Transcript:

 

"Why should we care for far-infrared telescopes? 

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We are highly confident planets form around young stars. Who emit most of their energy in the far-infrared wavelength. However, so does water vapor. If we wish to unveil the beginning of the universe, we need to focus on constructing powerful far-infrared space telescopes. To this end, the resolution of a telescope is significant to scientific advancement.

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In this research, we created a sample of protoplanetary disks and protostars to investigate the size required for a far-infrared telescope to not be limited by a young star's nebulosity. This project was distinctly focused on an aspect often overlooked, looking at stars on bright nebulosity.

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The stars were selected from a sample of high-priority scientific targets for future telescopes. These categories were vetted and used in missions such as; ALMA, JWST, Origins, SOFIA, and many others. 

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With the collected samples we obtained the stars' point spread function (PSF) where we encapsulated at least 70% of the star in a circle. The width of the circle connects the resolution of an image to the diameter of the telescope. Using the resolution equation and data collected, we calculated the flux density of the targets and their respective background. From there, we took ratios of the star to background flux density and studied how these ratios changed over different wavelengths with respect to telescope diameter. These ratios showed us how dominant the light from these targets' backgrounds was and their impact on telescope resolution.

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This figure shows the values of stars to background flux density ratios. Values above one meant the star was not dominated by its bright background. While values less than one indicate a dominant background. We also see that larger telescope diameters tend to have more stars that aren't background-dominated. 

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These figures show the fraction of stars that aren't dominated by their background for various telescope diameters. We can see the percentage of non-background dominated stars is large for stars around 150 parsecs (pc) away. However, this isn't fully the case for these samples shifted 1000 pc away. This is important to note because we need to look at stars in the 1000 pc range. 

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For clusters at 1000 pc away, regions where we think the sun was formed, we need 3 meters for good science. "

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Note:

This slide deck was presented at the end of the Space Telescope Science Institute's Astronomy Summer Program. The figures were plotted in Python. This research experience allowed me to explore my interests in astronomy and telescope instrumentation. Furthermore, it improved my computation, coding, and presentation skills.