LVAAS General Meeting: Open to the Public
Sunday, April 14 at 7 p.m.
Stellar Fingerprints: An Introduction to Spectroscopy
Spectroscopy is the study of the amount of light from a star as a function of wavelength. As light passes through the star, atoms in the photosphere absorb photons of certain wavelengths, producing spectral features like Balmer lines. In this talk, I will introduce the basics of spectroscopy and explore physical processes that impact the shapes of spectral features. I will also describe my research of measuring the physical parameters of massive stars, like effective temperature, surface gravity, and rotational velocity, by fitting model spectra to observed spectra.
Richard Hanes, Lehigh University
Richard Hanes is a fifth year physics graduate student at Lehigh University studying spectroscopic parameters of massive stars with his advisor, Professor Ginny McSwain. Richard received his Bachelor’s degree in Astronomy and Astrophysics from the Pennsylvania State University in 2014 and his Master’s degree in Physics from Lehigh University in 2016. He has presented his research at several conferences and meetings, including the 229th AAS meeting in Grapevine, Texas.
