June 20 , 2005
For Immediate Release
For more information:
Megan Laurie
(801) 863-7149
Written by:
Dixie Millet
(801) 863-7011
UVSC Professor Makes Stellar Space Discovery
Discovering the birth of new stars among billions is no easy task, yet that’s exactly what Karl Haisch, assistant professor of Physics at Utah Valley State College did—twice. Most recently, Haisch discovered an outflow of material from a stellar object while on a research trip in Las Campanas, Chile. Not long before that, he discovered what could be an extremely young star.
Both of Haisch’s stellar discoveries were found using one of the first mid-infrared cameras in the southern hemisphere, which would account for their lack of detection until this time. His latest find, the outflow material, could either be scattered starlight or part of a molecular hydrogen outflow. Haisch’s first discovery, the potential star Chal-97, could be one of only about two dozen stars younger than 100,000 years old. Its name is derived from its location in the Chamaeleon I dark cloud and 97 is its catalog number.
“It’s really great to be part of this,” Haisch said. “When you do a survey at wavelengths which no one has observed in before, you never know what you’ll uncover.”
Haisch is an observational astronomer studying the earliest stages of star birth. Though working with two other collaborators, Haisch is the principal investigator on a project to survey all the known protostellar objects in the closest molecular clouds.
For more information, contact Karl Haisch at (801) 863-6473
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