Quinn, Joseph

English

Ithaca College

Spectral Analysis of Protoplanetary DisksJoe QuinnFaculty Sponsor: Luke KellerPlanets form around young stars in disks of dust and gas, which we callprotoplanetary. Direct observations of planets outside of our solar system aredifficult for the nearest planetary systems and impossible for more distantsystems, so in order to study planet formation we observe protoplanetarydisks. We are interested specifically in stars with protoplanetary disks inthe Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), a dwarf galaxy close to the Milky Way.The chemical environment of the SMC mimics the early universe becausethe ratio of heavy elements to hydrogen is low in comparison to our galaxy.An understanding of how planet formation occurs in the SMC and how itdiffers from planet formation in the Milky Way would help us to betterunderstand the process by which planets formed in the early universe andhow this process evolved to its present formulation. We obtained infraredand optical spectral data of ten stars in the SMC that we believe to besurrounded by protoplanetary disks. In the spectral data we find emissionand absortion features due to polycylic aromatic hydrocarbons, molecularhydrogen, silicate, and several other sources. Through spectral analysis ofthe data, we conclude that these sources are in fact forming new planets.1

Spectral Analysis of Protoplanetary Disks

https://digitalcommons.ithaca.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1152&context=whalen

Spectral Analysis of Protoplanetary Disks

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Ithaca College