University (1963–66). [5] He was associate professor at the University of South Florida (1966–69),and then Professor at the same institution (1969 to 1979). [6] At the University of Florida (UF) he served as Professor from 1979 to 2007. [7] He then was appointed professor emeritus at UF and continues to publish in the field of astronomy. [1]
Wilson has been a National Research Council Associate at the Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York City (1972–74); [8] and guest at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Garching,Germany (1979–80).
Wilson's astrophysics research spans stellar structural and evolutionary models and close binary stars,with conceptual innovations. [4] He co-edited the book Astrophysical Disks with S.F Dermott and J.H Hunter (1992),featuring contributions from experts and covering topics in non-linear astrophysics. He also co-edited Waves in Astrophysics with J.H. Hunter (1995),which explored applications of chaos theory and non-linear dynamics within scenarios such as circumstellar disks,collimated outflows,the interstellar medium,galaxies,and pulsating stars. Earlier,he published the book Binary Stars:A Pictorial Atlas with D. Terrell and J. Mukherjee,which showcased binary star systems through computer generated illustrations of their dimensions,orbits,and figures. T.D. Oswalt (Florida Institute of Technology) remarked "Both amateurs and professionals will enjoy looking up,via the convenient index,those binaries that they have actually observed and read about elsewhere -- I certainly have found myself looking up all my favorites." [9]
Wilson's earlier work led the move from geometric binary system models to physical models that directly treat tides,gravity brightening,star-star heating &re-radiation,and other physical phenomena. His computational revision of reflection has enhanced the synthesis of the effect,improving accuracy,generality,and efficiency,simplifying the implementation of multiple reflections by setting a control integer to 1 for one "bounce," 2 for two bounces,and so forth. [10]
Advances of those times,the late 1960s to early 1990s,have been explained in Wilson's invited reviews such as his article on Binary Stars in the Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. [11] His ideas have completed the set of four morphological types of binaries—detached,semi-detached,overcontact,and double contact, [12] [13] [11] which originated with Zdenek Kopal's definitions of the first two types in his book Close Binary Systems. [14] Additionally,his analytic modeling of self-gravitating semi-transparent circumstellar disks has now been augmented to include star and interior disk irradiation. [10]
Beta Arietis,officially named Sheratan,is a star system and the second-brightest star in the constellation of Aries,marking the ram's second horn.
A protoplanetary disk is a rotating circumstellar disc of dense gas and dust surrounding a young newly formed star,a T Tauri star,or Herbig Ae/Be star. The protoplanetary disk may also be considered an accretion disk for the star itself,because gases or other material may be falling from the inner edge of the disk onto the surface of the star. This process should not be confused with the accretion process thought to build up the planets themselves. Externally illuminated photo-evaporating protoplanetary disks are called proplyds.
Gamma Cassiopeiae,Latinized from γCassiopeiae,is a bright star at the center of the distinctive "W" asterism in the northern circumpolar constellation of Cassiopeia. Although it is a fairly bright star with an apparent visual magnitude that varies from 1.6 to 3.0,it has no traditional Arabic or Latin name. It sometimes goes by the informal name Navi. It was observed 1866 by Angelo Secchi,the first star ever observed with emission lines. It is now considered a Be star.
VV Cephei,also known as HD 208816,is an eclipsing binary star system located in the constellation Cepheus,approximately 3,300 light years from Earth. It is both a B[e] star and shell star.
111 Tauri is a wide binary star system in the constellation Taurus. It is located at a distance of 48 light years from the Sun. Primary component A is a main sequence star with a stellar classification of F8V. The secondary component B is a K-type main sequence star. The primary is larger and more luminous than the Sun,with about 130% of the Sun's radius and 185% of the Sun's luminosity. The apparent magnitude of 5.0 indicates it is a faint star that can be viewed by the naked eye under good,dark-sky conditions.
g Herculis is a binary star system in the northern constellation of Hercules. It has the Flamsteed designation 30 Herculis,while g Herculis is the Bayer designation. This system is visible to the naked eye as a faint,red-hued point of light. Based upon a measured parallax of 9.2 mas,it is located around 354 light years away from the Sun. The system is moving further from the Earth with a heliocentric radial velocity of 1.5 km/s.
Scott Jay Kenyon is an American astrophysicist. His work has included advances in symbiotic and other types of interacting binary stars,the formation and evolution of stars,and the formation of planetary systems.
An exocomet,or extrasolar comet,is a comet outside the Solar System,which includes rogue comets and comets that orbit stars other than the Sun. The first exocomets were detected in 1987 around Beta Pictoris,a very young A-type main-sequence star. There are now a total of 27 stars around which exocomets have been observed or suspected.
