Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
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Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 |
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Thomas M. Dame
Radio Astronomer Lecturer on Astronomy |
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Research Interests My observational work is mainly carried out with the CfA 1.2 meter telescope and is geared toward determining the distribution and properties of dense, star-forming molecular clouds throughout the Milky Way Galaxy. A major milestone in this work was the publication in 2001 of a CO survey of the entire Galactic plane. Since then I have more than doubled the area of that survey while uncovering some 200 high-latitude molecular clouds (a recent map of our sky coverage is available here). In 2008 I was awarded a 3-year grant from the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope to extend our uniform CO survey to the entire northern sky and to map in greater detail all of the high-latitude molecular clouds in the region. Much more information on the telescope and our group's research accomplishments is given on the millimeter-wave group site. My research focuses on applying our extensive CO survey to a broad range of Galactic studies, including Galactic spiral structure and star formation, the distribution and origin of cosmic rays, the nature of the soft X-ray background, the structure and evolution of supernova remnants and soft gamma ray repeaters, and the stellar mass distribution inferred from the near-infrared. A notable recent achievement was the discovery in our data of a new spiral arm in the Milky Way, a long-sought counterpart of the so-called Expanding 3-kpc Arm. A few links related to the "Far 3-kpc Arm" are given below. Discovery paper (Astrophysical Journal) I and co-investigator Peter Barnes (U. Florida) were recently awarded over 100 hours of observing time on the Mopra 22-meter Telescope in Australia to map a large section of the Far 3-kpc Arm at much great sensitivity and angular resolution. The observations are scheduled for July 2009. Publications From ADS abstract and article database. My most well-known "publication" just might be this poster! Teaching I have been involved in the course Astronomy 191: Laboratory Astrophysics since shortly after it was first offered in 1988. In addition to teaching one or more of the core experiments involving the CfA 1.2 meter telescope, I work with Pat Thaddeus and Josh Grindlay on overall course planning and handle most of the course administration. I also teach a laboratory in the course Astronomy 7: Black Holes and the Violent Universe. In the laboratory, students use the 1.2 meter telescope to measure the velocities of molecular clouds along the plane of the Milky Way, and from these data derive the Galactic rotation curve and total Galactic mass within the Sun's orbit. Committees and other Service Director, Radio Telescope Data Center Personal I live in North Cambridge with my wife Geraldine and teenage son Jonathan. One of my favorite pastimes is sports photography and webmastering for the North Cambridge Little League, a site I started 6 years ago while my son played in the league. My photograph "Rounding Second" took a second-place prize in the 2008 Smithsonian Staff Photo Contest and is being exhibited at the Smithsonian's Ripley Center in Washington D.C. March 4 - May 31, 2009. I run another web site for my son's crew team at Boston College High School. |
