Buckyballs in Planetary Nebulae
Supervisor: Dr. Jan Cami
Project Description (Abstract):
How and why do dying stars create buckyballs? You can help figure this out! You will first search for new buckyball-containing objects by searching for objects with specific colors as measured by the Spitzer Space Telescope. You will then look at the IR spectra of these objects (where available) to verify whether these do indeed show the buckyball spectral fingerprints. You will create a spectral energy distribution for some objects to infer what fraction of the carbon is locked up in these buckyballs.
This project involves data processing and analysis in addition to computer simulations.
