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Stellar Astrophysics


At Penn State University researchers study stars and their immediate surroundings including stars of all ages, from pre-main sequence stars to stellar remnants. Observational astronomers use a variety of techniques across a broad spectrum of wavelengths, including X-ray, ultraviolet, visible, and infrared light. Recent theoretical studies have modeled the dynamics of interactions in star clusters, mass exchange between stars, stellar mergers, and the development in time of populations of binary stars.

The following areas are a part of Stellar Astrophysics:

  • Star Formation - Studies of young stars include star formation in young clusters, X-ray emission and magnetic activity in young stars, brown dwarfs, and the search for young stars near Earth.
  • Neutron Stars and Pulsars - Neutron stars are dense celestrial bodies that are only detectable by X-ray and pulsars are bodies which emmit bursts of light at regular intervals.
  • Interacting Binaries - Studies of evolved stars include white dwarfs and other compact stellar remnants, mass-exchange (interacting) binaries.

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    Recent Developments

    • 10 May 2005 - By focusing on the Orion Nebula almost continuously for 13 days, the research team of Eric Feigelson of Penn State as well as Penn State scientists on the international team including Research Associate Kostantin Getman, Research Assistant Patrick Broos, Senior Research Associate Leisa Townsley, Visiting Fellow Masahiro Tsujimoto, and Evan Pugh Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics Gordon Garmire used Chandra to obtain the deepest X-ray observation ever taken of this or any star cluster. These data provide an unparalleled view of 1400 young stars, 30 of which are prototypes of the early Sun. The scientists discovered that these young suns erupt in enormous flares that dwarf -- in energy, size, and frequency -- anything seen from the Sun today. Read the Article

    • 1 February 2005 - The Swift satellite's Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope (UVOT) has seen first light, capturing an image of the Pinwheel Galaxy, long loved by amateur astronomers as the "perfect" face-on spiral galaxy. Read the Article
    • 10 January 2005 - John Debes, a graduate student at Penn State; Steinn Sigurdsson, associate professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Penn State University; Bruce Woodgate, of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, and their collaborators are announcing today the first results of a search for extrasolar planets and brown dwarfs in an unlikely place--the stellar graveyard. These results are particularly interesting because they answer some questions about the presence of planets around stars that are more massive than the Sun. Read the Article