Project Description

      My internship with Dr. Arcé this summer involves learning about star formation, specifically about the outflows producted by young protostars. The basic point of the project is to catalog these outflows in the Orion Nebula by looking at different types of images of this outflow in different wavelengths such as the optical and near infared. If we suspect that some interesting feature looks like it could be an outflow from the protostar, we can then go to this file called a cube which consists of images slices which form to create a sort of video. Then, we identify the protostar again and move through the slices to see if there is any sort of movement similar to the shape of the outflow we saw. If there is, we can then use that to create a blue and red filter image showing this outflow at its different peak velocities. This image gives us a somewhat more clear view of what exactly the shape of the outflow that the protostar emits looks like.

     So far, I have learned many things, from the basics of star formation to different terminology concerning it. Perhaps the biggest portion of my learning curve has been learning about how to use all of the different programs in order to be able to extract information from an image and then be able to catalog an outflow.