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South Carolina State University
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URIA 2005
Vanderbilt Astronomer Speaks to URIA Students
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
Room 205 Hodge Hall
Dr. Keivan Stassun of Vanderbilt University talked to the URIA students and faculty at SCSU about his research on star formation as well as the graduate program in physics and astronomy at Vanderbilt University (link).
The Birth of Stars and Planets
How does Nature make stars such as our Sun? This is one of the central questions of astrophysics. Evidence from research conducted with the new generation of space telescopes indicates that star birth and death are intimately linked. Detailed studies of three nearby "stellar nurseries" show that the powerful, destructive forces associate with the birth of very massive stars may be responsible for triggering the birth of modest stars like the Sun. These forces, including ones triggered by intense ultraviolet and X-ray radiation, may also be responsible for governing the formation of planets like Earth around these stars.
