Membership Meeting via Zoom video conferencing
Speaker: Vince Estrada-Carpenter
Presentation: Galaxy Evolution in the Infrared
Location: Online via Zoom with chat; open audio lines following presentation
Abstract – The field of galaxy evolution attempts to understand how galaxies form, interact, and cease their star-formation. In order to study how galaxies evolve, we must observe large samples of galaxies at different epochs in the Universe’s history. We can achieve this by looking deep into space and observing galaxies whose light has had to travel billions of light-years. Observing these galaxies is made easier with telescopes equipped with infrared instruments that allow us to study features in galaxies which would otherwise be unobtainable. My work focuses on using data from the Hubble Space Telescope to study what types of stars make up massive galaxies. Using these data sets I have been able to see how massive galaxies in the early universe chemically evolve, how their “ages” evolve with the universe, and how we can link their morphologies with their formation histories.
Bio – Vince Estrada-Carpenter is a 5th year Astronomy PhD candidate at Texas A&M University. His area of research is galaxy evolution, with a specific focus on understanding the properties of massive galaxies in the early universe. To do this Vince use a very specific type of data set, grism spectroscopy, which are available through the Hubble Space Telescope and, in the future, the James Webb Space Telescope and the Wide Field Infrared Space Telescope.
Vince originally attended college to become an accountant, only to realize his true interest was in astronomy. After earning an Associates of Science in Physics from Austin Community College, Vince transferred to Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas where he earned a Bachelors of Science in Physics. At Southwestern Vince did his first astronomy research project trying to measure the mass of a supermassive black hole. Vince’s work in this field has earned him several fellowships and in 2019 he was named a NASA FINESST Future Investigator.
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To Join the Meeting: Since we're all practicing safe social distancing, we have decided to bring our April Speaker to you virtually through the Zoom online meeting platform! In the past 48 hours, you should have received an email inviting you attend. You'll need to register using the link in the email and will receive a confirmation email with a link so you can join the meeting.
Online Chat and Questions: We'll have the online chat feature available to us during the talk, and once the presentation is over, we can open up the audio lines for more questions. I'm excited that we're able to get together in this fashion, and I hope you can join us. We hope to see you online with us on Friday evening!
Joe Khalaf, President
Houston Astronomical Society