50 Persei is a star in the constellation Perseus. Its apparent magnitude is 5.52,which is bright enough to be seen with the naked eye. Located around 21.00 parsecs (68.5 ly) distant,it is a White main-sequence star of spectral type F7V,a star that is currently fusing its core hydrogen. In 1998 the star was named a candidate Gamma Doradus variable with a period of 3.05 days,which would means it displays variations in luminosity due to non-radial pulsations in the photosphere. Subsequently,it was classified as a RS Canum Venaticorum and BY Draconis variable by an automated program.
HR 297 is a solitary star in the northern circumpolar constellation of Cassiopeia. It has an apparent visual magnitude of 5.8,making it faintly visible to the naked eye from dark suburban skies. Parallax measurements put this system at a distance of roughly 256 light years. It is drifting closer with a heliocentric radial velocity of −20.4 km/s.
c Ursae Majoris is the Bayer designation for a double-lined spectroscopic binary star system in the northern constellation of Ursa Major. It has an apparent visual magnitude of 5.18,which indicates that is visible to the naked eye. Parallax measurements yield an estimated distance of 66 light years from the Sun. The star is moving closer to the Earth with a heliocentric radial velocity of −14 km/s.
GG Tauri,often abbreviated as GG Tau,is a quintuple star system in the constellation Taurus. At a distance of about 450 light years away,it is located within the Taurus-Auriga Star Forming Region. The system comprises three stars orbiting each other in a hierarchical triple system,known as GG Tauri A,and another binary star system more distant from the central system,known as GG Tauri B.
GW Orionis is a T Tauri type pre-main sequence hierarchical triple star system. It is associated with the Lambda Orionis star-forming region and has an extended circumtrinary protoplanetary disk.
KH 15D,described as a winking star because of its unusual dips in brightness,is a binary T Tauri star system embedded in a circumbinary disk. It is a member of the young open cluster NGC 2264,located about 2,500 light-years (770 pc) from the Sun in the constellation of Monoceros.
RW Aurigae is a young binary system in the constellation of Auriga about 530 light years away,belonging to the Taurus-Auriga association of the Taurus Molecular Cloud. RW Aurigae B was discovered in 1944.
TX Ursae Majoris is an eclipsing binary star system in the northern circumpolar constellation of Ursa Major. With a combined apparent visual magnitude of 6.97,the system is too faint to be readily viewed with the naked eye. The pair orbit each other with a period of 3.063 days in a circular orbit,with their orbital plane aligned close to the line of sight from the Earth. During the primary eclipse,the net brightness decreases by 1.74 magnitudes,while the secondary eclipse results in a drop of just 0.07 magnitude. TX UMa is located at a distance of approximately 780 light years from the Sun based on parallax measurements,but is drifting closer with a mean radial velocity of −13 km/s.
UX Ursae Majoris is an Algol type binary star system in the northern circumpolar constellation of Ursa Major. It is classified as a nova-like variable star similar to DQ Herculis,although no eruptions have been reported. Since its discovery in 1933,this system has been the subject of numerous studies attempting to determine its properties. The combined apparent visual magnitude of UX UMa ranges from 12.57 down to 14.15. The system is located at a distance of approximately 952 light years from the Sun based on parallax,and is drifting further away with a radial velocity of 112 km/s.
CV Serpentis is a binary star system in the equatorial constellation of Serpens. It is a detached eclipsing binary with an orbital period of 29.7 days. The system includes a Wolf–Rayet (WR) star with the identifier WR 113. The system is located at a distance of approximately 6,700 light years from the Sun based on parallax measurements. It is a member of the Serpens OB2 association of co-moving stars.
AW Ursae Majoris is a binary star system in the northern circumpolar constellation of Ursa Major,abbreviated AW UMa. It is an A-type W Ursae Majoris variable with an apparent visual magnitude of 6.83,which is near the lower limit of visibility to the naked eye. This is an eclipsing binary with the brightness dropping to magnitude 7.13 during the primary eclipse and to 7.08 with the secondary eclipse. Parallax measurements give a distance estimate of 221 light years from the Sun. It is drifting closer to the Sun with a radial velocity of approximately −17 km/s. The system has a high proper motion,traversing the celestial sphere at the rate of 0.216 arc second per annum.
V356 Sagittarii is an eclipsing binary star system in the southern constellation of Sagittarius,abbreviated V356 Sgr. It has a peak apparent visual magnitude of 6.84,which decreases to 7.66 during the primary eclipse and 7.24 with the secondary eclipse. Based on parallax measurements,this system is located at a distance of approximately 2,210 light years from the Sun.