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Full-Text Articles in Astrophysics and Astronomy

Dissipation In Global Simulations Of Accretion Disks, Catherine Gibson, Theodore Dezen Phd Aug 2022

Dissipation In Global Simulations Of Accretion Disks, Catherine Gibson, Theodore Dezen Phd

Research Month

Abstract: We perform general relativistic magneto-hydrodynamic simulations to study the dynamics of and radiation from accretion onto stellar mass black holes. Recent theoretical work suggested magnetic torques exerted at the innermost stable circular orbit can drive significant bulk vertical energy transport in regions close to the black hole, and hence dissipate a larger fraction of accretion power near the photosphere compared to standard models. This additional heating in turn may lead to the non-thermal high-energy (into several hundred keVs) radiation observed in some systems. We analyze time-dependent global simulations to further assess the feasibility of such models and illuminate the …


Generating Light Curves From Simulated Active Galactic Nuclei Data, William Yuan Aug 2022

Generating Light Curves From Simulated Active Galactic Nuclei Data, William Yuan

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) are growing supermassive black holes found at the centers of massive galaxies. My research involves gathering data by simulating the light emitted by AGN, and then plotting the simulated light in the form of light curves.


Development Of High-Resolution Meteor Spectra Analysis, Zhangqing Yang Aug 2022

Development Of High-Resolution Meteor Spectra Analysis, Zhangqing Yang

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Meteoroids are often billions of years old and as they ablate and ionize in the atmosphere, they give off light leaving us clues to the history of our solar system. In addition, their presence imposes serious risks to our equipment and astronauts in space. My research deals with analyzing High-Resolution Meteor Spectra, which are obtained by separating the light Meteors give off through a Diffraction Grating. Firstly, as the Meteor’s speed during ablation affects its spectrum, the position, speed, and trajectory of 40 well-tracked Meteors (picked from over 500) were determined using the programs Metal and Mirfit. Then, the spectra …


Where Are The Habitable Planets In Our Local Group Of Galaxies?, William C. Windsor Aug 2022

Where Are The Habitable Planets In Our Local Group Of Galaxies?, William C. Windsor

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

No abstract provided.


The Total Solar Eclipse Of 1869 In Iowa: What Remains Today, Jacob P. Baskin Jul 2022

The Total Solar Eclipse Of 1869 In Iowa: What Remains Today, Jacob P. Baskin

Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) Symposium

On August 7th, 1869, a total solar eclipse was visible in the United States. It carved a path through the heartland, nearly bisecting the state of Iowa as it ran from the northwest corner of the state, through Des Moines, and down through the southeast. As the scientists of the day flocked from universities and observatories on the east coast to the Midwest for a chance to make observations and measurements, many of the teams chose to set up in Iowa. Along the path of the eclipse, the parties built temporary observatories to house their telescopes, or simply picked buildings …


The Next Small Step, Samiya Henry Apr 2022

The Next Small Step, Samiya Henry

Undergraduate Research and Scholarship Symposium

As of right now, NASA and other space programs are estimating that by 2026, there will be people living in Space. Whether it be the Moon or Mars, one cannot have a functional society without a proper source of laws, especially since no one country has ownership over space. "One Small Step" will produce this source of laws, called the “Space Bill of Rights,” that will outline important matters like the trade of resources, medical care, government officials, and will ensure the preservation of our physical and figurative footsteps in space. This Space Bill of Rights is made up of …


Dayside Auroral Activity, Aine Merritt, Gerard J. Fasel Mar 2022

Dayside Auroral Activity, Aine Merritt, Gerard J. Fasel

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

The dayside aurora is greatly influenced by the solar wind. Many different types of dayside auroral features have been identified, including poleward-moving auroral forms (PMAFs), throat aurora, shock aurora, and diffuse aurora. This study looks at the dayside auroral activity using the BACC ground-based all-sky-cameras located in both Longyearbyen (Kjell Henriksen Observatory) and Ny-Alesund, Svalbard. There are times when PMAFs peel off the dayside auroral oval in an ordered fashion, elongated east-west arcs moving poleward. At other times, the dayside aurora displays arcs that have extreme brightening moving through the arcs as they exhibit swirls and become a bit chaotic …


The Solar Eclipse Of 1869 As Seen In Illinois, Indiana, And Kentucky, Trishyan Anthony Feb 2022

The Solar Eclipse Of 1869 As Seen In Illinois, Indiana, And Kentucky, Trishyan Anthony

Research in the Capitol

The Solar Eclipse of August 7th, 1869, was the first recorded total eclipse of the Sun to pass over the United States. The altitude of the eclipse varied depending on the longitude of the viewer. Wanting to know what was the public reaction of this solar eclipse gathering newspaper articles of the time really showed a window to what they were seeing and feeling at that time, and leading up to the day. Following the eclipse through some of the Midwest down to Kentucky showed differing results, as it had got later in the day of viewing. Though there was …


Classifying Quenching Galaxies: Comparing Methods, Joseph M. Hewa Feb 2022

Classifying Quenching Galaxies: Comparing Methods, Joseph M. Hewa

Tennessee Posters at the Capitol

Quenching galaxies are galaxies that are rapidly evolving from strongly star forming systems to galaxies with mostly old stars and low star formation rates. When identifying quenching galaxies, there are several methods in common use. Furthermore, there are several ways astronomers estimate the Star Formation Rate (SFR), in Solar Masses per year, and Stellar Mass (M*), in Solar Masses, of galaxies. For a large sample of galaxies, we used 6 derivations of M* and 4 for SFR, plotting them against each other for comparison. We also calculated and compared the specific SFR (sSFR), equal to SFR/M*, and compared the different …