As a graduate student, I focused on near-infrared imaging of young cluster regions, specifically a very interesting star-forming region in Orion: OMC 2/3. Using near-infrared and optical photometry, we selected brown dwarf candidates for spectral observations in OMC 2/3. To date, we have obtained optical spectra for approximately 60 candidates in our 20' x 20' OMC 2/3 field, with at least 10 of those having spectral types of M6.5 or later. OMC 2/3 is a very young cluster (approximately 1 Myr) that is a site of active and ongoing star formation. Twenty-one protostellar objects have been detected in this region by sub-millimeter surveys (Chini et al. 1997), suggesting that it may be at the early stages of cluster formation.
Near-infrared spectroscopic observations of OMC 2/3 were made with SpeX at the Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) on Mauna Kea in December 2003, January 2005 and January 2006 to obtain near-infrared spectra of an additional 50 more embedded brown dwarf candidates. Nine of them have spectral types of M6.5 or later.
In addition, 6 orbits of Hubble Space Telescope Cycle 12 time were awarded using NICMOS to search for protostellar envelopes, binaries and jets in the vicinity of 7 of the OMC 2/3 brown dwarfs. Additionally, guaranteed time observations of OMC 2/3 and the other Orion regions were made with the Spitzer Space Telescope (formerly SIRTF) in the spring of 2004.
I was an undergraduate at Boston University where I majored in astronomy and physics. While at BU, I worked for Professor Dan Clemens formulating a method for determining distances to dark clouds, or bok globules. At the end of my undergraduate career, we submitted a paper to the Astronomical Journal entitled, "Photometric Distances to Small Dark Clouds: CB24" and it was published in the August 1998 issue. To read the full journal article on the web, click here.
