2024-2025 ROC Optica Speaker Series: Joel Kastner, RIT

  • February 25, 2025
  • 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM
  • UR River Campus, Goergen 101

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Imaging Astronomical Icons in 3D: Radio and JWST Mapping of Planetary Nebulae

Joel Kastner, Rochester Institute of Technology.



Abstract

Planetary nebulae are highly photogenic astronomical objects that inform us about the near-final stages in the lives of stars with initial masses anywhere from roughly one to eight times that of the Sun. Because planetary nebulae are formed from the mass ejected from such stars as they die, these nebulae reveal how elements essential to life, like carbon and nitrogen, make their way from their natal stellar furnaces to planets like our Earth. However, lovely as they are, the myriad shapes of planetary nebulae present a puzzle to astronomers, complicating efforts to understand the underlying physical processes responsible for their formation. I will present an overview of our programs of imaging of planetary nebulae that exploit astronomical observing facilities spanning the spectrum of electromagnetic radiation from the X-ray through radio regimes, encompassing data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, Hubble Space Telescope, and James Webb Space Telescope as well as the world’s most powerful mm-wave interferometers. I will describe how we combine these observations to try to gain new insight into the formation, evolution, and compositions of planetary nebulae.


About the speaker

Joel Kastner is a Professor on the faculties of the Center for Imaging Science and School of Physics & Astronomy, both in the College of Science, at the Rochester (NY) Institute of Technology. He was founding Director of RIT's Laboratory for Multiwavelength Astrophysics. Kastner has a B.S. in Physics from the University of Maryland and a Ph.D. in Astronomy from UCLA. Prior to arriving at RIT in 1999, Kastner spent nearly a decade at MIT, first as a postdoc at Haystack Radio Observatory and then as a staff scientist with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory Science Center. He has authored or co-authored more than 220 refereed papers in the astronomical literature, and has been lead or co-organizer of several dozen topical meetings on astronomy and astronomical imaging. In 2020, he was among the roughly 200 U.S. astronomers named to the inaugural class of (Legacy) Fellows of the American Astronomical Society on the basis of scientific achievement and service to the field. He presently serves on the Users Committee of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope.

Parking and location

The talk will be held at UR River Campus, Goergen 101. Parking is available in the lot across the street in Intercampus Drive Lot, and is free for talk attendees (no pass needed).






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