The LMC as a Massive Star Formation Laboratory

University Of Illinois At Urbana-Champaign, Urbana IL

Investigators

Abstract

Dr. Leslie Looney (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) will fill a crucial observational gap in the understanding of how massive stars form by probing fundamental properties of a new sample of 244 massive protostars in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). This is the largest sample of massive young stellar objects at a well-known distance (about 50 kiloparsecs). The advantage of investigating massive protostars in the LMC is that the objects can be studied without many of the problems inherent in the study of Galactic high-mass young stellar objects, which are small in numbers, have poorly constrained distances, generally suffer from confusion along the line of sight and have high foreground extinction. These benefits will allow the first detailed study of a sample of massive protostars and the environment in which they form at a uniform distance, probing the infrared properties on size scales of 0.01 parsec and molecular gas on size scales of 0.1 parsec. Massive stars play a fundamental role in galactic evolution at all stages of their relatively short lives, and they are the only mode of star formation seen in other galaxies. Dr. Looney and his team have a new and unique sample of massive protostars from Spitzer Space Telescope observations. This work will survey these massive protostars to understand how massive protostars evolve and how that evolution affects their environment. The research goals in this project will push our understanding of massive star formation and cluster formation while integrating the project into the promotion of teaching, training, and learning. Dr. Looney will build upon a major revitalization of the astronomy undergraduate curriculum at the University of Illinois and a new partnership with the Astronomical Research Institute, which operates three robotically controlled telescopes in Illinois, to develop astronomical laboratory experiments that will guide students through the concepts of this research. These exercises will be made available to the general public. Finally, two graduate students, as well as one undergraduate student, will be involved in this research project, playing pivotal roles.