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“Uncovering the Enigmatic Births of Stellar Leviathans” Dr. Jim De Buizer Gemini Fellowship |
| While astronomers believe they understand how low-mass stars like our Sun form, it is not at all apparent if stars with masses greater than 10 times that of our Sun form in the same way. Our ignorance is mostly due to the fact that, unlike low-mass stars, massive stars form in the deepest and densest star-forming environments, and are obscured from the view of traditional optical observing techniques. I have been conducting a series of investigations with some of the largest ground-based telescopes in the world observing at long wavelengths that penetrate through the dusty, obscured regions where massive stars form. Because of the high spatial resolution afforded by the large apertures of these telescopes I am acquiring images of massive young stars and their environments in unprecedented detail. A combination of mid-infrared and millimeter wavelength studies has revealed new and exciting discoveries into the nature of the birth processes of the most massive stars. |