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Full-Text Articles in Astrophysics and Astronomy
The Role Of Volatile Enrichment In The Radiogenic Heating And Thermal Evolution Of Rocky Exoplanets, Ula Jones, Asmaa Boujibar
The Role Of Volatile Enrichment In The Radiogenic Heating And Thermal Evolution Of Rocky Exoplanets, Ula Jones, Asmaa Boujibar
WWU Honors College Senior Projects
Internal heating in terrestrial planets is a fundamental physical process controlling the internal structure of a planet, mantle convection, volcanic activity, and the generation of magnetic fields. Internal heating results from various processes including radioactive decay and accretional energy, as well as additional irradiation and tidal heating in planets with short orbital periods. The largest long-term heat source for terrestrial planets is radioactive heating, especially from the decay of uranium (U), thorium (Th), and potassium (K) isotopes. K is a moderately volatile element, while U and Th are refractory elements; during planetary accretion volatiles are depleted relative to refractory elements, …
Physical Properties Of Brackett Emitters In The Apogee Dr17 Catalog, Elliott Khilfeh, Hunter Campbell, Kevin R. Covey, Marina Kounkel, Richard Ballentyne
Physical Properties Of Brackett Emitters In The Apogee Dr17 Catalog, Elliott Khilfeh, Hunter Campbell, Kevin R. Covey, Marina Kounkel, Richard Ballentyne
WWU Honors College Senior Projects
In the process of accumulating mass (accretion), young stars channel ionized gas from the protoplanetary disk to the stellar surface along magnetic field lines. Upon impacting the photosphere, the gas cools down, recombining and emitting hydrogen spectral lines. Measuring these emission lines allows us to determine the temperature and density of the gas in those accretion streams. This then enables us to test whether those parameters depend on the accretion rate. We present measurements of equivalent widths and line ratios for Brackett (Br) 11 – 20 lines for 3366 observations of 940 pre-main sequence stars observed with APOGEE as of …
A Neural Network Approach To Identifying Ysos And Exploring Solar Neighborhood Star-Forming History, Aidan Mcbride, Ryan Lingg, Marina Kounkel, Kevin Covey, Brian Hutchinson
A Neural Network Approach To Identifying Ysos And Exploring Solar Neighborhood Star-Forming History, Aidan Mcbride, Ryan Lingg, Marina Kounkel, Kevin Covey, Brian Hutchinson
WWU Honors College Senior Projects
Stellar ages can act as a marker of birth cluster membership for young stellar objects (YSOs), which allows for an improved understanding of the history of star formation in the solar neighborhood. However, the ages of YSOs have historically been difficult to predict on a large scale. Here, we develop a system of convolution neural network models to differentiate between YSOs and their more-evolved counterparts and predict YSO ages using Gaia and 2MASS photometry. The full model and resulting catalog recovers the properties of well-studied young stellar populations to a distance of five kiloparsecs, with significantly higher sensitivity within one …
Spectral Variability Of Weathered Basalts And Sandstones, Isabella Seppi
Spectral Variability Of Weathered Basalts And Sandstones, Isabella Seppi
WWU Honors College Senior Projects
Spectroscopy can be used to uncover the composition, and therefore the geological history, of rock surfaces and is a major tool for understanding the geologic history of rocks on Mars. The spectra taken from the rovers and orbital spacecraft and at Mars are taken at many different angles and these angles can affect the spectral readings taken from weathered rock surfaces. I will be researching how Mars analog rocks reflect light at different angles. Profs. Melissa Rice, Mike Kraft and Sean Mulcahy have received a grant from NASA to build a hemispheric goniometer which will measure spectra taken form weathered …