GAC November Meeting by Dr Matt Redman (University of Galway)
November 11 @ 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
Galway Astronomy Club are pleased to announce details of our November club meeting, which will take place at 7.30 pm on Monday the 11th November in the Menlo Park Hotel, Terryland, Galway.
Talk: ‘Of planets and planetary nebulae’
Planetary nebulae were so named due to their planet like appearance in very early telescopes. They are now understood to be the spectacular result of sun-like stars throwing off their outer layers at the end of their lifetimes. A mystery remains though as to how spherical stars can produce the widely diverse range of shapes of nebulae that are observed. Here I will discuss a new idea for shaping such nebulae where the planets that likely surround these aged stars are able to sculpt the outflowing materials. In this way, despite the original misnomer, planets could in fact have an important role in planetary nebulae after all.
Speaker: Dr Matt Redman
Matt Redman is Director of the Centre for Astronomy NUI Galway, and leads a group with research interests in star formation and star destruction processes. He uses radio and millimetre telescope data to investigate the collapse of star forming molecular clouds, and optical and millimetre data for studying the shaping mechanisms of planetary nebulae, novae and supernova remnants. He works at the observational and theory interface, simulating data from telescopes using radiative transfer, photoionisation and spatiokinematic codes.