Astronomy and Astrophysics Seminars

Probing early phases of high-mass star formation

by Prof. Jagadheep D. Pandian (IIST, Thiruvananthapuram)

Tuesday, July 17, 2012 from to (Asia/Kolkata)
at Colaba Campus ( AG 66 )
TIFR Mumbai
Description
The early phases of the formation of high-mass stars is poorly understood compared to their low-mass counterparts. High-mass stars are rarer and evolve much faster compared to low-mass stars. Moreover, massive star forming regions are much more distant and are often obscured even at mid-infrared wavelengths. Consequently, high-mass protostars are best studied using sensitive observations at high angular resolution at millimetre/sub-millimetre wavelengths. 
In this talk, I will review work that I have been carrying out using ATLASGAL, a blind 870 micron survey of the Galactic plane, and the Arecibo survey for 6.7 GHz methanol masers, which are signposts of high-mass star formation.